Litchfield enquirer., 1878-03-21

II [ In this time of public excitement in regard l to the above named disease, may be permit ted to place before the eyes of your readers g l picture of the malady in the dog, with the
 means of avoiding the dangers and preventing | it's propagation? The description is taken l from the highest authorities, and especially l from the excellent works of M. Bouley of | Paris, who as an observer in these matters, l has no rival.
 Madness in the dog is not characterized by 1 paroxysms of fury in the.f1rst days of it's man. l Hesitation. On the contrary, it is a disease | which is, in it's first appearance, benign; but from the outset the saliva of the animal is vir- | ulent, and he is then more dangerous from the caresses of his tongue than from his bite, for he has as yet no disposition to bite. At the
 beginning the dog manifests change of hu-
 nor he becomes sad, somber and tacitern, seeks solitude and retires into the most obscure corners But he cannot remain for long
 time in one place he is unquiet and agitated,
 goes and comes, lies down and gets up, wan
 ders about, scents objects, seeks, scratches with his forepaws. His movements, attitudes and gestures seem to indicate that now and then he secs phantoms for he snaps at the air, and throws himself violently forward as if at
 tacking real enemies. His look is changed it expresses a somber sadness, mixed with some
 thing of ferocity. But at this stage the dog
 has not yet become aggressive towards man.
 His character is what it has been habitually.
 He shows himself docile and submissive to his
 master, whose voice he obeys, and which even
 excites some appearance of gayety, and brings
 back for an instant his habitual expression of countenance. Instead of aggressive tenden- ceS there is often in the first stage of the dis ease sentiment of affection towards his mas ter and his family, which he expresses by ire quent attempts to lick the hands and faces of those who are within his reach. This senti- ment is so strongly marked that in great number of cases he respects his master even in the paroXysms of madness, which occur at a later period, and his master preserves great control over him even when his ferocious in- stincts have begun to manifest themselves and he abandons himself to them.
 Ihe 4abid dog hGs not c horror of oc0ter; on the contrary, he shows an avidty, for it. AS long as he can drink he often satisfies hls ar dent thirst, and later, when the spasm in his throat prevents swallowing, he plunges his whole nose into the water and bites, so to speak, the liquid which he can no longer swal- low. Strickly speaking, the rabid dog has not the hydrophobia horror of water is not a sign of the disease in the dog. 1n the first period of the disease the dog does not refuse his food; often he eats it with more than ordi- nary voracity When the desire to bite, which is one of the essential characteristics of the dis ease at & certain period of it's development, be- gins to manifest itself, the animal at first satis- fes it upon inert objects he gnaws the wood of the doors and furniture; tears cloth, cur tains, carpets, shoes, &c.; buries his teeth in straw, hay, earth, the dung of other animals, and even his own, and accumulates in his stomach, as is verified by autopsy, fragments of all the bodies in which he places his teeth
 The abundance of saliva is not a constant sign of rabies in the dog. At times the mouth is moist and at other times dry. Before the access of the disease the secretion of saliva is normal; then it becom es profuse, and at the end of the disease disappears. The rabid dog often expresses the painful sensation caus- ed by the spasm in his throat, and makes with hes forepaws the same attempts to relieve him. self that we see in the case of dog who has a bone lodged in his throat. In a particular va riety of canine madness called mute madness (rd9e mue), the lower jaw hangs paralyZed, and the mouth remains open and dry, with a reddish-brown tint of the mucous membrane. In a few cases the rabid dog vomits blood, which probably comes from wounds of the stomach produced by solid bodies which he has swallowed. The sound of the dogs voice is always changed, and the tone of his bark
  becomes dry and hoarse, and at the end of the note changes itself into howl or shriek. In the variety called mute rage, this symptom is not present in this form the animal is abso- lutely silent, as the name implies. Sensibility is much diminished. When the animal is struck burned, or wounded, he makes no con- plaint or cry. In some cases the dog makes deep wounds with his teeth upon his own body, without endeavoring to attack persons familiar to him. The animal is always violent ly irritated by the sight of his own species in his presence, or when he hears his bark, his fury becomes exalted, and he leaps forward as if to tear him with his teeth. Other animals when under the influence of madness, are af- fected by the sight of the dog, and suspected madness may be made to declare itself by in- troducing dog into the presence of the sus pected animal.
 The rabid dog often flies from the domestic roof at the moment when, in the progress of the malady, the ferocious instincts are devel- oped and begin to get complete control over him; and after one, two, or three days of per- during which he seeks to satisfy his rage upon. the living beings that he en- he frequently returns to die at his masters house. The period of fury is charac- terized by the expression of ferocity and the desire to bite; but it is now against his own
 
 to any other animal. Between the parox ysms of fury there are intervals of calmness produced by exhaustion, which may some times deceive the observer as to the nature of the disease. Intelligent and healthy dogs seen gifted with the faculty of divining the rabid condition of one of their species, and instead of resisting him seek to avoid his attacks by flight When the dog is nearly exhausted by his fury, he walks with vacillating step, his tail hanging down, his head inclined to the ground his mouth open, his tongue hanging out, now of bluish tint and soiled with dust In this condition his aggressive tendencies are not great, but he still bites all-men or beasts that he finds within his reach.
 Death takes place by paralysis and asphyxia and until the last moment the animal exhibits the tendency to bite. The presence of hay, straw, hair, leather, wool, earth, stones, &c., in the stomach after death, is pretty certain proof that the animal has died from rabies.
 The best means of preventing the effects of rabld inOculation is immediate canteriZation, which is best and most conveniently perform ed with the red-hot iron. The sooner per- formed the more eff1cacious is the operation. Nitrate of silver, acids, gunpowder, &c., may be used, and while waiting for these agents suction with the mouth should be performed, care being taken to reject very quickly from the mouth the liquid which is drawn into it. Squeezing the wound may be practiced, and ligature may be applied in such manner as to prevent the absorption of the poison into the circulation. After these immediate meas ures, recourse may be had to the various meth ods of treatment advanced by different au- thors, but upon the efficacy of which we should not place too much reliance.
 Litchfesd, Conn. WM. DRMING, M. D.
 '.Did you say I was the biggest liar you ev- CT knew?" fiercely askeda ruffian of counse, who had been skinning him in his address to the jury. ''Yes, did" replied the counsel, and the crowd eaoerlv watched fnr tho nx-