FOREST AND STREAM. 



4B7 



that we believed that in all well authenticated cases the animals 

 had been bitten by mad dogs. The case of the death of 

 the grandfather of the. Duke of Richmond, in Canada, by the 

 of a fox, has often been cited, but from later information 

 it ae'ems uncertain whether the bite was inflicted by a dog or 

 a fox That deaths from hydrophobia Lave occurred from 

 cats is quite positive. As to the disease caused by the scratch 

 from a cat, Sir Thomas Watson thinks that cats with rabies, 

 licking their paws, might have imparted the disease. A case 

 of hydrophobia, through a scratch inflicted by the tooth of a 

 horse, seems to be authentic. In the last number of the 

 Veterinary Journal, the case of a charger, the property of a 

 Captain Cotton, of the Twenty-first Hussars, is given in 

 in detail. First noticed on the 14th of September, the ani- 

 mal died on the 17th. The horse had been bitten by a dog in 

 the near hind leg, but it was only afterward that this wound 

 was associated with the peculiar symptoms the mare exhibited 

 and its origin suspected. Now comes the vital question : Is 

 a man who has been bitten by a mad dog, and in whose case 

 no preventive measures have been taken, a doomed man? Sir 

 Thomas Watson writes -. 



" I have answered this question in the negative already. 

 Few, upon the whole, who are so bitten, become affected 

 with hydrophobia John Hunter states that he knew an in- 

 stance in which, of twenty-one persons bitten, only one fell a 

 victim to the disease. Dr. Hamilton estimated the proportion 

 to be one in twenty-five. But I fear these computations are 

 much too low. In 1870 a mad dog in the neighborhood of 

 Senlis took his course within a small circle, and bit fifteen 

 persons before he was killed; three of these died of hydro- 

 phobia. The saliva of a rabid wolf would seem to be highly 

 virulent and effective. These beasts fly always, I believe, 

 at a naked part. Hence, probably, the fatality of their bites. 

 The following statement relates exclusively to the wolf: In 

 December, 1774, twenty persons were bitten in the neighbor- 

 hood of Troyes ; nine of them died. Of seventeen persons 

 similarly bitten in 1794, near Drive, ten died of hydrophobia. 

 In May, 1817, twenty-three persons were bitten and fourteen 

 perished. Four died of eleven that were bitten near Dijon, 

 and eighteen of twenty-four bitten near Eochelle. At Bar- 

 Sur-Ornaui nineteen were bitten, of whom twelve died within 

 two mouths. Here we have 114 persons bitten by rabid 

 wolves, and among them no fewer than sixty-seven victims to 

 hydrophobia." 



With the utmost respect for Sir Thomas "Watson's opinions, 

 we do not place implicit confidence in the -wolf story ; the 

 dates are too far distant, and the authorities not reliable. 



" There is no doubt, however," continues Sir Thomas Wat- 

 son, " that the majority of persons who are bitten by a mad 

 dog escape the disease. This may be partly owing to an in- 

 herent inaptitude for accepting it. There are some upon 

 whom the contagion of small-pox has no influence. This pe- 

 culiarity exists apparently even among dogs. There was one 

 dog at Charenton that did not become rabid after being bitten 

 by a rabid dog ; and it was so managed that at different times 

 he was bitten by thirty mad dogs, but he outlived it all. 

 Much will depend also upon the circumstances of the bite and 

 the way in which it is inflicted. If it be made through 

 clothes, and especially through thick woolen garments or 

 through leather, the saliva may be wiped clean away from 

 the tooth before it reaches the flesh. In the fifth volume of 

 the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal there is a case 

 described by Mr. Oldknow, of Nottingham, in which a man 

 was bitten in three different places by the same mad dog, 

 namely, in the groin, the thigh and the left hand. The bite 

 on the hand was the last. Now, it seems that but for this 

 last bite on a naked part he might have escaped. It is note- 

 worthy that the local sensations preliminary to the fatal out- 

 break of hydrophobia occurred only in the hand and arm. 

 The attacking dog probably shuts his mouth after each bite, 

 and thus recharges his fangs with the poisonous material. 

 In a report from America it is stated that of seventy-five 

 eases the injury was received on the hand in forty instances, 

 on the face in fifteen, on the leg in eleven, on the arm in nine. 

 It is this frequent immunity from the disease in persons who 

 have been bitten that has tended to confer reputation upon so 

 many vaunted methods of prevention. Ignorant men and 

 knavish men have not failed to take advantage of this." 



