The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-03-31

land towns is due to the general lack
N 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
Il. The disease is now so prevalent
hat It is pertinent to ask
Is your dog going mad too?
This question may strike yOu as un-
necessarily alarming, especially If you
happen to live where there have never
been any mad dogs. In that case you
are to be congratulated Places with
uch a record are becoming rare. Your
hun may be next.
Left TO spread as far as It might,
With practically no attempt to stop IT,
rabies during the past few years has
become thickly disseminated over the
whole of the United States, except the
Tar West. Along the Atlantic coast
and in the middle West, both North
and South, there is hardly a district
unaffected by II, and each additional
dog that goes mad is carrying It as
tar as he can travel in two or three
days time 1t has arrived at the point
where 1t threatens everyone, and, If it
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
10 that time it had never appeared
rs 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
lcal 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 study of the dis
ease which may lead to its prevention
Effective policing has always meant
a rigid muzzle and leash law and the
Chloroforming of all stray dogs. But
1t has been proved to be successful.
After centuries of terror over rabid
animals, England since 1897, has sue
ceeded by this means in remaining rid
Of them entirely, and only a few
months ago when some of the virus
was needed in 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 SEN
t1mental opposition, reduced the mad
dogs from $50 during the year 1901
to 10 in 1907, simply by compelling
owners 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 well-known person or some
unusual circumstance to awaken the
police.
There are three types of rabies:
furious. which we recognize; dumb,
which we do not; and 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
. marked and unusual restlessness.
He jumps up constantly without cause
and is representative to light and
sound. He snoops in dark corners and
ncks 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
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
Ehen a night comes when he gives lit
tie gaaping howls, which sound as If
they had been choked off in the mid
de. Anyone who has ever heard this
howl knows instinctively that there is
wrong. There is no confus-
ing 1t with the ordinary barking at
passing or imaginary objects, and It
sounds nothing at all like baying at
the moon. The howls are senseless
and the hearer realizes It.
At first the dog remains near the
house, giving his master ample time
b take action. IN fact he forces the
Rttention Of everyone within hearing
md spreads a vague uneasiness. His
bowls get on the nerves Of those with.
b doors and they are rather apt to
call out to him to be stfll. Some com
ment is probably made on the peculiar
effect his bowling has. A timid men,
Der Of the household suggests that the
log is going mad, bat the idea is
secuted.
When this has gone on half the |
night, and the family is distraught for
ack of sleep, the howls begin to grow
,ainter and the family falls into a
peaceful sleep. But the dog has gone
Eway to menace the surrounding coun-
ny for fifty OF a hundred miles. He
Eanders ainlessly, the disease grip
I1ng him tighter hour by hour, and,