RABIES, HOW PROPAGATED. 3^3 5 
cous surface. Bread smeared with the saliva of a rabid dog has 
been eaten by another dog without the slightest bad consequence. 
The mucous surfaces are far more susceptible of abrasion than 
the cuticular ones, and in these fatal cases abrasion might possi¬ 
bly have existed. You will be very cautious, then, in the opinion 
which you give, and very decisive in your treatment whenever 
there is a probability of the virus having come in contact with a 
mucous surface. It was on this principle that it was thought 
necessary to apply the caustic so freely to the lips of the lady, and 
the mouth of the young nobleman, as related in a former Lecture. 
The Coach Dog and the Horse .—We have frequent illus¬ 
tration of the danger of the poison being imbibed through 
the medium of these surfaces. There is a strong attachment 
between the Danish dog and the carriage horse. It may be 
pleasing to many persons to witness the interchange of caresses 
between them : but the veterinary surgeon likes it not, and is often 
tempted to wish that this intercourse between the two quadru¬ 
peds were less encouraged. Not even under the strongest excite¬ 
ment of rabies will this dog be induced to bite his companion and 
friend ; yet it is rare that the coach dog dies rabid without the 
horse speedily following him. This fact deserves to be more 
extensively known. It is noble to see this beautifully spotted 
animal bounding along by the side of his companion and friend, 
but there is danger about it. I have known more than a dozen 
instances in which the friends have been too soon united in death. 
Rabies, how propagated ?—Then we are advanced thus far. 
Rabies, whatever might have been its origin, is propagated by 
inoculation alone. I once more ask for the record of a single 
case of spontaneous rabies; the symptoms, and the power of 
propagating the disease, being clearly stated and proved. 
The virus of every rabid animal is capable of communicating 
the disease. It is chiefly propagated by the dog, because with 
him the teeth are the natural weapons of offence; but there are 
instances of its having been produced by the saliva of the wolf, 
the fox, the cat, the badger, the human being, the swine, the 
horse, and the ox*. It follows this, as yet without a known ex- 
* Dr. Bardsley, in the very excellent article “ Hydrophobia” in the Cyclo- 
p'didia of Practical Medicine, makes the followiiifr remarks : ” Later investi<(a- 
tions seem to shew that the herbivorous animals do not easily communicate 
the disease; but the whole evidence adduced is jcjeune and meagre, 
and the paucity of cases of communication may result from the pacific dis- 
])Osition of such animals. It is the nature of the carnivora to be easily 
roused to rafre, combat, and violence. The Author of Nature has made them 
so, because by combat and violence he has destined them to .support their 
c.xislence ; but the pacific races that croj) the flowery mead, and i)articipate 
