INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CATTLE. 395 



disease. Following the canine race, cattle seem to be the most fre- 

 quently affected, probably because rabid dogs, next to their morbid 

 desire to attack other members of their own race, have a better oppor- 

 tunity to bite grazing cattle than any other species of animal. The 

 relative frequency of rabies in these two species of animals is indi- 

 cated by the carefully compiled statistics of the German Empire, which 

 show that 904 dogs and 223 cows died of rabies in 1898, while in 1899 

 there were 911 cases in dogs and 171 in cattle. The latter receive 

 bites most frequently on the hind legs and in the hips and about the 

 lower jaw. These places are most accessible to dogs, owing to the 

 habit of cattle to drive their tormentors away by lowering their heads 

 and using their horns. Every animal bitten does not necessarily 

 develop the disease, but the percentage of fatalities has been vari- 

 ously estimated and averages from 25 to 30 per cent of the bitten cat- 

 tle. This, however, depends on the location and size of the wound, as 

 well as the amount of hemorrhage produced, and various other condi- 

 tions. In general, the nearer the bite is located to the central nervous 

 system and the deeper the wound inflicted, the greater the danger of 

 a fatal result. In cases where the hemorrhage resulting from the 

 bite is profuse, there is a possibility that the virus will be washed out 

 of the wound and thus obviate the danger of subsequent appearance 

 of the disease. 



The virus after being deposited in the wound remains latent for an 

 extremely variable period of time, which also depends on the size and 

 depth of the wound as well as its location and the amount of the 

 virulent saliva introduced. Experiments have proved that the virus 

 follows the course of the nerves to the spinal cord and along the lat- 

 ter to the brain before the symptoms appear. Gerlach having col- 

 lected the statistics from 133 cases has found this time, known as the 

 period of incubation, to vary from fourteen to two hundred and eighty- 

 five days. The great majority of cases, however, contract the dis- 

 ease in one to three months after the bite has been inflicted. 



Symptoms. — As in dogs, both furious and dumb rabies are met 

 with, the former being more common in cattle. However, a sharp 

 line of distinction can not be drawn between these two forms of the 

 disease, as the furious form usually merges into the dumb, due to the 

 paralysis which always appears prior to death. The typical cases of 

 dumb rabies are those where the paralysis appears at the beginning of 

 the attack and remains until the death of the animal. The disease 

 first manifests itself by a loss of appetite and rumination and stop- 

 ping of the secretion of milk, great restlessness, anxiety, manifesta- 

 tion of fear, and change in the disposition of the animal. This 

 preliminary stage is followed in a day or two by the stage of excita- 

 tion, or madness, which is indicated by increasing restlessness, loud 

 roaring at times with a peculiar change in the sound of the voice, 

 violent butting with the horns and pawing the ground with the 



