ON RABIES IN THE BOG. 
29 
and I can give a remarkable instance as proof. When I resided 
in Hampshire, I occupied a farm, a mile and a half from the one 
which belonged to my house, and where the man who had the 
charge of it kept one of the most vigilant dog curs I ever beheld. 
No one could pass, or even approach the house without his tongue 
being heard, and, having a dislike to me, he gave notice of my 
approach long before my arrival. Well ; one might suppose such an 
animal would be useful ; but mark the result. It was the custom 
of my servant, when any quantity of threshed grain lay on the 
floor, to put this apparently faithful and vigilant animal into a cow- 
house, adjoining the barn, and within six steps of the door that led 
into it. The barn was robbed of a quantity of beans one night, 
the thieves entering by this door, but no tongue was heard. On a 
second occasion, a quantity of wheat lay on the floor, and the dog 
was again placed in the cow-house. My servant happening to 
awake in the night, saw, by the light of the moon, a man coming out 
of the same door, with a well-filled sack of wheat, having a donkey 
at hand to carry it off, but not a whimper from the cur dog was 
heard. Having a gun in his hand, the thief was secured, and 
convicted at Winchester of the offence. But the cur, it may be said, 
is necessary to protect the property of the cottager. I deny this. 
In the first place, his constant yelping, for he will bark at the moon, 
creates no alarm ; and, in the next, what are a dozen cabbages, or even 
a few fowls, when put into the scale against the chances of spreading 
the horrible disease alluded to ! The yard dog is also, as perpetual 
instances assure us, subject to the same spell as that by which my 
cur was made dumb; in short, as Townsend, the Bow-street officer, 
told a friend of mine, house dogs are of no avail. “ If you wish 
to have your house secure from thieves,” said he, “ a small cur 
hitch , and a light in a window, varying the window occasionally, 
give you the best chance.” An additional tax on cur dogs would, 
no doubt, be desirable; and it is, I believe, an established fact, that 
there are more cases of rabies in dogs than in bitches. Indeed, 
there did exist a vulgar notion, that a pregnant bitch is inaccessible 
to the disease. Credat Judceus ; non ego : but none of these old 
notions are quite destitute of foundation, as Pasley says of common 
sayings. They are common, because they are true. 
I now come to the main point of all. — How is rabies canina 
propagated ? You say, by inoculation, and by that alone. You 
challenge the production of a single well-established case of spontane- 
ous rabies, and I do not find your challenge is accepted. Well, this 
is a great point gained, as far as allaying the fears of persons from 
dogs which they are led to believe are kept in that state favourable 
to the production of the disease. In one case within my knowledge, 
you are certainly borne out in your assertion. Some years back, 