As a help toward determining whether a dog has rabies 

 after it has been destroyed, our most eminent authority states 

 that, in examining the stomach of the dog, if unnatural con- 

 tents be found within, such as straw, hay, coal, sticks, horse- 

 dung, earth, as well as a quantity of a dark fluid like thin 

 treacle, proof is positive that the dog was mad. 



To render dogs mad a great many attempts have been made, 

 but without success ; dogs have been starved and subjected 

 to many cruel experiments, but without success. The act of 

 using extra precautions, as in summer, is preposterous. As a 

 preventative against one dog biting another, it might be use- 

 ful if employed all the year round. To muzzle these dogs in 

 hot weather is both cruel and stupid. 



The terrible fact that the saliva of a rabid deg or of a hu 

 man being can impart hydrophobia we are inclined to believe" 

 If any credence can be placed on the authority of M. m! 

 Majendie and Breschet, both illustrious men, two dogs were 

 inoculated with the saliva of a hydrophobic man, on the 19th 

 of June, 1813, and on the 27th of July both dogs went mad, 

 who in their turn bit other dogs, who all showed rabies. That 

 the virus is absorbed in the system is evident from the fact of 

 sheep suckling their lambs, the mothers only having been bit- 

 ten by a mad dog, when both the mothers and their suckling 

 ambs died. 



Now, as to the cure. "The early and complete excision of 

 the bitten part is the only means of preservation in which 

 much confidence can be placed ; and even then that is open to a 

 source of fallacy. In the majority of cases no hydrophobia 

 would ensue, though nothing at all were done to the wound. 

 No doubt many persons undergo the operation needlessly. 

 But in no given case can we be sure of this." Mr. Youatt 

 tells of having cauterized more than 400 persons with nitrate 

 of silver, all bitten by dogs unquestionably mad, and that he 

 never lost a case. 

 In St. George's Hospital some 4,000 persons have been 



treated with cautery, and no fatal cases have been reported. 

 But excision, in Sir Thomas Watson's judgment, he thinks, is 

 the most trustworthy and eligible procedure. Though 

 Trousseau recommends actual cautery, by searing with a red 

 hot iron, our authority thinks the free U3C of nitric acid, by 

 means of a glass brush, would encompass the end desired. 

 Early excision, Sir Thomas Watson thinks, is a sure preven- 

 tive, "but in all suspicious cases, if the operation has been 

 omitted in the first instance, it will be advisable to cut out 

 the wound or its scar within the first two months, or at any 

 time before preliminary feelings on the spot foreshow the 

 coming outbreak. Later, it would be too late." A case is 

 recorded where these symptoms were manifest, and though 

 amputation was resorted to, hydrophobia was developed, with 

 the death of the person. 



"For my own part," writes Sir Thomas Wataon, "if I 

 had received a bite from a decidedly rabid animal upon my 

 arm or leg, and the bite was such that the whole wound could 

 not be cut out or thoroughly cauterized, my reason would 

 teach me to desire, and I hope I should have fortitude enough 

 to endure, amputation of the limb above the place of the 

 injury." 



Believing hydrophobia to be fatal, this authority recom- 

 mends a liberal use of the hydrate of chloral, "to quiet the 

 restless agitation and to mitigate the sufferings of its inevi- 

 table close." 



What should be done by or for a man bitten by a rabid ani- 

 mal? Should the wound be sucked? Such a method as 

 suction would not be expedient. The sufferer might imperii 

 the life of him who gave his aid. The same process as is in 

 use for a snake bite is suggested. A ligature should be tied as 

 tight as possible above the wound, between it and tlie heart; 

 next, a continuous stream of tepid or cold water should be 

 poured from a height upon the wound. This might be done 

 from the spout of a tea-kettle or from a water-tap. But this 

 is simply temporary or paliative. As soon as possibie a sur- 

 geon should be called in, and excision, or cauterization must bi 

 used; and, to be safe, both of these methods of treatment. 



As far as can be possibly ascertained there has never been 

 a case of rabies that was not discovered to have been propa- 

 gated. Now, how can this germ of rabies be entirely extir- 

 pated ? Mr. Youatt proposed that all dogs should be quaran- 

 tined (separately, of course,) during some seven months, 

 then, if an animal was inclined to have rabies, the disease 

 would determine itself, and the dog could be killed. Sir 

 James Bardsley proposed a similar scheme. Sir Thomas 

 Watson favors this plan, being persuaded that if resolutely 

 grappled with, notwithstanding all the difficulties of enforc- 

 ing such an act of dog quarantine, the disease might be exter- 

 minated. 



