THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XI, No. 130.] OCTOBER 1838. [New Series, No. 70 . 
ON RABIES. 
Bj/ Professor O. Del a fond, of Alfort. 
[Since the last lecture on Rabies was printed, we have had the 
honour of receiving from Professor Delafond a most valuable 
work, just published, on ''the Sanitary Police of all domes¬ 
ticated Animals.” On the very earliest opportunity we will 
present our readers with a review of it. In the meantime, we 
extract his opinion of the nature and causes of Rabies. Had 
the work sooner come into our possession, we should have 
enriched our lectures with many a valuable remark; but, 
perhaps, it is better as it is. The opinions of the French and 
English schools will be more pleasantly and profitably con¬ 
trasted. In that spirit of mutual good feeling which, we trust, 
is beginning to prevail, and ever will subsist between the con¬ 
tinental and English veterinarians, we translate the section on 
Rabies, without a single comment. Let our readers on both 
sides of the channel form their own unbiassed judgment.—Y.] 
RABIES is a malady peculiar to the dog and cat species, the 
seat and the nature of which are not yet sufficiently known. It 
is contagious with regard to man, and every species of animal;— 
its name alone terrifies, and it is, unfortunately, incurable. We 
will not speak of the causes of rabies—they are foreign to the 
subject on which we are now treating. We will only say, that 
dogs particularly, cats, wolves, foxes, and badgers, have rabies 
spontaneously (Spontaneous Rabies ); and that men, horses, 
cattle, sheep, and swine, also have the same disease; but it is 
always transmitted to them by the preceding classes of animals 
(Communicated Rabies). 
Rabies attacks the dog at all seasons of the year; but, accord¬ 
ing to some authors, rabid animals are more numerous in May 
and September, and more rare in January and March than in any 
other months of the year. Although this calculation is founded 
on one bundled and fourteen indisputable facts, it is not, perhajis, 
VOL. XI. 3 Y 
