341 
AN1> REMARKS ON THAT DISEASE. 
•I 
I, myself, almost dread to play with any dog, after the horrid 
scenes of hydrophobia which I have so often witnessed, and 
which are sufficient to make anyone think it unjustifiable to keep 
a single dog that is not indispensably useful. 
Some authors have asserted, that, when communicated by a 
cat, the disease is of a different character; that there is merely 
tremor, agitation, with great restlessness, rapidity of pulse, and 
extreme debility, little or no difficulty of swallowing, and little 
morbid sensibility of the surface. I certainly saw an instance of 
this kind in the hospital four years ago: an individual had been 
bitten six weeks previously by a strange cat, which appeared to 
be mad. He had forgotten the circumstance, but he was in this 
state of agitation, and died in two days. However, cases of the 
most marked and regular hydrophobia occur from the bites of cats. 
Perhaps you will be surprised when I tell you that some per¬ 
sons actually doubt the existence of this disease, ascribing the 
whole to fear. Yet you see it is as decided and distinct in its 
character as any disease in the nosology ; it has arisen also often 
in children who never heard of the disease, and frequently in per¬ 
sons who had entirely forgotten having been bitten: I have seen 
it in children. This boy denied having received any bite, and 
make. A boy was bitten by a dog. Ten days afterwards this 
dog exhibited symptoms of rabies, and on the fourteenth day died. 
No one dreamed of danger attaching to the boy, but he became 
hydrophobous, and died. Here was an instance of rabies being 
communicated ten days before the symptoms of that disease were 
recognised. It exemplifies one of the sad disadvantages under 
which the veterinary practitioner labours. His patients cannot 
tell him the seat of pain, or its degree, or even its existence. 
This animal might have felt, for many a day, the lassitude and 
anxiety which are often the precursors of hydrophobia in the hu¬ 
man being, showing that the constitution was become affected by 
the virus, and perhaps sufficiently affected to vitiate the salivary 
discharge. I can suppose it possible that this had existed ten 
days before the malady was recognised, although, by the careful 
observer, it might have been detected some days before. I can 
suppose this possible; and so far as my limited reading goes, this 
case stands alone, supported by any authority: but when Dr. 
Elliotson tells us that u we have numerous instances of dogs im¬ 
parting the disease to human beings, at a time when there was no 
reason to believe the dogs mad, and that sometime afterwards, 
perhaps even after the person so bitten or licked has become 
rabid, the disease has appeared in the animal,” I feel myself 
bound to call upon him for the proof of this; for, if the state- 
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