INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 559 
fractory double outline. Furthermore, the injection of mallein in 
cases of sporotrichosis will be attended with negative results. 
Treatment.—At the onset of the disease treatment consists in entire 
extirpation of the nodules, in case the lesions are localized. In 
cases in which the nodules have formed abscesses, their opening is 
recommended, followed by the application of the actual cautery or a 
1 to 250 solution of bichlorid of mercury. It must be borne in mind 
that the organism is quite resistant to antiseptics, and the best results 
will be obtained from the application of a solution of a strong anti- 
septic following the opening of the lesions. Internally, potassium 
iodid is recommended in 2-dram doses, dissolved in drinking water, 
twice a day. 
In the most favorable cases recovery results in from five to seven 
weeks; as a rule, however, it requires several months. 
In order to prevent the spreading of the disease the affected ani- 
mals should be isolated, the products of the disease should be de- 
stroyed, and the stable should be disinfected with very strong liquid 
disinfectants in consideration of the resistance of the causative or- 
ganism. 
RABIES, HYDROPHOBIA, OR MADNESS. 
Rabies is a contagious disease, which is usually transmitted by a 
bite and by the introduction of a virus contained in the saliva of an 
affected animal. It may, however, be transmitted in other ways. It 
is characterized by symptoms of aberration of the nervous system 
and invariably terminates fatally. It is accompanied with lesions, 
inflammation, and degeneration in the central nervous system. It is 
a disease that is most common in the dog, but is transmitted to the 
horse, either from dogs or from any other animal affected with it. 
(See also remarks on page 244.) As a disease of the horse it is 
invariably the result of the bite of a rabid animal, usually a dog. 
Perhaps no disease in medicine has been the object of more con- 
troversy than rabies. Certain medical men of prominence have’ 
even doubted its existence, and many others have claimed for it a 
spontaneous origin. The experience of ages, however, has shown 
that contagion can be proved in the great majority of cases, and, 
by analogy with other contagious diseases, we may only believe that 
the development of one case requires the preexistence of a case from 
which the virus has been transmitted. Pasteur has further added 
to our knowledge of the disease by showing that a virus capable of 
cultivation exists in the nervous system, especially in the lower 
part of the brain (medulla oblongata) and in the anterior part of 
the spinal column. He has further shown that that portion of the 
nervous system which contains the virus, the exact nature of which 
has not yet been demonstrated, will retain it for a very long time 
