dread of water (from ῥεῖν, water, and φόβος, fear), though a symptom occurring in several diseases of the nervous system, is now very generally restricted to that disease which results from the bite of a mad dog, wolf, or cat. This disease has been known from the earliest antiquity, and was styled by the Greeks ἀλογία, by the Latins rabies, and the French rage. The disease is essentially a convulsive one, resembling tetanus, but is characterized by the inability to swallow fluids, the very sight of which induces convulsive spasms of the muscles of the mouth and pharynx, which extend more or less to the whole body.

This disease in man is invariably caused by the bite of some animal of the dog or cat kind, though it has been asserted, without proof, that the bites of other animals have induced the malady. The disease seems to originate in the different species of the genera canis (dog), and felis (cat), and is capable of being transmitted to man and all animals by the saliva of these animals being introduced into the system by means of a wound or bite. It has been lately endeavoured to be proved that only those animals in whom the disease originates can communicate it to others, and that the saliva of the animal which has had the disease communicated to it through means of a bite is incapable of communicating hydrophobia to the person or animal it bites.

Many lives are lost annually through hydrophobia. In France 48 persons died from this malady in 1852, 25 in England during 1851, 15 in 1852, and 11 in 1853—the last year of which the causes of death are published. From recent investigations in France, it appears that of 136 cases of hydrophobia in the human subject (the particulars of which were investigated by a commission appointed in 1852 by government), 105 followed the bite of a dog, 20 the bite of a wolf, 8 the bite of a cat, while of 5 the particular animal whose bite caused the malady was not ascertained. The persons were of all ages, from the infant at the breast to the old man of ninety. The period of the year when the bite which caused the disease was received was ascertained in 90 cases. In 25 of the persons the bite was received during the months of March, April, and May; in 42 cases, during June, July, and August; in 13 cases, during September, October, and November; and in 17 cases, during December, January, and February. The disease does not appear in man till some time after the receipt of the bite. Thus, in 69 cases where the exact date of the appearance of hydrophobia after the bite was ascertained, it appeared that in 14 cases the disease appeared within the month after the bite; in 41 cases, from the end of one month to the end of the third month; in 8 cases, from the beginning of the fourth to the end of the sixth month; and in 6 cases, from the seventh to the twelfth month. No case occurred in which the disease had appeared after more than one year elapsed from the date of the bite. The exact duration of the disease from its first appearance to its termination in death was ascertained in 78 cases. Of these 3 died the first day of the disease, 8 the second day, 28 the third day, 21 the fourth day, 4 the fifth day, 4 the sixth day, and the remaining 10 from the seventh to the twentieth day. This shows the frightful rapidity of the disease. The disease, when once it manifests itself, is quite incurable. Every means must therefore be taken to prevent the disease originating in the person bitten, and many means of cure have been recommended for this purpose; only, as it is known that but a very few of those bitten by a rabid animal take the disease (supposed not to exceed 1 in 20), it is not certainly known whether the subsequent freedom from the disease is to be ascribed to the means resorted to, or to natural causes. The bitten part should be instantly washed, and fluid caustic, or nitric acid, or probably still better, caustic ammonia solution, freely applied to the wounded surface, care being taken that the caustic reaches the bottom of the tooth-wounds. Many recommend, in addition, to dress the wounds till they heal with red precipitate of mercury ointment, and to take internally sufficient mercury slightly to affect the system. Decoction of sarsaparilla and guaiac internally, and occasional hot or vapour baths, have, in addition to these remedies, been highly recommended. (J. S.—K.)