234 
ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
nerves, which supplied the parts bitten by the dog, were appa¬ 
rently healthy. In the brain and its membranes no morbid ap¬ 
pearances were detected. The vessels were unusually healthy, 
and the cortical substance was rather paler than usual. The 
spinal cord and its tunics did not present any deviation from 
healthy structure. The heart was remarkably firm and con¬ 
tracted, and contained no blood. The lungs were of a dark 
colour in some parts, and in others more of a rosy hue. The 
mucous membrane of the trachea, immediately before its bifur¬ 
cation, was highly vascular. The submaxillary and sublingual 
glands were much enlarged. 
On opening the pharynx, it was evident that this part had been 
much affected during life. The greater part of its inner surface 
was intensely inflamed, and terminated in a defined line opposite 
to the cricoid cartilages. The velum pendulum palati and most 
_ parts of the pharynx shewed great development of the mucous 
glands. The tonsils were slightly enlarged. The oesophagus 
was greatly inflamed near its termination, and in one part the 
mucous membrane was slightly abraded. The whole mucous 
membrane was so softened that the slightest touch of the scalpel 
separated it. 
‘‘The stomach was remarkably contracted, and completely 
empty. Intense inflammatory patches were seen on the rugae, 
which were very much developed. The mucus was very thick, and 
in some parts of an unusually deep colour. On one of the rugae 
was observed a dark spot about the size of a small shot. The sto¬ 
mach appeared healthy between the rugae, but had in some places 
a darker colour than natural. The mucous membrane of the 
duodenum also displayed intense inflammation, and the glandules 
solitaries were exceedingly enlarged, and very numerous. The 
whole of the nervous system was remarkably developed, and the 
ganglia of the sympathetic were larger and of a deeper colour 
than usual. 
The true Character of Rabies. —We are now enabled to form 
some notion of the actual nature and character of this dreadful 
disease. It is a state of excessive nervous irritation, by which 
the system is ultimately exhausted. The nervous excitation 
commences probably from the very moment that the wound 
is inflicted, or the saliva of the rabid animal has been brought 
into contact with some denuded surface. Although the wound 
or the sore may heal, there is some action set up either of an 
inflammatory nature, by which the tissue undergoes a gra¬ 
dual process of irritation, so that it is at length induced to 
respond to the morbific influence continually exerted upon it—or 
it is so debilitated, that it can no longer oppose resistance to the 
