Diseases of the Nervous System. 241 



I give, as I did many years ago in " Land and Water,'' a 

 most emphatic denial. The rabid dog never in any stage of 

 the disease exhibits a dread of water, neither will the sight or 

 sound of it produce spasms. On the contrary, thirst is 

 present throughout. 



The inability so swallow fluids, when it does happen, is 

 dependent entirely on either the inflammatory condition of 

 the throat, or from paralysis of the muscles of the lower 

 jaw and deglutition. 



Rabies, signifying madness, is a far more appropriate 

 term, but even this is not sufficiently distinctive as to the 

 particular class of madness it is intended to designate. 



The true nature of rabies is still involved in mystery. 

 We know that a specific virus is the active agent in its 

 production, but in what this virus consists, or how it is 

 developed, we know not. That the saliva is the vehicle of 

 the poison is clear, the why or wherefore is equally mys- 

 terious. Post-mortem and microscopic examinations afford 

 little clue. The nerve centres in which, from the character 

 of the disease, we should expect to find the greatest lesions, 

 are in many instances but slightly affected, while the throat 

 and digestive organs often exhibit the greatest altera- 

 tions. 



Causes. — In almost every instance rabies is due to inocula- 

 tion ; the disease, however, may, and is at times unquestion- 

 ably spontaneously generated, and if this is so, wherein 

 lies the value of the vexatious and absurd police regula- 

 tions ? I am very much inclined to think that the pernicious 

 system of breeding in-and-in encourages.its development, for 

 it undoubtedly predisposes the next generation to weakened 

 intellect, if not absolute lunacy. We know that inter- 

 marriage materially helps to fill our lunatic asylums ; and 

 although it may be observed that the madness produced 

 by consanguinity is not hydrophobic, yet any agen cy act- 

 ing deleteriously on the nerve centres, weakening their 

 stamina, and diminishing the intellectual faculties, will 



