St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-01-11

dog satisfies it upon inanimate bodies
He gnaws the wood of doors and fur
niture, tears carpets, curtains, slippers,
chews straw, hay, hair and wool, eats
earth, the dung of animals, his own,
ETC., and thus accumulates in his stOm-
ach a mass of the remains of these
things.
The abundance of the flow of saliva
is not constant symptom. Sometimes
the mouth is moist, sometimes it is dry.
Before the occasion of paroxysm, the
saliva is natural. 1t increases some
what during that period and diminishes
toward the end of the disease.
The mad dog often expresses the pain
caused by the spasm in his throat by
rubbing his fOre-paws upon his throat
as if he had bone stuck in it.
In variety of hydrophobia called
dumb rabies, the paralyzed lower jaw
remains set, apart from the upper one.
The mouth, thus kept open and dry,
has brownish-red appearance over
spreading the lining membrane.
In some cases the dog vOmits blood,
caused by wounds in the stomach from
the sharp bodies he has swallowed.
The voice of the mad dog changes
always in tone, and his bark is always
different from his habitual one. 1t is
hOarse, prolonged and becomes jerky
and bowling. In the dumb rabies this
symptom is missing; this form of the
disease is sO-called because the patients
are absolutely mute.
Sensitiveness to pain is greatly di-
minished in the mad dog. When whip
ped, bruned or wounded, he does not
cry nor utter any complaint, he does
not even whine. There are cases where
the rabid dog infiicts upon himself deep
wounds with his teeth, and thus, as it
were, vents his rage upon himself, and
this without attempting to hurt those
with whom he is familiar.
The rabid dog is always violently i'm
pressed and irritated by the sight OF
animals of his own species. AS soon as
he comes into the presence of one, or
when he hears his bark, his lage is
reused. previously latent it develops
itself, and if already developed, he
rushes at him to tear him with his teeth.
The presence of a dog produces the
same impressions upon other animals
of different species when they have the
hydrOphObia ; so that we may say the
dog is sort of reactive agent by which
we may always, with very great GER
tainty, detect hydrOphobia while it is
still latent.
The mad dog runs away from home
when in the course of the progress of
the disease his ferOcious instincts de-
velop themselves and begin to overcome
his will. After one, two or thiee days
of peregrination, during which he has
vented his rage upon all the animals
and persons he has encountered, he re-
turns home to die near his master.
When rabies is at its furious period,
it is characterized by an expression OF
ferOcity in the countenance of the ami
NAL affected. His desire for biting is
satisfied whenever it is possible, but it
is always upon one of his own species
i'll preference to any other animal.
The disease exhibits itself by acces-
sions of rabidness, in the intervals be-
tween which the exhausted animal falls
into Il comparative state of quietness
which may be deceptive as to the true
nature of the disease.
Healthy dogs seem to have the power
of peIceiving when an animal of theii
own species is rabid, and instead OF
fighting they endeavor to escape from
his bites.
The mad dog when at liberty and
during his paroxysms attacks at first
with great energy all living beings he
encounters, but always prefers to attack
dogs. When exhausted by his parox-
ysms and his b..ttles, he walks away in
vacillating gait, easily recognized by
its popularity, with his head hanging
near the ground, his tail dropping, his
vision defective, his mouth open and
with blush dirty saliva drooling from
1t. In this state he has no special ten
dency to bite, but yet attacks men or
beasts who may come in his way.
The mad dog which dies by the nat
ural course of the disease succumbs to
paralysis and asphyXia. To the last he
is controlled by his desire to bite, and
he must be feared, even when appar-
emily inert from exhaustion.
The surest way of preventing the eff
fects of rabid incubation from the bite
of Il mad dog is the immediate cauter-
izatiOn of the wound with actual cautery
or with burning gun-pOwder or some
other caustic agent. The sooner and
more thoroughly this cauterization is
made after the wound is received, the
greater the security.
If the cauterization cannot be done
Immediately after the bite, one must,
while waiting, wash the wound, press
it very thoroughly to squeeze the blood
out, suck it with the lips, splitting out
the liquid Immediately, compress the
edges of the wound, and, if possible,
apply a ligature about the limb to ar
rest the circulation of the blood.
After using these preventive means
which must always be applied at first
one may pursue with advantage any
approved treatment 'or rabid bites.