Rabirs. 
5 
Persons or Animals Bitten. 
The wound should be cauterized at once, before the virus has had 
time to find its way beyond the point of reach of the cautery. This 
can best be done by the use of a red hot iron or by the use of dilute 
nitric or sulphuric acid applied deep into the wound with a stick, if 
nothing better is at hand. Nothing short of reaching the entire depth 
of the wound will be effective and this must be done at once. Lysso- 
phobia, or fear of rabies, is common in nervous persons, who have 
been bitten by a dog rabid or normal. Should the dog biting a person 
be found free from rabies after keeping him confined for ten days, or 
a microscopic examination or by rabbit inoculation, the mind of the 
person should be set at ease. Should the dog be found to be rabid, the 
Pasteur Treatment, being a sure preventative when the person goes 
early, should also set the mind at rest. 
Period of Incubation. 
The period from the time the bite is inflicted until the symptoms 
of the disease appear, varies from three or four weeks to several months. 
It is doubtful if any authentic cases have developed after eighteen to 
twenty-four months. 
The length of time that elapses from the bite until the animal 
developes the disease depends largely on two factors: first, the location 
of the wound, and second, the severity of the lacerations. The fact 
has long been established that the virus travels the course of the nerves. 
Thus if the wounds are in the facial regions the course from the inoc¬ 
ulated point to the brain is short and the disease develops quicker. 
The deeper and more severe the lacerations, the greater the quantity 
of saliva introduced into the wound and the more dangerous it is. 
Thus in scratches the danger is not so great as when the tooth pene¬ 
trates the flesh. Bleeding has a tendency to wash out some of the virus 
and lessen the danger. 
In dogs, street rabies usually develops in from 23 to 35 days, in 
horses and cattle in from 4 to 6 weeks, in hogs and cats the time is 
about the same as in dogs. Street rabies is that form found from nat¬ 
ural infection. The virus from one animal may be more or less virulent 
than from another. 
The disease develops- in pups quicker than in adult dogs, and in 
children in less time than in adults. In mature people the period of in¬ 
cubation is from 40 days to three months. While the mortality is 
considered to be 100 per cent., yet, conservative estimates place the 
number of those bitten that develop the disease at 16 to 20 per cent. 
Under certain conditions the percentage runs higher. The clothing 
or the thick coat of hair, in animals, has a tendency to clean the teeth 
of saliva and lessens the probability of infection. 
Dumb Rabies. 
The form known as dumb rabies may characterize the disease 
from the first or may develop in the later stages of the furious type. 
This form of disease runs a more rapid course, and by some is 
