244 The American Naturalist. [March, 
resist any injury or affront; one that will not bite in defence 
until the secretion provided for it by nature is exhausted, 
loses that secretion by the disease. It is a well authenticated 
fact that rabid skunks are entirely free from the odor so char- 
acteristic of these animals, which could not occur if the secre- 
tion were not exhausted; and forgetting its normal timidity, 
will attack any person or animal it may come in contact with,. 
biting the most exposed parts of the body, the ale of the nose,. 
the lobe of the ear, the thumb or one of the fingers, and passes. 
on. Here is probably the reason these bites are more fatal 
than those of other animals—always in a vascular part not 
protected by clothing—which prevents by wiping away the 
poisonous saliva, from the fierce attacks of the mad dog or 
wolf and thus saves the life of the one bitten.” This is very 
intelligible and reasonable. 
Then, even those who believe that only the rabid skunk 
conveys rabies by its bite, and that the skunk is more suscep- 
tible to rabies than other animals, seem to believe that this is 
the present state of affairs, that skunk bites are now peculiarly 
dangerous. Now Dr. Janeway expressly says that rabies was. 
epidemic in Texas when he made his observations on the dis- 
ease in skunks and other animals, thus: “ Rabies Mephitica, 
like Rabies Canina, is evidently epidemical, no cases of it 
having been reported previous to 1870 in this region ;” and 
in his letter to me of December 15th, he says: “ The epidemic 
was short-lived, no cases that I heard of occurring the next 
year. A great number of skunks must have succumbed to 
‘the disease, as they were less plentiful after that season; ” and 
further, a surgeon in the U.S. Army, now stationed at Fort 
Bliss, writes me: “I have served five years in Texas, four in 
the Indian Territory, four in Dakota and other places where- 
skunks abound; during this time, I have never known any- ` 
one to be bitten by the animal referred to. The bite of a 
rabid skunk will, of course, produce the disease, and in other 
instances where serious trouble has followed this occurrence, 
I am of the opinion that the symptoms are due to septic poi- 
soning. The bite or scratch of almost any animal is more or 
less poisonous from the bacteria always present on the teeth. 
