190 
NATURE AND TREATMENT OF RABIES. 
Blunting the Teeth 
has been proposed with a view of reducing the dog’s jaws 
to the same conditions as that of herbivorous creatures, 
whose bites are not so dangerous as those of the carnivora— 
so far, at least, as the inoculation of the rabid virus is con¬ 
cerned. 
M. Bourrel, who has had a long experience of dogs and 
rabies, has proposed this measure, but it has never been 
carried into general practice. 
Muzzling. 
The use of the muzzle has become such a popular institu¬ 
tion in nearly every country in which legislative measures for 
the prevention of injuries from dogs have been adopted, that 
any question as to the benefits conferred by it may be deemed 
superfluous by those who have not paid deep attention to the 
subject. The old muzzle has almost now r disappeared, and 
we have only to consider the more modern and improved wire 
muzzle. The most varied opinions prevail in reference to its 
value. By some it has been deemed useless or worse, whilst 
others are satisfied that by the adoption of a properly con¬ 
structed muzzle the dangers resulting from rabie6 might be 
averted. The principal French authorities incline to the 
former opinion, while the German veterinarians appear to 
favour the second. We are inclined to the opinion that the 
muzzle should only be worn on special occasions, as when 
rabies is prevalent in a locality, or when it has a tendency to 
assume an epizootic form, or in the case of vicious dogs. We 
must not forget that this muzzle cannot be an efficient safe¬ 
guard unless it is, as M. Bouley says, rivetted to the dog’s 
neck, as the manacle is to the foot of the galley-slave, and 
that night and day the animal should wear it, indoors as well 
as out-of-doors. When the disease threatens to become 
prevalent, or, indeed, when there is reason to believe that a 
mad dog has bitten several others, and these cannot be dis¬ 
covered, the use of the muzzle should be resorted to—not as 
a prophylactic, but as an adjuvant. All dogs seen in the 
streets of towns, or in the country, without a muzzle should 
be seized by the police as suspicious animals. When dis¬ 
tressed by running the dog always respires with open mouth, 
and in warm weather the transpiration that takes place in this 
cavity from the throat, tongue, and inside the cheeks tends 
to keep the creature cool, and compensates for the almost 
total absence of this process of the skin. Therefore the front 
portion of the muzzle should be sufficiently accommodating as 
