162 
HERMANN M. BIGGS. 
flnencod by any desire to rear some original pet theory, our con¬ 
clusions have been cautiously and impartially drawn. We have 
not, however, been oblivious of the fact that popular prejudice 
is somewhat disposed to deem it presumption in a younger mem¬ 
ber of the profession to doubt the views entertained by his 
seniors, especially when he essays to place those doubts on paper, 
and therefore our defense is that, having carefully examined the 
various hypotheses advanced by the different writers on the sub¬ 
ject, in our deliberate judgment there are excellent reasons for 
seriously doubting the soundness of the views generally enter¬ 
tained by the profession; and such it has been the object of this 
paper to show, in the hope that it might aid in stimulating more 
competent members of the profession to greater exertions and 
thereby expedite the settlement of this much vexed question. 
Incognitus. 
THE /ETIOLOGY OF RABIES 
AND THE METHOD OF M. PASTEUR FOR ITS PREVENTION.* 
By Hermann M. Biggs, M. D., 
Instructor in the Carnegie Laboratory. 
The aetiology of rabies and the investigations of the cause or 
causes of the disease and of the conditions which predispose to 
its development or act directly in its production, form subjects of 
inquiry of the greatest importance. Upon the solution of these 
questions depends largely the determination of the methods to be 
sought for in the prevention of this disease, which is perhaps the 
most terrible one to which the human or animal organism is 
subject. Much study has been given to these questions, and 
among the writers who have made investigations in this direction 
may be found many of the most distinguished veterinarians of 
every generation. These investigations, however, have resulted 
only in the presentation of many hypotheses as to the nature and 
character of these causes. They have not established a single 
♦Read before the New York County Medical Association, March 8, 1886, and 
reprinted from the New York Medical Journal. 
