NOTES ON THE DOG TRIBE. 



175 



cousins-gertnan to the dog, are strongly suspected 

 to produce hydrophobia, and to inoculate others 

 through the medium of the tooth. 



When a man has received a mortal wound, and 

 it has been pronounced mortal by his attending 

 surgeon, he knows the worst. His solicitor 

 arranges his temporal affairs ; and his father- 

 confessor prepares him for that awful change which 

 death must soon produce. But, a man bitten by 

 a mad-dog, although in fact, the wound is a mortal 

 one at the moment of the bite, still, this poor 

 unfortunate victim, may be doomed to live in 

 suspense for weeks, and months, and even years. 

 And when death at last comes to his relief, the 

 surgeon who opens the body for inspection, will 

 find nothing there, to indicate disease. Nay, the 

 most singular part is, that the defunct was enabled 

 to exist in perfect health, and to perform all the 

 ordinary duties of life, as though all were right 

 within him : — whereas, in truth, death was within 

 him, and ready to strike the fatal blow, at the 

 period, perhaps, when the man himself had 

 forgotten that he had ever been bitten. Although 

 some people who have been bitten by a mad dog, 

 live under great apprehensions of their fate ; others 

 have been known to labour under hydrophobia, 

 without being the least aware of its origin. 



