On Rabies. 



83 



in different cases that it may well be that treatment which in one is 

 successful would fail in, or even aggravate another; and it seems to 

 me very desirable that the effect of various therapeutical agents upon 

 the dog should be investigated by those who have the opportunity 

 and inducement to do so, though with this animal it obviously requires 

 special methods, appliances, and precautions. 



I cannot conclude this portion of the subject without expressing my 

 strong opinion that for us in our insular position, remedial measures 

 ought to be entirely unnecessary ; to stamp out rabies and hydro- 

 phobia throughout England nothing more is required than an order 

 by the Privy Council, rigorously enforced, for the muzzling of all 

 dogs throughout the country for a sufficient period. Of the efficacy 

 of this there can be no doubt. 



In the Metropolitan district we see its effects in the disappearance 

 from the streets of rabies, and of the cases of hydrophobia from the 

 hospitals, lately so prevalent and calamitous ; unfortunately, however, 

 this can only be temporary, as, under existing conditions, the disease 

 will, sooner or later, be again introduced from other parts where these 

 regulations have not been enforced.* 



X. Nature of the Virus. 



Though nothing can be said to be positively known of the intimate 

 nature of the virus of rabies, it has been considered by many observers! 

 that it must be a micro-organism. Its evident powers of multi- 

 plication and reproduction, with the extreme length of its incubation 

 period, alone go far to prove this. It is impossible to conceive that a 

 soluble or chemical poison, or ferment, should remain latent and 

 unaltered in the animal body for so long a period, then at once 

 becoming active should multiply itself throughout the tissues, 

 rendering them infective to other animals in the most minute 

 quantities. 



In the supposed discoveries of a specific microbe in the saliva of 

 rabid animals, it has merely been one of the many saprophytes always 

 present therein, but which was not familiar to the observer ; and it is 

 probable, from the uncertain result of inoculation with this secretion, 

 that the virus is present in it in very small quantities, and conse- 

 quently, though particulate, would be exceedingly difficult of observa- 

 tion with the microscope. 



* P.S. — Already even — 7/5/87 — since the above was written this apprehension is 

 realised ; the police reports for April, just issued, showing a recrudescence of 

 street rabies in the district. 



f As by Ballier, ' Zeitschr. f. Parasitenkunde,' vol. 1, p. 301 ; and by Klebs, 

 ' Aertzl. Correspondenzblatt,' No. 11, 1874 ; abstract in 4 Archives Gen. de Med.,' 

 vol. 20, 1872, p. 352, &o. 



