CONSULTATIONS. 
457 
some queries, which I shall feel particularly obliged by your an- 
swering. What is the difference between this disease and rabies? 
An account is given of the stupidity of these patients — the loss of 
appetite — the grinding of the teeth — the frothing at the mouth — 
the coldness of the extremities — the irregularity of action — the 
movement in a circular direction — the ferocity of some of them — 
the comatose and paralyzed state of others — the suffusion of the 
eyes — the irregularity of the action of the muscles of the eye-ball — 
the increased temperature of the head, and death in a few hours. 
Now, what, I ask, are the symptoms by which I am to distin- 
guish this disease from rabies, and what was the difference in the 
post-mortem appearances'? Had there been any mad dogs in the 
place, or had the animals been bitten] 
THOMAS Mather, Douglas , Lanarkshire. 
Reply. 
Mr. Mather’s questions certainly deserve serious consideration, 
although I must frankly confess that, when I was pondering on the 
nature and cause of this mysterious disease, the possibility of its 
being one of the varying forms of rabies never occurred to me, nor 
can I now recognise in it any of the usual characters of rabies. 
There is considerable affection of the brain, but, as in sheep and 
in cattle, it has a local habitation, although not a peculiar name. 
The pressure, from whatever cause it may arise, has a tendency to 
one side of the brain alone ; the animal goes round and round, the 
seat of pressure being the centre of the circle. Here is one of the 
distinguishing symptoms respecting which Mr. Mather inquires. 
This circular motion is characteristic of compression of the brain, 
and tells us at once that there is no rabies. This nameless disease 
likewise runs its course far more speedily than rabies. The first 
calf was not ill more than twelve hours. There is, at no time, 
either the eagerness for, or the dread of, water, which almost in- 
variably accompany the different stages of rabies in cattle. No 
mention is made of the watching of imaginary objects, nor the pe- 
culiar bellowing or moaning which attends the termination of these 
fits of aberration of mind, nor the vitiated appetite which accom- 
panies the early or later stages of rabies. On the other hand, we 
do find a grinding of the teeth — a coldness of the extremities, and 
an increased temperature of the head, which we have not been 
accustomed to look for in rabies, or to be symptomatic of it. 
As to the post-mortem appearances, I speak of them with con- 
siderable hesitation, for I really do not know what they should be 
in calves. I should expect inflammation of the pharynx, the 
larynx, or the oesophagus, the mucous membrane of the fourth 
