The Tupelo journal., 1911-03-24

That this piece of information has
not been given publicity before, ex-
cept in the case of a few New Eng
land towns, is due to the general lack
of caution, but, with the alarming In
crease of rabies both in animals and
men, 1t has become essential. Too
many dogs are going mad every day.
Something will have to be done about
1t. The disease is now so prevalent
that it is pertinent to ask:
Is you dog going mad tooc
This question nay strike you as un.
necessarily alarming, especially ii you
happen to live where there have never
been any mad dogs. In that case you
are to be congratulated. Places with
such a record are becoming rare. Your
turn may be next.
Left to spread as far as 1t might,
with practically no attempt to stop 1t,
rabies during the past few years has
become thickly disseminated over the
whole of the United States, except the
far West. Along the Atlantic coast
and in the middle West, both North
and South, there is hardly a district
unaffected by it, and each additional
dog that gees mad is carrying 1t as
far as he can travel in two or three
days time. 1t has arrived at the point
where it threatens everyone, and, If 1T
were not for the twenty-five or more
Institutions which are now giving the
Pasteur treatment in the affected dis
tricts, the number Of human deaths
would be startling.
Three years ago rabies began to
press itself upon public attention. Up
TO that time it had w appeared
as much of a danger in America. al
though mad dogs had shown them
selves at intervals for more than a
century. Each in itself had always
been a terrifying object, but the num-
bers were comparatively scarce.
Conservative estimates of the med
teal men and boards of health place
the number of deaths annually from
this dread disease at 10000.
The question of what to do is also
before this country. Two courses are
open: policing and a study of the dis
cas- which may lead to it's prevention.
Effective policing has always meant
a rigid muzzle and leash law and the
chioroforming of all stray dogs. Blu
1t has been proved to be successful.
After centuries of terror over rabid
animals, England, since 1897, has sue
ceeded by this lee In remaining rid
of them entirely, and only a few
months ago when some of the virus
was needed in a research laboratory
in Liverpool 1t had to be obtained out
side the country. Berlin has practical
ly eradicated the disease within the
city following an epidemic during
which a dog went mad on the streets
every day. Paris, overcoming a sem
timental opposition, reduced the mad
dogs from $50 during the year 1901
to 10 in 1907, simply by compelling
to look after their pets.
Attempts to stop the disease in this
country have been spasmodic and
hysterical. 1t has required the death
of some wellknown person or some
unusual circumstance tt awaken the
police.
There are three types of rabies:
furious, which we recognize; dumb,
which we do not; and a mixture of the
two. The furious is the most import
ant.
The first action on the part of a
dog which points to furious rabies Is
a marked and unusual restlessness.
He jumps UP constantly without cause
and is representative to light and
sound. He snoops In dark corners and
ticks everything %nervously. He be-
comes ELUSIVE in his affection, and his
master, wondering, feels that there Is
trouble; and asks the poor dumb brute
what ails him.
Then, all at once, his disposition
changes. He snaps suddenly, and the
next instant wags his tail in apology
for his action. In a moment he snaps
again. Meanwhile he eats and drinks
normally and shows no sign of paraly-
sis, which we have been taught to look
for when rabies is suspected.
The -restlessness increases in a way
that can hardly fail of notice, and
tuSu d hight COIltS WuSu lie gives ilC-
tie gasping bowls, which sound as if
they had been choked off in the mid
die. Anyone who has ever heard this
howl knows instinctively that there is
something wrong. There is no confus-
ing it with the ordinary barking at
passing or imaginary objects, and it
sounds nothing at all like baying at
the moon. The bowls are senseless
and the hearer realizes 1t.
At first the dog remains near the
house, giving his master ample time
to take action. In fact he forces the
attention of everyone within hearing
and spreads a vague uneasiness. His
bowls get on the nerves of those with
in doors and they are rather apt to
call out to him to be still. Some COM
ment is probably made on the peculiar
effect his bowling has. A timid mem
Der of the household suggests that the
dog is going mad. but the idea is
secuted.
Waen this has gone on half the
night, and the family is d~istraught for
lack of sleep, the bowls begin to grow
fainter and the family falls into a
peaceful sleep. But the dog has gone
away to menace the surrounding u