ON SPONTANEOUS RABIES. 
509 
somewhat astounded, for I never described and never saw a case 
in any degree resembling that which Mr. Dewhurst has given us. 
The third point it is unnecessary for me to enter upon if this 
was not a case of rabies ; and to Mr. Dewhurst’s question, “If this 
was not a case of spontaneous rabies, permit me to enquire of 
Mr. Youatt what it was?” I unhesitatingly answer, “ Inflamma¬ 
tory fever.” 
Mr. Dewhurst’s observations at the close of his letter are more- 
o 
nious and valuable. It is of great importance to ascertain whether 
“ violent inflammation of the bowels, or any other inflammatory 
affection, can terminate in rabies.” It may be imagined that nly 
humble opinion is decidedly in the negative : but facts alone can 
set the question perfectly at rest; and I would ask for these facts : 
I would ask for the history of any case in the quadruped or the 
biped, in which “ any inflammatory affection has terminated in 
rabies.” I should protest, however, against cases similar to those 
to which Mr. D. alludes, “ where the pain is on some occasions 
so intense as to create almost a state of madness.” Delirium, or 
madness, may result; but rabies is an affection distinct from them. 
To his second question, “ Are the agonies arising from morbid 
affections ever attributed popularly to rabies?” the case which he 
describes affords a satisfactory answer—inflammatory fever was 
mistaken for rabies ; and there can be no doubt that hundreds of 
poor dogs are yearly destroyed as being mad, in whom not one 
symptom of rabies had appeared. “It is, therefore, highly im¬ 
portant to society that a line of demarcation should be drawn 
between rabies and other diseases of an inflammatory nature.” I 
have endeavoured to draw it in the collection of papers on “ Canine 
Madness” which I have ventured to re-publish; and I would en¬ 
treat the able assistance of Mr. Dewhurst, and other scientific and 
practical men, in more clearly defining the boundaries between 
these regions of danger and death. 
The question of spontaneous rabies, as it has been somewhat 
improperly termed, and by w'hich is meant, the possibility 
of rabies originating from any other cause than the bite of a rabid 
animal, is a most important one, involving the justifiableness of 
our pleasant intercourse with our faithful and sagacious canine 
friends, the safety of our families, and the possibility of eradicating 
one of the most dreadful diseases with which a human being 
can be afflicted. 
Nassau Street, Aug. 23, 1830. 
