Rabies and Hydrophobia; Their History, Nature, Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1872. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... ETIOLOGY OF BABIES. The investigation of the cause or causes of rabies--of the conditions which predispose the organism to the development of the disease, or which act directly in producing it--is, in this instance, as it is generally in other maladies, a study of the greatest importance; as on it depends, in a large degree, the prevention of the scourge--terrible alike to man, to the dog, and to all animals. And perhaps with no other disorder to which the inferior creatures are liable has the study of causation been more closely pursued, or been more prolific in suggesting hypotheses and furnishing suggestions than the one now under consideration. In the canine and feline species, the origin of the malady is frequently obscure and involved in doubt, and the consideration of this at once opens up the, for a long time warmly contested, question as to the spontaneous origin of contagious diseases. Spontaneous Origin. For many years, and even now, the spontaneous origin of rabies in the species of animals in which it is most frequently witnessed has been denied by authorities who have ranged themselves on the side of the contagionists, whose belief it is that contagious diseases are propagated and maintained solely by the transmission of a specific virus from the diseased to the healthy, and that no transmissible disease ever arises spontaneously, but that its infecting element is always in existence. Whatever weight this line of argument may have in human medicine, there can be no doubt whatever that in comparative pathology it cannot be entertained as absolutely unassailable. In certain maladies which develop a contagium capable of producing the same morbid*disturbance that characterises them when transferred to healthy animals, we are almost, if not alt...