538 
MISCELLANEA. 
pendant jaw. As he goes along, he laps eagerly at every water- 
pool, and snaps at whatever he meets. He does not exactly attack 
his object, but gives it a bite in passing. He is seldom savage 
unless persecuted; but every movement is petulant and peevish 
in the earlier stage : like a spoiled child, nothing is right. In 
hounds and kennelled dogs the savage character is more developed, 
which was the principal symptom noted by the celebrated Mr. 
Meynell in his own kennel. 
I am disposed to think the furious savageness more owing to 
the treatment they receive when suspected, than from any dispo- 
sition the disease excites in them ; for the cry of “ mad dog” is as 
terrible to them as to their unrelenting pursuers. In lap-dogs and 
ladies’ favourites, gentleness prevails remarkably to the last, and 
many times the delicate hand of the fair mistress fondles uncon- 
sciously her little pet in a rabid state, without suspecting her peril. 
If observed closely, they, rather than bite, take the hand or foot 
in the mouth, and play with it, but with a sullen awkwardness : 
they cannot be controlled as usual, nor can they be frightened ; 
they are indifferent to all ; a perverse, petulant, and dogged dis- 
position, with a treacherous insincerity even to the best friend, 
possesses them. But an unerring symptom, which, once heard, can- 
not be forgotten, is the noise they frequently utter; — it is a peculiar 
melancholy sharp howl— a sort of plaintive cry, as if caused by 
inward pain or severe grief : the head is held up in the air, and 
the heavy slow tongue of the hound is given with a sort of dismal 
moan : this, with the anxious eye bloodshot or diffused with mat- 
ter, the snapping at objects which they fancy before them from 
impaired vision, and the anxious countenance, frothing mouth, and 
pendant jaw, are certain indications of rabies in its most dreaded 
form. To kill him is merciful. 
The above symptoms, if carefully noted, will lead the owner at 
once to detect the disease before mischief is done ; and the quiet 
and pacific manner of his dog should give him reason to be 
guarded, for the fatal snap may be given when otherwise least 
expected. In almost every stage, unless persecuted, he exhibits 
this quietude. It is a vulgar notion that mad dogs cannot drink 
Avater : not only do they drink, but the parched tongue urges them 
to seek every chance of getting water. It is true, fluids are badly 
swallowed, on account of a peculiar or spasmodic affection of the 
constrictor and pharyngeal muscles used in the act of deglutition, 
which is the case in the human hydrophobia, else they drink with 
avidity in all stages of madness. Also that the worm under the 
tongue of the dog is the cause of the disease in that animal is 
equally an error. The frenum, which is a duplicature of mem- 
brane holding down the tongue to prevent its being swallowed, is 
