Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-08-15
Dl..sn part of the ashes of q dogs

ho.a P"is VI the ashes of . dogs
~. nes AZ The head was also recommended
~ ne eaten. 10 ayoic being bitten in
IIaal.er Ilmes peoples carried . dogs
neatl 0 them, and others a DORIS
w, 1ynsue IN the shoe under the great toe.
Inc tall of a weasel that had been de-
prlVed of its liberty and then set free
was also considered u safeguard. Ovid
:.a,es that hNdrophobia and govt were
III MS day reckoned incurable. People
.o.uay o back and smile at the super
sI'Ilohs, rites and ideas devised bv TO-
lorance, priestcraft and fear.
for instance, in Belgium the custom
IS to 60 the shrine of st. Huburt in the
Araennes for the cure of hydrophobia
US IN the early ages. In the life of St.
l-ahoert, written about the eleventh
century, mention is made of several
people being thus cured in A. ID. S25.
u legend relates that the stole of st.
Hubert Which works the miracle was
brought from Heaven by an angel, who
gave it to the SAINT While he was pray
ing at the tomb of st. Peter in komc.
History teens with queer stories about
this disease. But the majority OF peo-
pic know less regarding the disease of
the dog rabies and its COZ aserpart in
man, so-called hydrophobia, than did
the %ancients. People to-day see muz-
zled dogs painting in the streets and the
law directs that ''no dog shall be al
lowed to go unmulzled In the streets
OF Albany between the first day Of June
and the first day in October in any
year. But the remaining eight
months of the yearthe dogs are allowed
to roam without muzzles.
How insane this is, when it is q fact
that rabies is undoubtedly most preva-
lent in temperate and incomparably
less frequent in torrid and frigid zones.
1t is no influenced by the dog star
or heat Of midsummer than is tooth.
ache. Therefore, as hydrophobia in
man is the result Of incubation from
the bite OF q rabid animal, and as rabies
is more common in spring and fall than
i'll summer or winter, it follows that
people are in error when, during hot
weather they put muzzles on their
dogs. Especially is it cruel, as the dog
does not when heated perspire, but
cools by opening the mouth and lolling
out the tongue and painting. Again,
who wants to be confined in the hottest
OF weather IN any way9 Now, q dog
that has been bitten by q rabid dog and
thus inoculated with rabies, will carry
the virus in his system for an indefinite
period-the so-callcd period of incuba-
ton = he develops rabies; therefore
it may be ten days OF . year before he
goes mad. and consequently it would be
strange il all the dOyS inOculateu We're
to happen to become mad while wear
ing muzzles.
The muzzle is worn only on the street
and taken oil at home; where then is
the protection? Another brilliant idea
OF the present age that places us on a
par with the superstitious heather, is
that of believing that a healthy, non
rabid dog which bites a person from
any aus or under any circumstances
should be killed at once in order to pre-
vent the person bitten from having n.y.
drophobia. Ii a dog has rabies he ia
capable OF introducing the poison into
the system of people or animals by bit
ing them. If he is not rabid his bite is
no more likely to produce hydrophobia
than smallpox. these are facts, not
hcarsay or superstition, and they may
serve in some future day to drive away
fear after u dog bite, and give Il few
people common-sense ideas regarding
the disease Of the dog and other ami
mails known as rabies and that which is
produced in mar by incubation from
one of these mad animals snG called
hydrophobia.-Dr. EdWUrd Moore.