As to breeds of dogs most prone to rabies, we believe there 

 can be laid down no rule. The reported prevalence of rabies 

 in spitz dogs we are certain had no foundation. The theory 

 has been advanced that dogs of mixed breeds, curs, in fact, 

 had a tendency to rabies. This, too, we are quite sure, has 

 no basis of fact. As to sex of animal, no data worthy of cre- 

 dence have ever been presented, since dogs and bitches may 

 be bitten indifferently by a mad dog. What is positively 

 known, however, is this, that rabies is a disease of animals in 

 the temperate zone, and that in the tropics and in the Arctic 

 regions rabies does not exist. It may exist in New York, 

 and is almost unknown in Savannah, or south of it. The 

 dogs of the Arctic explorers, it seems evident, do get crazy, or 

 insane, together with some other malady not well described, 

 and die, but are not afflicted with rabies. 



Starting, then, with this indisputable fact, that if there 

 were no dogs there would be no hydrophobia, it follows that 

 the less dogs we have, exactly by so much are the chances 

 diminished of dogs being bitten by mad dogs, and of the dis- 

 ease being propagated. There should not be allowed any 

 stray dogs in the whole country. 



In our last issue we published an interesting letter from Dr. 

 Yarrow, U. S. A., and his method of treatment was precisely 

 like that recommended by Sir Thomas Watson. From Dr. 

 John T. Nagle, Registrar of Vital Statistics of the City of 

 New York, we have received the following data. " The total 

 number of deaths reported to this bureau during the year 

 1877, from hydrophobia, was four, as follows t One death in 

 persons between two and three years, one between four and 

 five, one between fifteen and twenty, one between fifty-five 

 and sixty." 



_^*-_ 



VACATION RAMBLES IN MICHIGAN, 

 WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA.— No. lO. 



By the Editok. 



Januaky 7, 1878. 

 Mt Fbienbs : As we wander among the imposing remains 

 of the once proud city of Duluth, we are inevitably reminded 

 of ancient Athens, which is magnificent even in its decay. 

 The stately edifices of sandstone abutting on the main thor- 

 oughfare in isolated grandeur and individuality ; the spacious 

 private residences which here and there occupy the ledges of 

 the overshadowing rock behind the town; the extended 

 avenues; the tremendous sweep of suburbs ; the immature local 

 improvements | the metropolitan features grouped around the 

 focus ; and, above all, the price of city lots ;— these, in the 

 titanic scale of their projection, are commensurate only with 

 the anticipated magnificence of the completed phn. Here, in 

 the golden epoch of ingenious schemes and far-reaching 

 projects, were concentrated the business sagacity and acumen 

 of the land. Shrewd speculators congregated in crowds, like 

 buzzards, upon the long corridors of Col. Hull's notable cara- 

 vansary, and watched the incoming steamers bringing green 



backs and more speculators from the East. Hungry and con- 

 sinning locusts, grasshoppers, flies and drones swarmed 

 around the bung-hole and got stuck in the molasses. Real 

 estate agents vied in selling to the credulous choice lots at 

 $5,000 each, upon which it was expected that $100,000 

 structures would eventually stand. Stupendous public build- 

 ings were designed ; and all around the printed plans and ele- 

 vations thronged a rabble of ex-generals and colonels, ci- 

 devant senators, broken merchants, bankers, and impecunious 

 adventurers, jostling each other and scrambling for civic 

 offices and emoluments in the high places to be created. 

 Sitting in the lowly places and gazing up aloft, to the summit 

 of the boulder-strewn ridge of rock, up whose semi-precipi- 

 tous acclivity ambitious shanties had already climbed in strag- 

 gling disorder, one could almost fancy an Acropolis or Par- 

 nassus, with Socrates and Plato pronouncing from the top, 

 and declaring, with Proctor Knott, that this was destined to 

 be the greatest place on God's earth! 



