278 SPECIFIC DISEASES. 



dog attacks a flock of sheep, inflicting bites on a number withoiit 

 trying to kill outright any of them, it at once becomes an object 

 of suspicion, such an animal should not be destroyed, (that is to 

 say, if it can be caught and confined without anyone being ex- 

 posed to its attack), as, if rabid, the disease will run its course in 

 a short time, four to eight days, after which there is still time to 

 apply preventative treatment to the sheep, rabies not being liable 

 to make its appearance among them for twenty days after 

 inoculation. Where a dog has been found annoying sheep and 

 is killed, a post mortem examination of its stomach will material- 

 ly facilitate a diagnosis. If rabid, the stomach will contain rub- 

 bish, such as sticks, stones, etc. This can be relied on as diag- 

 nostic. 



Dogs which foam at the mouth and have fits are not rabid, 

 and no danger is to be apprehended from them, even though 

 they should inflict bites during the period of the fit. 



Cctanua — Loch "jfaw. 



Is a condition caused by the direct inoculation with a germ 

 called the bacillus tetani. It is decidedly a specific disease, and 

 in no manner can it be said ever to arise spontaneously. Wounds 

 and abrasions of the skin are very liable to be the channel 

 through which the contagion gains access to the system. The 

 germ of tetanus is of the character called anaerobic, meaning 

 that it develops only in media free from oxygen; hence we find 

 that slight woimds, especially punctures which tend to heal and 

 close up immdiately after infliction, so excluding the oxygen of 

 the air, are the most prone to be followed by tetanus. The germ 

 appears to be present very generally in the soil, and only awaits 

 the opportunity to gain entrance into the animal economy to de- 

 velop and multiply with the most disastrous results to its host. 

 Where cases are noticed arising without any apparent cause, it 

 would be possible for the subject to have become inoculated 



