464 
FRANK S. BILLINGS. 
for the bucket with great fury with its horns , smashing it all tc 
pieces, and never leaving it until we finally got away the hoopt 
and bail and a few pieces with a fork between the bars . 
Now, to my mind, this exactly corresponds to the action of 
human beings, and goes to prove that rabies can occur in human 
beings, notwithstanding the doubts of Dalles, of Philadelphia, 
and my sincere friend Spitzka, of New York. A human bein* 
if actually rabid, does not fear water, hence there is no such 
thing as hydrophobia; but such a person has a most intense fear 
of the pain of swallowing, or perhaps, more truly, of choking to 
death, from the experience of such attempts either with food or 
drink at such times; knowing these agonies, he or she dashes 
the offered glass, or food, out of the hand of the kindly meaning 
attendant, or if they have more will make an attempt to swallow, 
but in the agony caused by the intense spasmodic contraction of 
the pharynx and oesophagus, dashes the glass to the floor or the 
wall, ^n a corresponding manner to that in which this steer acted. 
The animal seemed to have an actual realization of its true con¬ 
dition ; it wanted the water, no one can tell how much, it had not 
swallowed a drop in 36 hours at least, and because it could not 
swallow it, it smashed the offending object all to pieces. Once out 
of sight it again became quiet. 
These phenomena, with my other observations, led me neces¬ 
sarily, to the conclusion that this must indeed be a case of rabies 
bovina, and that as all the symptoms seen in the other animal, 
with the exception of this one, were exactly of the same nature, 
that this also must have been rabies. 
I will state that Mr. Vance had observed the same singular 
action of this steer every time he had offered it water. 
In conclusion of these historical remarks, I will also say 
that Mr. V. reported once, that the house-dog also bit other 
dogs on the same day it worried the cows, two of which were at 
once killed, and that the owner of the one which was not killed 
lately told him that it went mad recently while he was on his 
way to go gunning, and that he at once shot it. 
Though we must take this assertion cum grano salis , yet 
it still has some circumstantial value. 
{To be continued .) 
