176 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
and then becoming active, developed the disease 
in all its terrors. His theory in respect to such 
cases agrees with that of present day veteri¬ 
narians ; that is, the virus was lodged in some 
tissue through which it took a long time to pass 
into the circulation, after which the disease be¬ 
came virulent. 
As mentioned before, rabies can be developed 
by inoculation only. In most cases it is caused 
by- the saliva of the rabid animal. The virus 
is forced by the teeth into the tissues and thus 
into the circulation of the animal bitten. How¬ 
ever, it may be introduced without a bite. Rabies 
may arise from post-mortems of rabid animals. 
Any break in the skin is sufficient to insure in¬ 
oculation if the virus comes in contact there¬ 
with. 
Rabies appears in two forms, the dumb rabies 
and the rabies of intermittent quiet and violence. 
Both are the same disease with different effects. 
Dumb rabies has distinct and extensive para¬ 
lytic features, and while it has also many of 
the general symptoms of active rabies, the dog 
is physically incapable of so much furious 
violence. Abnormal actions and appetites are 
conspicuous symptoms. An insatiable thirst, a 
disposition to rest in retired nooks out of strong 
light, loss of appetite, restlessness, a sinister ex¬ 
pression of eye, apathy which changes to fret¬ 
fulness and irritability, a craving for articles to 
chew and tear, a sniffling and snorting at in¬ 
tervals, are chief symptoms. After three or 
four days the muscles of the jaws become para¬ 
lyzed, the lower jaw drops, convulsions set in 
and sap the strength of the victim, and death 
ensues in four or five days. Before paralysis 
of the jaw sets in, the dog may become furious 
and savagely vicious and dangerous on oppor¬ 
tunity. Delirium with sane moments intermit¬ 
tently occurring may follow the early symptoms. 
The active form of rabies has many similar 
symptoms. The disease develops progressively 
through several days before the furious stage, 
and is therefore not a spontaneous outbreak, 
contrary to public belief. The most conspicu¬ 
ous symptoms are loss of appetite, a violent 
thirst, alertness or apathy betimes, a sinister 
suspicion of everybody and everything, a snap¬ 
ping at phantoms of the air, savage attacks on 
objects animate and inanimate, furious charges 
toward an imaginary enemy, an incessant paw¬ 
ing of his bed into a bunch or scattering of it, 
an anxious expression, eating foreign substances, 
frantic anger at trifling annoyances, and a 
change of voice to a hoarse, croupy tone are 
of the main symptoms. 
On the third or fourth day, the convulsions 
gradually give way to paralysis and death. The 
change of voice is probably due to the gradual 
paralysis of the cheek and throat muscles and 
vocal cords. The dog has a fierce craving for 
water. He will plunge his head into it, but 
owing to the paralysis of the throat cannot swal¬ 
low'. In the earlier stages there is an intense 
restlessness which finds expression in fidgeting, 
sullenness, wandering about the kennel, or in 
aimless tours over a large or small area of 
country in which he may do irreparable dam¬ 
age. He may return to his home, excite no sus¬ 
picion in the mind of his master that anything 
is wrong, and wander away again. Or he may 
start violently at the slightest sound, sees alarm¬ 
ing visions, is quiet for a moment only in any 
one place, and his limbs frequently have the 
jerky motions of chorea. In his furious attacks 
he seems to be oblivious to pain. He may at¬ 
tack a board or post, etc., so viciously as to 
tear out his teeth, or bruise lips and tongue, 
without any manifestation of physical suffering. 
1 he virus, once in the system of the human 
subject, is almost always fatal. The Pasteur 
treatment finds much favor with many, but it 
has a multitude of uncompromising opponents, 
among whom are men of scientific attainments. 
One of the chief objections is that hydrophobia 
may be caused where there was no hydrophobia 
before, or that other troubles of a serious nature 
may be introduced. The treatment consists of 
subcutaneous injections of the emulsion of the 
rabid spinal cord, commencing with a weak virus, 
which is gradually increased in strength till a 
strong virus is reached. The injections are ad¬ 
ministered daily, through a period of three or 
four weeks. 
Probably rabies can never be wholly eradi ■ 
cated in this country. England has practically 
accomplished the stamping out of this disease 
by regulation and quarantine, but the existing 
conditions in respect to the two countries are 
so unlike that what may hold good in one 
country may be inoperative in the other. 
As bearing on this point the following news 
item, taken from a daily paper, recounts a case 
of hydrophobia as follows: 
“The bite of a mad wolf is responsible for the 
death of Herbert Lewis, of Chaffee, Mo. The 
wolf, afflicted with rabies, came out of the woods 
and ran through the town, biting Lewis, James 
Tucker and Richard Stokes.” 
