MINUTES OF EVIDENCE ON 
CANINE MADNESS. 
Do you think that, when people having* no medical knowledge 
tell you that a man lias died of hydrophobia, it is very probable 
the complaint is mistaken for some other ?—Very probable. 
But with well-informed men such a mistake cannot take 
place ?—No. 
How long* have you been in practice?—Thirty years. 
In your opinion, is the disorder of hydrophobia increased much 
of late years ?—I cannot answer that question from my personal 
knowledge; but I should say, that, from the accounts in the 
newspapers, it has very much increased. The first twenty years 
that i was in practice I never saw a case of hydrophobia, and 
scarcely ever heard of any. Within the last ten years I have 
seen three cases, and heard of many. 
Heard of many, from whom ? —From medical authority. 
Do you consider that hydrophobia never arises except from the 
bite of some rabid animal ?—Never, in man. 
Do you consider hydrophobia, if taken in its earlier stages, is a 
disorder perfectly incurable?—I can hardly comprehend that 
question. Do you mean by its earlier stages, after the symptoms 
of the disease have shewn themselves? 
I would rather ask, after the bite of a mad dog?—Many 
persons have been bitten by rabid dogs who have never taken 
the disease: from personal knowledge I cannot say what average 
of those who have bitten become hydrophobic; but the general 
feeling in the profession is, that not one in twenty that are bitten 
takes the disease. This can be explained, in some degree, by the 
periods in which the individuals w ere bitten ; for example, if ten 
men were bitten in succession by the same dog, it is very pro¬ 
bable that if the first tw o took the disease none of the others 
would take it, because the virus was wiped off from the teeth 
before the bites were inflicted on these eight persons. 
And in biting through clothes the teeth are also cleaned ?— 
A man is much safer who is bitten through his clothes than when 
he is bitten in a naked part. 
Do you consider that there is no medicine nor remedy which 
has the power of mitigating or curing the disease?—Of miti¬ 
gating there is, but not of curing, 1 conceive the great error in 
medical men, speaking with submission, has been the searching 
for specifics; the eager desire of obtaining a remedy to cure a 
disease which cannot be cured by any specific, whilst the 
symptoms of the disease have been very much neglected. 1 
conceive that the difficulty of curing hydrophobia has arisen 
chiefly from that error in the profession; from professional men 
not studying the symptoms of the disease, but looking after spe¬ 
cifics. In the earlier stages of hydrophobia, the disease cannot 
