848. 
333 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
haps alarmed her, for she sprang on me, fastened her¬ 
self on my face, and bit through both my lips. She 
then darted down stairs, and I believe was never seen 
again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket; 
even now I am never without it. I washed myself, and 
applied the caustic with some severity to the wound; 
and my medical adviser and valued friend furnished still 
more after I got home. My object was attained, al¬ 
though at somewhat too much cost, for the expression 
of that brute’s countenance will never be forgotten.” 
Mr. Youatt very severely censures the practice in¬ 
dulged in by many persons, of allowing dogs to lick 
their hands and face. He says the habit is a very dan¬ 
gerous one, and relates a case of a lady having lost her 
life by suffering her dog to lick a pimple on her chin. 
Horses have also taken the disease from dogs licking 
their muzzles, which were scratched or chafed. 
The following extracts from Mr. Youatt’s descrip¬ 
tion of the symptoms of rabies, may prove useful in 
preventing the consequences of this dreadful malady. 
“ The early symptoms of rabies in the dog, are oc¬ 
casionally very obscure. In the greater number of ea¬ 
ses these are sullenness, fidgetiness, and continual shift¬ 
ing of posture. Where I have had opportunity, I have 
generally found these circumstances in regular succes¬ 
sion. For several consecutive hours, perhaps, he re 
treats to his basket or his bed. He shows no disposi¬ 
tion to bite, and he answers the call upon him laggard- 
ty. He is curled up, and his face is buried between his 
paws and his breast. At length he begins to be fidge¬ 
ty. He searches out new resting-places; but he very 
soon changes them for others. He takes again to his 
own bed; bat he is continually shifting his posture. He 
begins to gaze strangely about him as he lies on his 
bed. His countenance is clouded and suspicious. He 
comes to one and another of the family, and he fixes 
on them a steadfast gaze, as if he would read their ve¬ 
ry thoughts. ‘ I feel strangely ill,’ he seems to say: 
* have you anything to do with it? or you? or you?’ ” 
Has not a dog mind enough for this ? If we have ob¬ 
served a rabid dog at the commencement of the disease, 
we have seen this to the very life. 
“ A peculiar delirium is an early symptom, and one 
that will never deceive. A young man was bitten by 
one of his dogs; I was requested to meet a medical 
gentleman on the subject. I was a little behind my 
time; as I entered the room, I found the dog eagerly de¬ 
vouring a pan of sopped bread. ‘ There is no madness 
here, 5 said the gentleman. He had scarcely spoken 
when the dog quitted the sop, and with a furious bark 
sprung against the wall as if he would seize some ima¬ 
ginary object that he fancied was there. 4 Did you see 
that V was my reply. 1 What do you think of it V *1 
see nothing in it, 5 was his retort; 1 the dog heard some 
noise on the other side of the wall.’ At my serious 
urging, however, he consented to excise the part. I 
procured a poor worthless cur and got him bitten by 
this dog, and carried the disease from this dog to a 
third victim: they all became rabid one after another, 
and there my experiment ended. The serious matter 
under consideration, perhaps, justified me, in doing as 
I did. 
11 This kind of delirium is of frequent occurrence in 
the human patient. The account given by Dr. Bards- 
!ey of one of his patients, is very appropriate to our 
present purpose:—‘ I observed that he frequently fixed 
his eyes with horror and affright on some ideal object, 
and then with a sudden and violent emotion, buried his 
head beneath the bed-clothes. The next time I saw 
him repeat this action, I was induced to inquire into 
the cause of his terror. He asked whether I had not 
heard howlings and scratchings. On being answered 
in the negative, he suddenly threw himself on his knees, 
extending his arms in a defensive posture, and forcibly 
threw back his head and body; the muscles of the face 
were agitated by various spasmodic contractions; his 
eye-balls glared, and seemed ready to start from their 
sockets; and at that moment, when crying out in an 
agonizing tone, ‘Do you see that black dog V his coun¬ 
tenance and attitude exhibited the most dreadful pic¬ 
ture of complicated horror, distress and rage, that 
words can describe or imagination paint. 5 
“There is also in the human being, a peculiarity in this 
delirium which seems to distinguish it from every other 
kind of mental aberration. 1 The patient, 5 in Mr. Law¬ 
rence’s language, 4 is pursued by a thousand phantoms 
that intrude themselves upon his mind; he holds conver¬ 
sation with imaginary persons; he fancies himself sur¬ 
rounded with difficulties, and in the greatest distress. 
These thoughts seem to pass through his mind with 
wonderful rapidity, and to keep him in a state of the 
greatest distress unless he is quickly spoken to, or ad¬ 
dressed by his name, and then in a moment the charm 
is broken; every phantom of imagination disappears, 
and at once he begins to talk as calmly and connectedly 
as in perfect health.’ 
“So it is with the dog, whether he is watching the 
motes that are floating in the air, or the insects that 
are annoying him on the walls, or the foes that he fan¬ 
cies are threatening him on every side—one word re¬ 
calls him in a moment. Dispersed by the magic influ¬ 
ence of his master’s voice, every object of terror dis¬ 
appears, and he crawls towards him with the same pe¬ 
culiar expressions of attachment that used to charac¬ 
terize him. Then comes a moment’s pause—a moment 
of actual vacuity—the eye slowly closes, the head 
droops, and he seems as if his fore feet were giving 
way and he would fall: but he springs up again; eve¬ 
ry object of terror once more surrounds him—he gazes 
wildly around—he snaps—he barks, and he rushes to 
the extent of his chain, prepared to meet his imagina¬ 
ry foe. 
“ The expression of the countenance of the dog un¬ 
dergoes a considerable change, principally depending 
on the previous disposition of the animal. If he was 
naturally of an affectionate disposition, there will be 
an anxious, inquiring countenance, eloquent beyond the 
power of resisting its influence. It is made up of 
strange suppositions as to the nature of the depressions 
of mind under which he labors, mingled with some 
passing doubts, and they are but passing, as to the con¬ 
cern which the master has in the affair; but most of all, 
there is an affectionate and confiding appeal for relief. 
At the same time we observe some strange fancy, evi¬ 
dently passing through his mind, unalloyed, however, 
by the slightest portion of ferocity. 
“ In the countenance of the naturally savage brute, 
or him that has been trained to be savage, there is, in¬ 
deed a fearful change; sometimes the conjunctiva is 
highly injected ; at other times it is scarcely affected, 
but the eyes have an unusually bright and dazzling ap¬ 
pearance. They are like two balls of fire, and there is 
a peculiar transparency of the hyaloid membrane, or 
injection of that of the retina. 
“A very early symptom of rabies in the dog, is an ex¬ 
treme degree of restlessness. Frequently he is wander¬ 
ing about, shifting from corner to corner, or continually 
rising up and lying down, changing his posture in every 
possible way, disposing of his bed with his paws, shaking 
it wfith his month, bringing it to aheap, on which hecare- 
fully lays his chest or rather the pit of his stomach, and 
then rising up and bundling every portion of it out of the 
kennel. If he is put into a closed basket, he will not 
be still for an instant, but turn round and round with¬ 
out ceasing. If he is at liberty, he will seem to ima¬ 
gine that something is lost, and he will eagerly search 
round the room, and particularly every corner of it, 
with strange violence and indecision. 
