Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
Copyright. 1908, by John Elfreth watkins.)


II IL D. Melvin. chief OF the bureau
of animal industry-that federal
board OF health which fights the diseases
Of our animal cousins.
So many valuable horses. cattle and
dogs are now succumblng annually to this
dread disease that the bureau contem-
plates manufacturing preventive virus
such as the Pasteur Institutes apply to
persons threatened with hydrophobia-and
IMPLYING it at nominal cost to veterinar-
ANS throughout the country.
Rabies Is constantly spreading and
causing Increased financial loss. human
suffering and death. year by year. There
IL abundant evidence TO warrant the
statement that not single state is free
from the disease" says DR.. George II.
Hart. whom DR.. Melvin has at work upon
the various phases Of the problem Sew
eral thousand persons per year are row
being bitten by rabid dogs and OF these
from one to a hundred die. This death
rate would be much greater wee Ii not
for the increase of our number OF Pasteur
Institutes. But hitherto there has been
no such check upon the general spread
Of the disease among our domestic ami
mails. The proposed government distribu-
Hon OF the virus. at nominal cost. will en-
able hundreds of valuable dogs. horses
and cows to be saved to their owners.
'All that Is required to rid us OF this
ecourge Is the muzzling of all dogs for
few years. says DIR. Melvin. This
method was inaugurated in Berlin and
Holland in 1879. and for the past quarter
century there has not been single case
OF hydrophobia in the German capital or
In Holland. save along the Belgian from
tier. now and then crossed by mad dogs
from King Leopold's dominiens-
Having thus entirely eradicated rabies
ON our territory within a few years We
SbOuld then DreVent its reaDpeaTanco by
nuarantining all of our canine immi-
grants hailing from lands where the dis
ease has not vet beer STAMPED out. ac-
cord.ng TO this veterina rian. Australia
goes further than this and absolutely for
bids the landing Of any foreign dog upon
its shores. There has never been a mad
dog in Australia within the recollection
of the Oldest inhabtant-
All Days Are Dog Days.
All days are dog days. so far as hydro
phobia IS concerned. Dr. Hart says. The
superstition that Tray is unusually liable
to madness during the forty-five days
when Sirius stays al ove the HORIZON with
the sun has no foundation in fact. unless
1t be that in this period-from July l to
August 1;eTray's social duties are more
eXactlng that in cooler seasons of the
year.
That mad dogs fear water is another
bubble of superstition into which this
would appear that in many parts of our
country not yet penetrated by the rural
free delivery dogs indicted for rabies are
tried by system akin to the ordeal or
water with which our esteemed TeutOnic
ancestors tried human suspects of various
crimes.
In these communities willingness Of Row
or TO ford a creek Immediately releases
him from the suspicion of madness AS
matter Of fact. a mad dog will cross bodies
Of water without the slightest fear. DR..
Hart points out. Nor does II share with
many OF its human cousins any instructive
dread of water as a beverage. Even after
It's throat has become thoroughly para
lyzed. in the advanced stages of rabies. 1t
viii try 10 drink water. This fear or
: water is a symptom usually marked in
human cases. said DR.. Hart. who refer
red to cases of rabies. "Hydrophobia,
by its derivation. is therefore misnomer
so far as the dog is concerned.
Another popular superstition leads many
Of our welI-meaning although deluded
citizens to kill every dog which bites any
one. because If the dog ever goes mad
the person bitten will get hydrophobia.'
This tommy rot has about as much fOun-
dation as the old custom Of feeding Tow
ser silk rawlings I'm a sandwich to make
Another wiseacre whose hide DR.. Hart
would like to hang upon the fence Is he
vino whenever a person Is bitten by
dog advises that the canine suspect be
immediately shot il the mucous men,
brane Of its mouth is black. Many
healthy dogs have been slain as the re-
sui: of this sort of amateur diagnosis.
A black mouth lining is due to a normal
deposit of pigment in the mucous men,