234 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



Hydrophobia, signifyingT^oir of water, is in canine patliol- 

 ogy a misnomer, and probably has much to do with the er- 

 roneous idea that this symptom is present in dogs. To this I 

 give, as I did some years ago in " Land and Water," a most 

 emphatic denial. The rabid dog never in atiy stage of the dis- 

 ease exhibits a dread of water, neither will the sight or sound 

 of it produce spasms. On the contrary, thirst is present 

 throughout. 



The inability to swallow fluids, when it does happen, is 

 dependent entirely on either the inflammatory condition of the 

 throat, or from paralysis of the muscles of the lower jaw and 

 deglutition. 



Rabies, signifying madness, \s2iizx more appropriate term, 

 but even this is not sufficiently distinctive as to the particular 

 class of madness it is intended to designate. 



The true nature of rabies is still involved in mystery. We 

 know that a specific virus is the active agent in its production, 

 but in what this virus consists, or how it is developed, we 

 know not. That the saliva is the vehicle of the poison is 

 clear, the why or wherefore is equally mysterious. Post-mor- 

 tem and microscopic examinations afford little clue. The 

 nerve centres in which, from the character of the disease, we 

 should expect to find the greatest lesions, are in many instan- 

 ces but slightly affected, while the throat and digestive organs 

 often exhibit the greatest alterations. 



Causes. — In almost every instance rabies is due to inocula- 

 tion ; the disease, however, may and is at times unquestion- 

 ably spontaneously generated, by what method I am not at 

 present prepared to say, but I am very much inclined to think 

 breeding in-and-in encourages its development. 



The influence of climate, season, or sex, would appear to 

 have little bearing on the subject* The so-called dog-days 



* " Professor Giuseppe Canettoli (' Lo Sperimentale,' June, 1875) sum- 

 marizes his studies and researches in hydrophobia in the following prop- 

 ositions : ' 



" I. Hydrophobia is a disease of all climates and seasons. 



