228 
ON THE COMMUNICATION OF RABIES 
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MM. Majendie and Breschet, however, set this matter at 
rest, for on the 19th of July 1823, they inoculated two dogs with 
the saliva of a hydrophobic man, and who died on the same 
day. One of the dog\s became rabid, and communicated the dis¬ 
ease to other dogs, and to some sheep. Some time afterwards 
Mr. Earle confirmed (if it had wanted confirmation, for one fact 
here is as good as a thousand) the possibility of the communica¬ 
tion of hydrophobia by the human being. In administering me¬ 
dicine to a woman hydrophobous, he was bitten by her, and he 
immediately excised the bitten part. Being joked on account of 
his unfounded fears, he inoculated several rabbits with the saliva 
of the woman, and some of them became rabid. Man then, an 
omnivorous animal, and not using his teeth as' weapons of 
offence; was clearly proved to be capable of communicating the 
disease. 
The anti-contagionists now changed their ground. Rabies 
might be communicated by an omnivorous animal, for he w as 
but a little removed from a carnivorous one ; but the gramini¬ 
vorous or herbivorous animal—no, he could never propagate it. 
I must follow these gentlemen in their retreat—for although re¬ 
treating, they were bold and confident. 
Palmarius (De Rab. Contag.) relates, tfat some horses and ! 
oxen that had eaten the litter that had served for the bed of some / 
rabid pigs, became also rabid. He says that he was an eye-wit- < 
ness of this fact. 
Drs. Beddoes and Stock, in the year 1807, accompanied Mr. 
King of Bath, to see a rabid cow, at Weston, near that city. 
Mr. King wished to experiment with her saliva, and he inocu¬ 
lated a barn-door hen with it, who, ten weeks afterwards, “ was 
observed to run at other fowls, and to refuse her food. She had 
a wild strange expression, and her eyes were bloodshot. Early 
in the follow ing day, her legs became contracted, so that she very 
soon lost the pow r er of standing upright. She remained sitting , 
with her legs rigid, refusing food and water, and appearing 
very irritable when touched, and she died in the evening. There 
was great inflammation about the cicatrices—the trachea and 
oesophagus were considerably inflamed, and the vessels of the 