One early morning, before the sun was up or the citizens 

 had stirred, I toiled with panting effort up one of the out- 

 lined avenues, which looked charmingly level on the maps, 

 but was too steep for any vehicle to climb, and when I had 

 surmounted the apex I looked out over a landscape so far- 

 reaching that its scope seemed marvellous. To the eastward 

 Lake Superior stretched out iu an expanse Which apparently 

 had no limit. A range of rpeky bluffs followed the northern 

 shore on the left. On the opposite shore was Superior City, 

 so distant as to be scarcely discernible in the morning 

 light, and between the two lay a placid bay, into which pro- 

 jected a natural causeway which followed the curve of the 

 shore in a parallel line. On the circumscribed level plat 

 below was the business part of the town, with the machine 

 shops and sheds of the Northern Pacific Railroad a little be- 

 yond. In the distance a considerable stretch of grass and 

 open water indicated the debouchure of the St. Louis Biver, 

 which empties itself over ledges of rock in a series of cas- 

 cades and rapids. Contemplating seriously the natural out- 

 look and the geographical lay of the land, the advantages of 

 the location in a commercial point of view are obvious ; and 

 one cannot help but feel assured that the expectations of those 

 who had hoped years ago to found an emporium at this avail- 

 able gate way of the State and the great West beyond, will yet 

 be realized. Situated at the very extremity of this great inland 

 sea, Duluth is the funnel into which flows the current of all 

 the trade that comes by water. The Northern Pacific Kail- 

 road, already extended 550 miles, is the outlet, and all the 

 grist that is carried to and from the mill pays tribute and toll 

 right here. Eventually this great artery of communication 

 will be continued across the continent ; meanwhile, notwith- 

 standing its disabilities and disasters, its earnings of the year 

 1877 show that it can sustain itself. There is a large and 

 growing community beyond its terminus, whence, and also 

 from other points along the completed line, well-appointed 

 stages carry passengers to Deadwood and the embryo cities of 

 the Black Hills. Over these stage routes the traffic has been 

 large throughout the past year, despite the hostilities of In- 

 dians and the depredations of road agents. 



Between Duluth and Brainerd on the Mississippi River, the 

 country is well occupied with farms, stations and settle- 

 ments, and one sees little to remind him of border life. At 

 Brainerd, however, trains rest over Sunday, compelling a 

 temporary halt of all through travel ; and here at Col. Weed's 

 " Head Quarters Hotel," can be seen typical characters of all 

 sorts. Here are Black Hills' merchants coming East for goeds • 

 express ageDts guarding treasure in transitu; emigrants, red 

 hot with the gold fever, bound West ; gentlemen-sportsmen 

 with dogs, plethoric outfits, and a retinue of servants—" we ll 

 heeled," as they say out there— going to the grouse country - 

 occasional army officers attached to frontier posts, scouts, trap- 

 pers, stock-grazers, surveyors, and representatives from Brit- 

 ish Columbia, factors, merchants, officials, half-breeds and 

 Indians. The latter are frequent visitors who generally set 

 up their tepees on the bluffs on the river side, and along the 

 outskirts of the town, where they lounge, mend canoes, and 

 beg. There are two reservations not many miles off, where 

 they may be interviewed by the curious on their own allotted 

 territory. Very often little knots of passengers by the Dead- 

 wood stages may be found in the centre of a crowd, lugubri- 

 ously relating how the road agents halted them, ordered them 

 to " squat " and " hold up their hands," and " went through 

 them ;" just as they did once with old Ben. H dliday, the 

 great overland stage proprietor, holding a double-barrel shot- 

 gun within a span of his face, and scratching his nose with 

 the muzzle when he told them it itched. Cautious and ex- 

 perienced travelers, let me say, carry very Utile money with 

 them; only checks or drafts. Possibly among the miscellane- 

 ous throng at Brainerd, are the same veritable desperadoes and 

 highwaymen. It is probable that detectives are there who know 

 them. But they ace not recognizable by the chance traveller. 

 If anybody supposes that ho will find here desperadoes en grand 

 tenue, trappers in buckskin, and bullies iu buckram, he will 

 be disappointed. When the dwellers of the plains and moun- 

 tains pack up to travel East, they don store clothes, and beg, 

 buy or borrow a "clean biled shirt." They voluntarily sur- 

 render themselves to the conventionalities of society for the 

 time being, and are on their good behavior. It is a luxury to 

 one who is daily elbowed by the throng on Wall street or 

 Broadway, to notioe the social amenities that arc observed. 

 One cannot but admire the universal affability of rough men 

 —a marked quietness of manner, gentleness of address, civil- 

 ity in answering general inquiries, careful avoidance of per- 

 sonal jests or practical jokes, a studious disinterestedness in 



