28 THE DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



pathologists to consider that every strangeness in behaviour 

 of a dog is to be observed with suspicion ; and Bouley has 

 established the rule of always looking at a sick dog with 

 apprehension, especially one which seems too fond of 

 you, considering him to be rabid until proved otherwise. 

 It so often happens that dangerously rabid animals but 

 not known to be mad are brought by their owners for 

 medicinal treatment that this rule cannot be too strictly 

 enforced. It is remarkable that in rabies the owner is 

 the last person to whom the animal is inclined to be 

 aggressive, and, moreover, in certain cases the patient 

 is excessively affectionate, licking the hands and face 

 of his mistress, which practice has in many recorded 

 instances conveyed the disease, especially when a pimple 

 or other small wound has been on the licked part. 

 The popular idea that a mad dog is furious is correct 

 only as concerns certain forms of the disease. In the 

 furious form paroxysms of rage are well marked, and are 

 especially excited by the sight of strange dogs or the 

 glistening of light on the surface of water. The violence 

 of these paroxysms exhausts the animal, so that between 

 them he dozes or sleeps soundly, but if disturbed awakens 

 in a fury. The wrath of the patient varies in different 

 individuals and stages of disease; it either assumes the 

 form of a blind fury, prompting the dog to fly at and 

 worry any strange object, such as a stick inserted through 

 the bars of his cage, or there seems a sort of " method in 

 his madness," which has been considered an "instinctive 

 desire to propagate the affection " ; thus dogs are the 

 special object of aversion, and cats, too, excito the animal 

 to fury, but later herbivora and then men come on the list 

 of those to whom he will do mischief. It is remarked 

 that in the case of rabid herbivora the greatest fury is felt 

 towards dogs, and this is sometimes seen in the case of 

 human beingB. The fury is preceded by a period of 

 strange restlessness, a quickness and irritability of the 

 temper, and sometimes a remarkable amount of treachery. 

 The animal is dull but watchful, and a very characteristic 

 symptom is a tendency to snap at flies or other real or 



