Diseases of the Nervous System. . 243 
to manifest certain symptoms indicative of hydrophobia, 
or what Victor Horsely terms hysterical hydrophobia, 
should they be bitten by one of our canine friends. 
Those who have had much to do with dogs, and have 
carefully studied their various dispositions, cannot have 
failed to note those same peculiar hysterical tendencies in 
highly-bred specimens—nervous and violently excited at 
an angry word or sudden sound. Shrieking at a trivial 
injury, convulsed with tear at an upraised hand—not 
rabidly inclined, I don’t say that, although it has been 
positively asserted that the bite of an angry dog is as 
dangerous as that inflicted by a rabid one, and equally 
capable of producing hydrophobia ; an opinion, however, 
which I do not at all agree with. But I cannot see why 
_ the nervous system of a physically weak and excitable dog 
should not be acted upon much in the same manner as in 
' a physically weak and nervous human being, and in such a 
way as to excite symptoms strongly representative of 
rabies. ; 
I have already spoken of the saliva as the vehicle of the 
rabid poison, and of the mystery as to its development. 
It is known that certain conditions of the nervous system 
exert an influence on the secreting process of the salivary 
glands, and we know that in canine rabies there is an 
abundance of such secretion abnormally altered. In fact, 
it may be said that all the secretions are more or less in- 
fluenced by the condition of the mind; so much so that in 
certain instances they become poisonous from chemical 
change, and lose entirely their individual characters. May 
not this be so with the canine secretions ? 
Although I grant that canine rabies is most frequently 
due to inoculation, I do not lose sight of those causes favour- 
able to spontaneity, of which there is far greater weight of 
practical evidence than that built up on theoretical bases. 
Nor do I forget that every disease has had a beginning, 
and canine rabies (which is now being dealt with as though 
