326 
APPENDIX.—D. 
“ It becomes not me to say further of these accounts ; but 
others have said of them, that they furnished the most faithful 
picture of the disease that had, at that period, ever appeared. 
I would hope therefore, that, in the present detail, as much has 
been added on the subject to each several edition of the work, 
and to none more than the present, what follows will be found 
more amply to elucidate former opinions, correct erroneous or 
doubtful positions, and to collate new and illustrative facts.” 
Hereupon in Mr. Blaine’s work follows a learned dissertation 
on the origin, causes, &c., of this disease, a refutation of a 
number of ideas formerly prevalent, but so absurd as to have 
become now entirely obsolete, even with the lowest and most 
ignorant, or what is worse, prejudiced orders; such as, “that 
a mad dog carries his tail between his legs—that he is instinc¬ 
tively avoided by others—that bread, meat, &c., besmeared with 
the saliva, blood, or any of the secretions of a mad dog, is re¬ 
fused with horror by others—that the bite of a healthy dog, 
should he become at any time afterwards rabid, is dangerous— 
all of which, are not only “ errors of the grossest kind, but may 
lead to very serious danger.” 
This dissertation, although very interesting, is not directly to 
the point in a work of this nature, and I shall therefore pass 
directly on to his consideration of symptoms, diagnosis, etc., 
merely stating here, that Mr. Blaine, after stating that canine 
madness, like syphilis, small-pox, and many other diseases, was 
originally spontaneous, proceeds to give it as his “ own opinion— 
formed on an acquaintance with it of thirty years, in a great 
many of which the rabid cases amounted to several hundreds 
per year—is most decidedly in favor of the contagious origin of 
the disease ”—at present, he is understood from the context— 
and none other. 
Mr. Youatt coincides with Mr. Blaine in this opinion, and, in 
his pamphlet on this subject, says, after debating the above 
point, I think we are justified in concluding from the foregoing 
statement, that rabies is produced by inoculation alone.. 
1 scarcely need observe that the writers mean, produced in 
