American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-11-30
About HydrOphObia.

CANINE madness, that hopeless malady
which is communicable to other animals,
and to the human race, is commonly spo-
ken of as ''hydrOphobia." AS no known
remedy exists, it is important to be able
| to recognize its symptoms, in order to be
upon our guard and take every possible
preventive measure.
HydrOphobia simply means the dread
of water, which is one of the symptoms
of canine madness; but the same symp-
tom also occurs in other diseases distinct
from it. The horror of water almost mot
absolutely always accompanies canine
madness. but it is also met with, in great
er or less intensity, in several nervous dis
eases. 1t may be brought on by strong
mental emotion OF various kinds. A
| schOOlmaster, after violent fit of anger,
died in fifteen hours, with decided symp-
toms of hydrophobia. Fright will have
the same effect. A man bitten by a dog
which he believed to be mad, had fearful
attacks of hydrophobia, which ceased sew
eral months afterwards, on his learning
that the dog remained in perfect health.
A girl who witnessed a sudden broil, in
which the disputants fought with swords,
was so terrOr-stricken that she was seized
with hydrophObia, and died. A woman
whose friends abandoned her alone in the
fields all night, was greatly terrified there
by; next day, she refused every sort of
liquid, and shortly died.
1t is therefore not surprising that an
aversion to water should have been Occa-
siOnally induced by The bite of men and
animals that were not mad. Malpighi re-
cords the case of his mother, who became
hydrophobic after having been bitten by
her daughter in an epileptic fit. Cases
are not rare in which, when one person
has bitten another, the bitten person has
been attacked by, and sometimes died OF
apparent canine madness. The most sim
gular instance is that OF young man,
twenty-nine years Ofage, who bit his own
finger in violent fit of rage, and became
so hydrophObic in four-and twenty hours.
that at the very name of water he fell into
strong commissions. The above facts
(which might be considerably multiplicity
are very important to reassure timid per-
sons that passing repugnance for liquids
does not necessarily imply the existence
of true, hopeless, canine madness. 1t is
durable, and has often yielded not only to
iudiciOuS medical treatment, but TO mere
moral remedies.
1t is high time, however, to demOlish
the prevalent belief that if a dog eats and
drinks, there is nothing the matter with
him. He may eat and drink, and yet be,
all the while, a great deal madden than
the maddest March hare. tits equally in
correct to suppose that madness in dogs
manifests itself by fits of rage and at
tempts to bite. The error is all the more
dangerous, because itinduces us to accept,
without mistrust, caresses from an animal
whose bite may prove ultimately mortal.
An ailine dog, although sulky in his be-
havior to Indifferent persons, feels in
creased affection for his real masters. He
even ticks their hands and face more ire
quently than when in good health; but at
that stage the spittle is already infectious.
As the disease proceeds in its course, the
dog tries hard and makes every effort not
to bite the person he loves. The increased
caresses of a dog out of health should be
far from setting his owners minds at ease.
.-AU The Year Round.