Thus it is obvious that if all the dogs at 
present existing were destroyed, and a new lot, 
perfectly healthy, was secured, a recurrence of 
the disease is possible and probable from in¬ 
oculation from wolves, foxes, cats, skunks, etc. 
The best possible safeguard, however, is forth¬ 
with to destroy any animal which has the disease 
and to quarantine any animal suspected of hav¬ 
ing it. Also to note carefully the condition of 
the dog’s health always. If any unusual symp¬ 
toms develop, a veterinarian should be consulted 
to the end that the owner knows absolutely 
whether the dog is safe or unsafe as a com¬ 
panion or servant. 
Adirondack Drowned State Lands. 
The Association for the Protection of the 
Adirondacks has just issued an illustrated pam¬ 
phlet entitled “No. 17. Drowned State Lands 
on the Saranac River,” which gives an interest¬ 
ing history of the injunction case of the State 
of New York against the Paul Smith’s Electric 
Light and Power and Railroad Company now 
pending in the Supreme Court. The Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission on May 25 secured 
a temporary injunction against the Paul Smith 
Company to restrain it from taking State land 
on the Saranac River and flooding it and de¬ 
stroying the forests thereon by its power dams 
at Franklin Falls and Union Falls. The forest 
officials declare that in violation of Section 7, of 
Article VII. of the Constitution, and contrary , 
to the forest, fish and game law, the Paul 
Smith Company, for a period beginning last 
winter and continuing up to May 25, flooded 270 
acres of State land and threatened to flood a 
total of 485 acres and killed about 7,500 trees. 
They have secured a temporary injunction, and 
[Aug. 1, 1908. 
• 
the Paul Smith Company has let the w r ater out 
of its reservoirs pending the hearing on making 
the injunction permanent; but'the land has al¬ 
ready been flooded so long, according to the 
pamphlet just issued, that irreparable injury has 
been done to the forests on the State land. Pic¬ 
tures of leafless trees, uprooted and fallen trees, 
trees girdled by the ice, and areas of dead wood 
jungle, are given to show the havoc wrought. 
According to the Association for the Protec¬ 
tion of the Adirondacks, the Paul Smith Com¬ 
pany began hauling materials for these dams 
in the winter of 1904-1905; and notwithstanding 
the company’s knowledge that its dams would, 
flood State land, and the warning by the Forest 
Commission that it was unlawful to flood State 
lands, and also in spite of the refusal of the 
River Improvement Commission in 1905 to grant 
the application for the building of the dams, the 
company went ahead and finished them. Last 
winter the company closed the gates in the dams 
and set the water back with the destructive re¬ 
sults described. While the State land was thus 
flooded, the pamphlet alleges, the Paul Smith 
Company informed the forest officials that no 
State land was flooded. When the forest offi¬ 
cials found out that they were misinformed they 
promptly secured the temporary injunction which 
they seek to have made permanent. The pam¬ 
phlet plainly intimates that the application in 
1905, for the regulation of the Saranac River 
on the ground of “public health and safety,’’ 
was merely a subterfuge by which the Paul 
Smith Company hoped to secure permission to 
flood State land. That application was success¬ 
fully opposed by the Association for the Pro¬ 
tection of the Adirondacks through Hon. Joseph 
H. Choate and Hon. Edward B. Whitney, the 
latter formerly Assistant United States Attor¬ 
ney General under President Cleveland. When 
the case comes up for a final hearing before 
Justice Spencer, at Gloversville, the counsel for 
the P'orest Commission will make a strong fight 
to maintain the constitution. Lovers of the Adi¬ 
rondacks all over the State are interested in 
the issue. 
How a Snake Sheds its Skin. 
The snake was on exhibition in a glass case 
at a drug store in Perry, N. Y. When dust¬ 
ing off the case in the morning the proprietor 
noticed that the snake’s skin was rough or loose 
at the back of the head. A little later a distinct 
ring of new skin was visible between the head 
and the old skin. In the afternoon perhaps six 
inches of the body was free from the skin, and 
the work of emergence was proceeding slowly 
and with difficulty. The body would shorten 
and expand under the old skin very much as 
the body of an eel grows rigid in the hand when 
grasped. 1 hen while the old skin was held 
tight by the expanded part within, the part im¬ 
mediately in front of the old skin extended, 
narrowed, and one or two rings slipped out of 
the skin, which was slowly inverted just as the 
finger of a tight glove is inverted when it is 
removed from the hand. After a period of rest 
the process was repeated, each effort freeing, I 
should judge, about one-sixteenth of an inch 
of the body. Next morning the cast off skin lay 
on the bottom of the box, while his snakeship 
was resplendent in a bran new suit. 
I. P. Bishop. 
