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SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
MASSACHUSETTS VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
The regular meeting of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association 
was held on May 28th, 1890, at No. 19 Boylston Place, Boston, President Thomas 
Blackwood in the Chair. 
The following members were present: Drs. Blackwood, Bryden, Howard, 
Lee, Marshall, Peterson, J. S. Saunders, Skally, Winchester and Charles Winslow. 
Honorary member, J. H. Stickney. Visitors, Dr. H. C. Ernst, Dr. J. G. 
Whitney, Pawtucket, R. I. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read and accepted. 
Dr. Winchester moved that the matter of Dr. K. Winslow’s resignation be 
acted upon at a later meeting. Seconded, carried. 
The meeting having been called for a discussion of rabies, to be opened by 
Dr. Winchester, he opened the discussion by saying that he claimed no origi¬ 
nality for what he had to say, but simply gave a short r6sum6 of the views of 
others, quoting Ziegler, Bruckmuller, Fleming and other pathologists. He then 
spoke of how difficult it is for the veterinarian to make a correct diagnosis of 
rabies in his patients unless he has a good history of the case or verifies his diag¬ 
nosis by experiment. He concluded by giving Dr. F. S. Billings’ views of the 
disease, especially its having but one termination, and that a fatal one. 
The chair then called upon Dr. H. C. Ernst, of the Bacteriological Labora¬ 
tory of the Harvard Medical School, to follow Dr. Winchester in the discussion. 
Dr. Ernst commenced by saying that he regretted that he could not hear 
more from other members present on their individual views before speaking him¬ 
self, and also hoped that any shortcomings on his part would be excused, as he 
had hardly rested from a trip to the West. He did not see how any one could 
doubt the existence of rabies. Most writers on pathological anatomy are ready 
to acknowledge that many things which they wrote a few years ago are wrong 
to day ; there is no doubt about the disease being in existence, and it is believed 
to be due to a contagium vivum. 
He said that no wonder the symptoms vary, depending as in a disorder of 
the nervous system upon the temperament of the dog and the surrounding influ¬ 
ences of excitement or quiet. He quoted the case of a colley dog which he 
owned which had recently died of rabies, a great change being noted in his dis¬ 
position in a few hours between the morning and the afternoon of the day he 
was taken with the malady. The dog, after two or three days of suffering, was 
chloroformed. In this case there was a history of the dog having been bitten 
about three weeks previous to the time he w r as seized, by a strange dog passing 
through the street. 
Dr. Ernst believes the term “hydrophobia” to be a misnomer, as the dis¬ 
ease is not accompanied by a fear of water. We cannot judge of the disease in 
man by this symptom (fear of water), as the name “ hydrophobia” may have an 
effect upon the mind of a person, affecting the imagination, whereas it would not 
among the lower animals. He then spoke of a recent case of rabies in a man at 
the Massachusetts General Hospital. This man said lhat he was conscious at all 
times during the progress of the disease, but that he had not the power to resist 
