476 



Rabies. 



anew. 



paroxysms. The dog, his eyes bloodshot, jumps sidewise 

 against tlie bars and grabs them between his teeth with such 

 violence that one or more teeth are broken ; or he takes the 

 straw on the floor, the excrement or any other object, and 

 shakes it furiously around, always without barking or growling. 

 If approached with a stick or a bar and teased, the dog will make 

 a mad attack, hold the stick or bar between its teeth, and shake 

 it. The nature of the object held out is absolutely immaterial, 

 as the dog will bite red hot iron or burning coal without hesita- 

 tion. Some animals even bite their own bodies and tear the flesh 

 to the bone. 



Such attacks of rage are interrupted by shorter or longer 

 periods of depression. After an animal has been wandering 

 aimlessly around for a time or, if shut up, has been raging, 

 it finally falls down exhausted and remains unconscious on 

 the floor breathing with difficulty. Soon it will rise, remain 

 standing at one place with staring eyes, dilated pupils, and 

 a peculiarly changed expression of the face indicating cunning 

 and fright (Fig. 75 and 76), until, owing to some outside in- 

 fluence, such as the sight of other animals or some object, but 

 sometimes without any visible cause, the atta,ck breaks out 



In this stage, as a 

 rule, symptoms of par- 

 alysis of some of the 

 nerves appear. Most 

 conspicuous is the pe- 

 culiar change in voice 

 owing to a paralysis 

 of the laryngeal 

 nerves or muscles, 

 which causes the bark 

 to become hoarse and 

 double and accompa- 

 nied by loud, long 

 drawn howls. This 

 hoarse barking, which 

 is so characteristic 

 that the trained ear 

 may suspect a case of 

 rabies from it alone, 

 is emitted frequently 

 by many dogs, by oth- 

 ers only when they 

 are excited. Swallowing becomes very difficult owing to the 

 progressive inflammation, and later to the degeneration of the 

 11th and 12th pair of nerves. The regular food is wholly 

 rejected, and the animal is at the best able to swallow only 

 small amounts of water with difficu.lty. These exertions, some- 

 times even taking an object in the mouth, may produce violent 



Eig. 75. Mdbies. Characteristic peculiar watchful 

 and disturbed expression of the face, with an out- 

 ward position of the eyes; at the same time 

 paralysis of the masticatory muscles. 



