158 The Carnivora. 
actually have been communicated, not by the first wound, 
but more recently even by inoculation from the dried saliva 
of a dog, carried by the wind, and coming into contact with 
some insignificant scratch or abrasion, or by means of an 
infected dog licking the scratched hand not long anterior 
to the appearance of the disease. The fact that rabies has 
not been conveyed to the Australasian colonies by any one 
of the many thousands of dogs imported in the course of 
nearly a century would point to a period of latency gene- 
rally, if not always, limited to four months, unless we sup- 
pose the sea voyage eitlier develops it rapidly—thus insuring 
the destruction of the dog—or suppresses it altogether. 
The following letter, published in the Daily News, may 
usefully be quoted as worthy of the attention of all who 
keep dogs: “Although frequently ‘brought before the public, 
it is but ill apprehended, and will therefore bear repetition, 
that, of all maladies, hydrophobia is perhaps the easiest to 
avert if people will only be at the pains to acquire the 
necessary knowledge. The premonitory symptoms in the dog 
are so clear that, although the disease is in truth rare, 
it is astonishing that it should exist at all, and still more 
so that any person should contract it from an animal which 
he has under his own care. I will briefly enumerate the 
chief signs by which the inception of rabies may be diag- 
nosed. (1) The dog exhibits some peculiar change of cha- 
racter. If previously gentle, he may become savage, or the 
reverse. He not unfrequently shows increased affection for 
his master, and a propensity to lick the human hand. As 
the poison may be communicated in this way, the habit 
should never be allowed, even in an apparently healthy dog. 
(2) He evinces a dislike to light and noise, crouching in 
dark, quiet places. (3) The tone of his bark is modified. 
(4) His tastes undergo alteration, and he will devour hair, 
bits of coal, cotton, and other rubbish. (5) He appears the 
victim of hallucinations, watching imaginary objects in the 
air, and sometimes snapping at them, as if catching flies. 
