286 CASES OF HABIES. 



the same period, all the patients, with perhaps one exception,* 

 were not seen to consume an ounce of natural food, though 

 the choicest was repeatedly offered to them — in some 

 instances, where they had been purposely deprived of it for 

 twenty-four hours. They, however, manifested a depraved 

 appetite. All of them frequently ate wool from each other, 

 and gnawed the rails of their pen. One was seen to eat dung 

 balls from the breech of another — another, snow which had 

 just been saturated with sheep's urine — and two eagerly 

 to lick the mucus and saliva from the nose and mouth of a 

 dead one, and afterwards the post-mortem discharges from 

 the same parts. They preyed upon every substance within, 

 their reach which was unnatural as food, except the flesh of 

 their dead companions. Their eating, as I have termed it, 

 was attended, so far as could be observed, with no regular 

 mastication. When they gnawed the rails of their pen, they 

 held their heads down and extended, so that it could not be 

 seen whether they masticated or not. They did not pause 

 and raise their heads to do so, but continued Latently gnawing. 

 The only evidence I had of their swallowing the wood was, 

 that considerable quantities of it were bitten from all parts of 

 the pen and none of it could be found on the snow underneath ; 

 and as some of the wood gnawed was of a red, and ijiuch of 

 it of a dark color, it would have been readily visible there. 

 When they ate wool, dung balls and the like, they generally 

 snatched them, as if in haste, and in all cases swallowed them 

 after two or three rapid movements of the jaws, which were 

 apparently only made to place the substance in a situation to 

 be forced into the esophagus. 



No exhibition of thirst was observed in any case, and, on 

 the other hand, no dread of water, when it was placed in a 

 pail before them. One played in the water with her nose, as 

 a horse is often seen to do, and drank a little without apparent 

 difficulty. One or two were seen to nibble a little ice or 

 snow on two or three occasions. 



The evacuation of both dung and urine was very slight. 

 The feces appeared natural in color and consistency. 



I came to the conclusion, after considerable hesitation, 

 that the disease, in its earlier stages, and perhaps through- 

 out, was accompanied by a slight unnatural expression of the 



* No. 7 was seen for an instant attempting to ride another Blieep tlie afternoon 

 before tlxe disease, apparently, was fully developed. She resumed eating hay while 1 

 stood looking on. lobserved her eating for perhaps five minutes. When I next saw 

 her she was rabid. 



