p. 637 | Health and Temperance by Sel.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 21, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 40.

Health and Temperance.

By Sel.

Rabies.

RABIES in dogs is attracting much attention of late, principally because of the researches of M. Pasteur, of Paris. Many erroneous ideas are prevalent as to the manifestation of rabies, which add greatly to the danger of the public. The following are some of these errors:—

1. That the disease is more prevalent in dog-days. There is little difference in months, but rather the most cases occur in spring.

2. That a mad dog dreads the water. He drinks freely at first, and readily plunges his nose in water at all stages of the disease, but cannot drink. He has been known to swim streams in his mad excursions.

3. That he refuses all food. His appetite is deranged, but he will greedily swallow almost anything that comes in his way.

4. That he runs with his tail between his legs, and saliva dribbling from his mouth. His tail is usually raised in paroxysms, and there is seldom any trickling from the mouth, until the later stages when the jaw is paralyzed.

5. That the disease is confined to dogs. Any animal is subject to it, if bitten by another rabid animal. Horses and cattle, sheep and goats, foxes and wolves, badgers and skunks, rabbits and fowls, all may have rabies, and all can communicate it to man.

Any change of manner or custom in a dog should at once arouse suspicion, and he should be watched. The licking of cold objects, the swallowing of straw or paper, the tearing of clothes or furniture, the snapping at airy nothings, are all symptoms which should cause the dog to be confined. A peculiar hoarse, muffled howl is regarded by experts as characteristic of the disease. If the case be one of rabies, a few days will probably bring on a fit of mad fury, but before that comes every observant and intelligent owner will have placed his dog where he will have no power for mischief.—Sel.