The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-07
DANGERS GERS FROM BITES.
Human Teeth as We'll as Animal Some
times Poison.
times Poison.
London Spectator.

A correspondent OF the morning
Post revives discussion which has
for some time engaged the attention
of correspondents Of American news
papers dealing with sport and natural
history. Quoting from a book on
ranch life, Of which he does not give
the title, he says: "Thc bite of the
small plains polccat he (thc cowboy
dreaded above all things, for he knew
that it was practically certain to result
in hydrophobia and death. Many
cowboys lost their lives in this way,
being bitten by this animal when it
had crawlcd into their blankets at
night. At the least move Of the
sleeper the vcnomous creature would
bite, and its bite was accounted almost
certainly fatal One United States
regiment stationed at an Arizona post
lost thirteen men in one season
through the bites Of the polccat."
This story is evidently revival of
the muddlc Of fact and fancy which
has produced the myth current in
some parts Of America of the existence
Of "skunk rabies" The "polccat' is
not found on the American plains;
but the story of the skunk rabies
has Aourishcd there exceedingly, and
takes the form given abovc-that the
bite of healthy skunk produces
rabies. Believers in this story even
go SO far as to limit the fatal results
of the bite by arbitrary lines of latitude,
north and south of Il certain region
RABIES AMONG SMALL CARNIvORA.
The origin Of the story was prob
ably this, that at some time there was
an epidemic of rabies among the small
carnivora Of Arizona. Such an cpl
demic is quite possible, for between
1903 and 1897 there were no less than
nine epidemics Of rabies among wild
foxes in different parts Of Europe, and
two among cats, and some Of the fox
epidemics were very fatal to human
life, as the rabid creatures left the
woods and came into the villages.
But Pugin Thornton, writing on the
same subject, very properly calls at
tention to the serious effects Of bites
by animals which are not rabid
Having now been kept to my room
for over month from the bite Of
healthy dog, l can personally speak to
the serious aftcr-affccts Of an animals
bite. And during my illness I have
learned that number Of my friends
have suffered for weeks together from
having been bitten, sometimes when
helping to free their own animals,
which were wedged under gate, etc.
And what is more surprising to me is
that any Of us may have hands Grip
pied for some time, the result of bites
from mans teeth. In one case
friend violently dragged his hand
against his own front teeth, and his
hand was bad for some weeks after"
No one who has any acquaintance
with cases of wounds inflicted by the
bites even Of non-carnivorous animals
will doubt Mr.. Thornton's s view that
the after affects are not limited to the
injuries caused by the actual cutting
and bruising made by the teeth,
though these are serious enough. His
instance of the poisoning caused acci-
dentally by human teeth is curious,
but not singular. Such cases were
well known in the days of the prize
ring; and Grantley Berkeley mentions
a case in which the risk was so great
that some ruffian Of his acquaintance
reckoned it among his personal advan-
tages that no one cared to risk the
chance Of cutting his knuckles against
his incisors. Dog bites arc always
dangerous. This is mainly due, not
to poisoning, though this often re-
suits, but to the frightful wound
which any large deg, thoroughly in
earnest, can infict. Human beings
get off lightly in many cases, because,
as rule, dog only snaps" at them
when irritated, and there is as much
difference between a "snap" and
bite as there is between flip with
the back of the fingers and knock
down blow.
Animals, it is known, recover from
wounds more easily than men do. Yet
Lord Ebrington states that on Exmoor
a deer bitten by one of the large
hounds almost never recovers. The
wound is almost invariably mortal,
and the animal wastes and dies. But
when q large dog loses self.control tho