354 
J. A. COUTURE. 
four days. There is an accelerated breathing often accompanied by a 
peculiar noise resembling somewhat the howl of a dog when dreaming. 
Pathological Anatomy. —It is easily recognized by the symp¬ 
toms mentioned that the nervous system is the principal seat of the dis¬ 
ease. But we may safely say that the entire glandular substance is 
involved, and besides these the organs of deglutition, mastication, diges¬ 
tion, nutrition, respiration are acutely involved.* The specific action 
of the poison seems to be exercised specially on the medulla oblongata 
and par vaqum, the branches of which lose their natural properties; 
hence the difficulty of swallowing, the depraved appetite, alteration of 
the voice, or its entire loss, as well as the convulsions of the respira¬ 
tory muscles, are all due to derangement of this nerve ; and as the 
nervous system of the animal becomes more and more deranged, com¬ 
plete paralysis of the respiratory muscles occurs, and the animal dies 
from asphyxia.f 
The nervous centres are congested; so are the lungs, kidneys, mus¬ 
cular system and spleen, pharynx, oesophagus and stomach. This organ 
is filled up with all the unnatural substances taken during life, as hair, 
straw, wood, earth, filth, etc. 
Treatment. —This disease is generally fatal, and there is no treat¬ 
ment on which we can rely for a cure, though Dr. Mosely pretends to 
have cured upwards of forty cases by the mercurial treatment, provided 
that the bitten part had been well cauterized . He recommends strongly 
his mode of treating rabies to medical men, and assures them that it is 
an infallible one. However, every article of the materia medica has 
been tried against this malady, sometimes with success, but more often 
without any avail. Thus hellebore has been used for a time apparently 
with good effects, but finally it is found no better than the other 
medicines. Electricity is said to have cured some cases. Chloral 
hydrate has sometimes been found beneficial, so have been chloroform, 
morphine, etc. But in rabies, as in tetanus, for one or two cases cured 
by a drug, ten died when treated with the same medicine. The only 
treatment which proves of some benefit is the preventive'treatment which 
consists in cauterizing freely the bitten part. For this the actual cau¬ 
tery is generally used; however, it seems to me that nitrate of silver 
would be preferable, because it can be made to touch every part of the 
wound; whilst this can scarcely be done with the hot iron, and that the 
coagulum of the nitrate is more deep than that of the actual cautery. 
* Mayhew on the Dog. 
t Williams. 
