, asserts, that, however severely a mad dog is beaten, a cry is never forced from him. I am certain of the truth of this, for I have again and again failed in extracting that cry. Ellis tells that at the kennel at Goddesden, some of the grooms heated a poker red hot, and holding it near the mad hound's mouth, he most greedily seized it, and kept it until the mouth was most dreadfully burned.
In the great majority of cases of furious madness, and in almost every case of dumb madness, there is evident affection of the lumbar portion of the spinal cord. There is a staggering gait, not indicative of general weakness, but referable to the hind quarters alone, and indicating an affection of the lumbar motor nerve. In a few cases it approaches more to a general paralytic affection.
In the very earliest period of rabies, the person accustomed to dogs will detect the existence of the disease.
The animal follows the flight, as has been already stated, of various imaginary objects. I have often watched the changing countenance of the rabid dog when he has been lost to every surrounding object. I have seen the brightening countenance and the wagging tail as some pleasing vision has passed before him; but, oftener has the countenance indicated the mingled dislike and fear with which the intruder was regarded. As soon as the phantom came within the proper distance he darted on it with true rabid violence.
A
, seemingly at play, snapped, in the morning, at the feet of several persons. In the evening he bit his master, his master's friend, and another dog. The old habits of obedience and affection then returned. His master, most strangely, did not suspect the truth, and brought the animal to me to be examined. The animal was, as I had often seen him, perfectly docile and eager to be caressed. At my suggestion, or rather entreaty, he was left with me. On the following morning the disease was plain enough, and on the following day he died. A
post-mortem
examination took place, and proved that he was unequivocally rabid.
A