662 APPENDIX. 
rapidity with which the virus is diffused through the 
body from the point of inoculation in the tissues seems 
to vary according to the location of the wound, but it 
is always comparatively slow. It has been found 
that rabbits, when etherized and then presented to a mad 
dog to be bitten on the fur, escape the disease in a very 
large proportion of cases, although the teeth may have 
passed well through the skin; if, on the other hand, the 
part presented to the rabid dog be shaved before it is 
bitten, the bitten animals contract rabies in a much 
larger proportion of cases. Soin man, in many cases the 
rabic virus may be cleaned from the teeth by the cloth- 
ing which covers the bitten part before they come in 
contact with the skin. From what has been said it is 
evident also that when the skin is thick and the nerves 
few a small quantity of virus may find its way into a 
wound, but not penetrate into the nerves, and thus the 
person bitten by a rabid animal may escape without any 
ill effects beyond those due to a Jacerated wound. This 
will explain the fact that only about 16 per cent. of 
the cases bitten by rabid animals appear to contract 
hydrophobia. 
Preventive Inoculation Against Rabies. The old treat- 
ment of rabies consisted simply in encouraging bleeding 
from the wound, or by first excising the wound and 
then encouraging bleeding by means of ligatures, warm 
bathing, cupping-glasses, etc. ; the raw surface was then 
freely cauterized with caustic potash, nitric acid, or the 
actual cautery. It is doubtful whether the disease ever 
manifests itself after such heroic treatment if the 
wound be small; but when the wounds were numerous 
or extensive the mortality from it was still high. 
As it was often impossible to apply cauterization to the 
