I insisted on detaining the dog, and gave the man a letter to the surgeon, telling him all my fears. He promptly acted on the hint, and before evening, the proper means were taken with regard to all three.
I watched this dog day after day. He would not eat, but he drank a great deal more water than I liked. The surgeon was evidently beginning to doubt whether I was not wrong, but he could not dispute the occasional wandering of the eye, and the frequent spume upon the water. On the 26th of October, however, the sixth day after his arrival, we both of us heard the rabid howl burst from him: he did not, however, die until the 30th. I mention this as another instance of the great difficulty there is to determine the real nature of the case in an early stage of the disease.
M. Perquin relates an interesting case. A lady had a greyhound, nine years old, that was accustomed to lie upon her bed at night, and cover himself with the bed-clothes. She remarked, one morning, that he had torn the covering of his bed, and, although he ate but little, drank oftener, and in larger quantity, than he was accustomed to do. She led him to a veterinary surgeon, who assured her that there was nothing serious the matter. On the following day, he bit her fore-finger near the nail, as she was giving him something to eat. She led him again to the veterinary surgeon, who assured her that she needed not to be under the least alarm, and as for the little wound on her finger, it was of no consequence. On the following day, the 27th of December, the dog died. He had not ceased to drink most abundantly to the very last.
On the 4th of February, as the lady was dining with her husband, she found some difficulty in deglutition. She wished to take some wine, but was unable to swallow it.
On the 5th, she consulted a surgeon. He wished her to swallow a little soup in his presence. She attempted to do it, but could not accomplish her object after many an effort. She then fell into a state of violent agitation, with constriction of the pharynx, and the discharge of a viscid fluid from the mouth.
On the 7th, she died, four days after the first attack of the disease, and in a state of excessive loss of flesh.
can be no doubt that both the dog and his mistress died rabid, the former having communicated the disease to the latter; but there is no satisfactory account of the manner in which the dog became diseased
.