The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-27

 but he is unable to swallow. Invariably the unsuspecting person, thinking the dog has a stick or bone in his throat, will attempt to dislodge it. It Is right here that many an individual has become infected, either by the dog biting them or by getting the saliva in g. scratch sore, pimple. hang-nail, etc.
 The dsproportionate prevalence of rabies during certain seasons of the year, such as dogdays of August, long a matter of belief, seems In fact to have little foundation. It is fully recognized that not all dogs called mad are suf- fering from rabies. and that Nh hot weather dogs may have convulsons from heat stroke and other causes closely stimulating symptoms of rabies. Statis- tics show that there are just as many cases of rabies in the winter as in the summer Rabies may exist in every month in the year.
 A great deal of popular misconception> prevails with reference to methods of treatment and diagnosis such as strip. ping the feathers from the breast of z, living fowl and applying it to the woun6.
  stone" still believed in and patronizesy | in portions of the United States. Mad stones,' composed of tri-calcum phos. phate, are usually calculi obtained fro.a various portions of the alimentary trace of lower animals. Superstition holds that they adhere to poisoned wounds and re- move the virus, which is evidenced by the discoloration produced when the stone is subsequently, boiled in milk. The belief in these stones is a positive danger, since they possess none of the powers attributed to them, and their ems ployment to the exclusion of scientific means of protection has been the cause of many deaths. They are in addition dis tinctly dangerous, since they may be ac- tually the means of conveying the disease to a person not bitten by rabid ani- mal
 Sight must not be lost of the fact that not every human bitten by rabid dog contracts the disease; probably in the case of those who escape infection, insufficient virus is transmitted to the wound, which may be slight, or the teeth may have passed through the clothing before puncturing the skin. conserva- tive estimate shows 16 per cent of those bitten contract the disease. The situation is grave in proportion to the central nervous system, also its depth and ex- tent. Wounds of the face and hands
 
 on parts of the body protected by cloth- ing. Children are more susceptible than adults. It must not be forgotten thatE not a single cure of a case of human rabies has been reported after symptoms have once begun to appear.
 All wounds should be cauterized as soon as possible. It is never too late to de- rive some benefit from cauterization. Through cleansing with antiseptic so-# lution should be followed by the appli- z cation of 40 per cent formaln, or pre- ferably concentrated acid, and antiseptic dressing. This procedure as a2 routine measure, followed by Pasteur treatment, has reduced the mortality from hydropho- bia surprisingly.
 If the animal is dead its head and about four inches of the neck should be sent immediately to a laboratory for examination. If alive, every possible ef- fort should be made to keep him se- curely confined and under observation for at least three weeks. Invariably the mis- take of killing the animal Is made. which l later usually results in making 1t more difficult to determine whether or not the animal was afflicted with rabies. When the dog is killed in the early stages of l the disease, the changes sought for in the 1 brain indicating the existence of rabies, are likely to be entirely absent When the animal has died, on the other hand, dS sequence or the NulSeaSe, examlna- I tion of the brain will readily reveal the 1 specific changes and make an accurate. early diagnosis possible. The saliva may | contain the infecting agent seven to 10 days before the animal shows symptoms 1 of the disease, and the bite at this time, | or the introduction of saliva into a scratch | or wound may result in the devel- | opment of hydrophobia. Hence the ani- nal suspected of rabies should be se- curely confined, and if no symptoms Of l rabies appear at the end of three weeks, the wound may be considered the same l as any ordinary wound.
 1 CONCORD HYMN
 By Ralph Waldo Emerson,