1895.] s The Skunk as a Source of Rabies. 247 
The subject of rabies is now loaded down with quite enough 
rubbish, such as the absurd notion that if a healthy dog bites 
aman and subsequently becomes rabid, the man will “go 
mad ” also, and adding another piece of bosh is more than we 
ought to be afflicted with. 
I fear I may just now be venturing beyond my depth, and 
therefore, I wish the following to be taken entirely as sugges- 
tive: Must itnot have been under very exceptional circum- 
stances that rabies was first introduced among skunks in 
Texas? It surely is true that rabies is especially a disease of 
the canide, dogs, wolves and? foxes. Now a rabid dog (and I 
suppose, a rabid wolf), in the stage of the disease in which 
communication of infection is possible, is about destitute of 
intelligence. It runs blindly, wildly, and without purpose. 
The skunk is both nocturnal and retiring, and would easily 
and naturally get out of the way of a rabid dog “ on the run.” 
In Europe where rabies is more prevalent than in this country, 
the polecat and other animals, relatives and of similar habits to 
the skunk, are never known to be rabid. So how in the world 
did the first rabid skunk become so? Unquestionably there 
were rabid skunks, and almost certainly there was a first one 
who communicated the disease to its fellows, and does it not 
seem certain that this first victim became infected under most 
peculiar and exceptional circumstances, and that these are 
not likely to be be repeated? And, asa final wind-up, What 
is all this pother about? There is not a particle of evidence 
that skunk bites are particularly dangerous, and while nobody 
need wish for such a bite, if he does get it he need not worry 
himself about any danger of rabies. 
