Specific and Contagious Diseases. 167 
inoculation with a specific virus which has been culti- 
vated by transmission through other animals, as the ape, 
until it is deprived of its power to induce rabies, while it 
renders the individual immune or proof against the 
disease. In order to ensure the greatest results, frequent 
inoculation of the same patient is sometimes resorted to, 
many thousands of persons said to be bitten by rabid 
_, dogs having been submitted to. the test, with, however, 
variable success. In the state of present experience it is 
obvious that the end is not attained, yet in the interest 
of suffering humanity, as well as the brute creation, the 
issue of further investigation in other directions is 
eagerly looked for, and with the fervent hope that the 
inevitable end will be an irreversible good. 
The Treatment of Rabies—In La Presse Veterinaire 
for December 1895, M. Pourtale invites special attention 
to his treatment of rabies in the dog, which he states has 
afforded “absolutely positive results.” He employs a 
mixture of sulphate of soda, chloral hydrate, and decoction 
of linseed which calms the attacks, and produces a 
purgative, as well as refreshing action. Enemas of 
similar character are also used. Recovery, it is said, 
occurs in eight days generally ; and from his experience, 
M. Pourtale is persuaded that if the treatment is applied 
to the human subject affected with hydrophobia it would 
bring about his recovery. ; 
Septiceemia, or Blood Poisoning. In the evident 
“enjoyment of putrid offal and decomposing filth of 
various kinds, the dog exhibits a remarkable immunity 
from disease of a fatal character. If, however, he should 
happen to imbibe the elements of decomposing flesh by 
means of a wound, the results are more serious. 
Varying, of course, with the amount of inoculation, he 
may succumb to an attack of fever of a severe typhoid 
nature, marked by speedy collapse, or, under less severe 
blood impregnation, he'surprisingly recovers after acute 
as well as profuse diarrhoea, attended by repulsive 
odours. This form of septicemia is most commonly 
observed in females, when, in protracted parturition, the 
foetus is undergoing decomposition, and the lining 
