410 



MAMMALIA. 



caused great mischief, by inducing the patient and those around 

 him to belief in its efficacy, and thus rest in fatal security, 

 preventing them from having recourse to proper means of treat- 

 ment. 



It is a very extraordinary johenomenon that the inoculated 

 virus should be sometimes so slow in producing its eifects. A 

 ;Man is bitten by a Dog which is apparently quite healthy. The 

 wound is treated like an ordinary bite, or nothing is done to it. 



Fig. 160.— Piiodle. 



At the end of a long period, even several months, when it is 

 imagined that there is nothing more to be feared, the victim 

 is attacked with hydrophobia, and expires in horrible agony. 



What is the cause of rabies? On this point opinions are 

 divided. It ought not to be attributed either to the great heat 

 of summer, the rigorous colds of winter, nor yet to hunger, 

 thirst, or the bad quality of food. For some time it was thought 

 to be due to prolonged continence in the male ; but it has been 

 proved that Bitches are quite as liable as Dogs to this dreaded 



