444 
G. ARCHIE STOCKWELL. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
RABIES VERSUS COMMON SENSE. 
By G. Archie Stock well, M.D., F.Z.S. 
“ Dogs suffer from rabies. This induces a state of madne 
and all creatures which are thus bitten by them are likew: 
attacked with the malady. It is fatal to dogs, and likewise 
others that are bitten by them.” Thus wrote Aristotle me 
than two thousand yeais ago; and two hundred years befc 
Democritus described the same as an “ affection of the nerves 
Again, A. D., 176, or thereabouts, Celsus, a contemporary 
Galen, declared: “ If the wound produced by the bite of a m; 
dog be not promptly and energetically treated, hydrophobia * ( 
sues—a most deplorable malady; one in which no hopes 
recovery can be entertained.” The same author farther reco 
mends the virus to be u drawn from the wound by means of ci 
ping glasses, treated by the hot iron or other cauterizing agen 
and systematically bled.” A detailed account of the malady 
also handed down to us from the pen of Dioscoredes, who flo' 
ished about the same time, and that embodies pretty much 
that is known of the subject even to this hour, aside from me 
speculative theories; he pronounces it “ frightful;” avers the i 
possibility of saving life once it has fairly manifested itself; ( 
scribes the varying period of incubation; insists upon the imp 
tance of preventive measures ; and recommends caustics, ligatur 
scarification, and even amputation. Cselius Aurelianus, half 
century later, treated the subject with wearisome accuracy, del 
eating all the important factors of the disease, even to orig 
progression, absorption, localization, differential diagnosis, etc. 
In spite of the lapse of centuries and strides of medical scien* 
especially in the direction of pathology and specific and septic p 
sons, it is humiliating to be forced to acknowledge, that in so 1 
* This is the first application of the Greek word of which we have i 
knowledge, and manifestly is employed to designate a symptom, and not 
specific of a malady. 
