232 KENNEL DISEASES. 
a young mastiff, afflicted with the disease, which he allowed to run at large within 
his house, that the symptoms might be carefully observed by the inmates. This 
dog, while he had strength to make the distance, had a certain point to which he 
invariably journeyed. He would start from his bed in the kennel-man’s room, 
climb three stairs, enter the kitchen, pass from there into the dining-room and 
stop at the hall door; then, without pausing, would take a direct course back; 
and on reaching his bed, again turn and travel precisely as before, always making 
for the same points, and never deviating or passing through other doors or going 
beyond his self-imposed limits. Other dogs lay about the rooms undisturbed 
and unnoticed. At first his journeys were made on an easy walk, with head car- 
ried low; ere long he entered a run, which he kept up until exhaustion overcame 
him; then for a brief interval he remained quiet, and when his strength returned 
he again started on his wearisome run. The inmates of the house would occa- 
sionally meet him on his journeys; without any disposition to bite, he would 
deviate only sufficiently to pass them, and continue on. For two days only had 
he strength to climb the stairs, but, until he died, some three days later, he 
frequently made feeble efforts to do so. 
The stage of active congestion in dogs suffering from acute meningitis is 
short, and rarely more than two or three days; then the symptoms change, as 
an effusion forms within the cranial cavities and presses upon the brain. 
Drowsiness succeeds the maniacal excitement; the sight becomes dim or is 
wholly lost; obstructions are no longer avoided, but blindly encountered. In 
his movements the animal seems wholly unconscious, crazed as it were; his 
bark is low and feeble; he still drinks if his nose is guided to the basin; the 
intervals of quiet lengthen; he rises to his feet with difficulty, his legs weak 
and trembling; the stupor grows more profound; paralysis ends his tiresome 
walks; convulsions are frequent and severe; death finally brings relief. 
The disease may run a fatal course in two or three days, and but rarely does 
it extend beyond six or seven. 
From the foregoing symptoms it will be appreciable how easy it would be 
for an observer, unfamiliar with the manifestations in both diseases, to mistake 
acute meningitis for rabies. It must also appear difficult, if not impossible, for 
even an expert to discriminate with positive certainty in all cases. Unfortu- 
nately the prevailing disposition is to sacrifice dogs on the first appearance of 
symptoms barely suggestive of rabies; and yet to kill an animal suspected of 
being mad is not the first but the last thing to do if he has bitten any one. He 
should be secured, and every possible precaution taken to prevent injury to those 
around him, and thereafter be carefully watched. Many a mind has been nearly 
crazed by days of terror and horrible expectancy which might have been 
averted had not panic-stricken friends hurried the poor dog out of the world, 
instead of allowing him to die naturally, when it would have appeared plainly 
evident that he had meningitis merely, or other disease quite as innocent. 
