RABIES CANINA. 
211 
either as a curative or preventive agent. I have seen a 
shepherd pull a few hairs off his dog, and apply them to a 
wound which the dog had just made in the leg of a boy. In 
this case the application was to cure the wound, and to 
prevent bad consequences — such as the occurrence of hydro- 
phobia.” — From i Notes and Queries ? 
Varied I know are the opinions of professional men as to 
the engenderment of this awful and uncontrollable malady. 
Some assert that it arises spontaneously, from high feeding, 
and the abominable practice of making dogs 'ferocious by 
training them to fight. But, since the exertions of the Royal 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have been 
made general, and since it has done away with the practice 
of dog-fighting, and with those cruelties which were practised 
in the dog-pits, it is notoriously true that rabies has been 
less frequently observed, and consequently that “ The So- 
ciety” has not only been of the greatest possible advantage 
to the brute creation, but has been of the utmost service to 
man, by saving the lives of many individuals who might have 
become victims to this awful disorder. Others assert that it 
is produced by inoculation, and by inoculation only. Who 
can possibly deny it ? But how was it produced originally ? 
If, then, as other diseases to which flesh is heir, why not in 
the present age ? It has existed from the earliest time — 
allusions are to be found regarding it in the writings of 
Aristotle, and to Coelius Aurelianus, are we indebted for an 
original description of its symptoms and progress. Its cure 
has hitherto evaded the suggestions of science, and the 
stupid — nay, blind — attempts of empirics. 
The period between the imbibition of the virus and its 
development is longer than that of any other poisonous 
agent with which we are acquainted.* Mr. W. C. Spooner 
says the usual period is about six weeks, but it ranges from 
seventeen days to six or seven months ; the duration of it, 
from four to six days. A dog that has been bitten, if the 
animal be of sufficient value, should be kept carefully secured, 
and made to undergo a probationary quarantine of not less 
than six months. 
* Percivall, in his 1 Glanders and Farcy in the Horse/ relates a case in which 
the incubation of the virus of glanders amounted to fifteen weeks ! 
