mences to scratch it, or, if where he can reach it with his tongue will lick it. He busies himself in eating bits of hay, straw, sticks and other indigestible substances, and in licking cold surfaces, such as stone and metal, if within his reach.

From the first manifestation of the disease he is thirsty, and not only seeks water but laps it freely as long as he has power to do so.

The generally received opinion that rabid dogs have a dread of water, and are thrown into convulsions when brought in contact with it, is erroneous, for it is a fact that they seldom or never show any fear or dread of water.

Instead of the gloom and sullenness we have described, dogs occasionally manifest unusual affection for their masters, not only wishing to remain near them, but to lick their hand or any part of the person exposed. Although there is seldom a disposition to bite at this stage of the disease, there is great danger of inoculation, from the saliva coming in contact with abraded surfaces.

The period of sullenness and disposition to isolate himself lasts from a few hours to two or three days, when well marked delerium supervenes with extreme restlessness. If confined he is constantly rushing to the end of his chain, then back into his kennel, where he commences moving and shifting his bedding, and pawing it into a heap upon which he rests the pit of his stomach.

This new position soon becomes tiresome, and he again rises to change his bedding, and perhaps tumbles it out of his kennel. He is apt to gnaw, at the wood work within his reach, and if he does this, it may be regarded as a most suspicious symptom, and he should at once be thoroughly secured. If allowed his liberty, he is inclined to wander from place to place; he seems to be pursued by phantoms, upon whom he rushes with an indescribable ferocity. The expression of a naturally savage dog at this stage of the delirium is frightful, the conjunctiva is highly injected, and the eyes look like balls of fire, the hair is rough and erect, and the tail depressed; the part bitten continues to inflame, and the itching is intolerable. His appetite is unnatural; he rejects his usual food, sometimes from disgust, at other times because he is unable to masticate it. "This palsy of the organs of mastication, and dropping of the food after it has been partly chewed, is a symptom on which implicit confidence may be placed."

Much stress has been placed upon the increased flow of saliva, especially by the older writers. That all the salivary glands become vascular, and that there is an unnatural secretion of saliva is undoubtedly true, but this in itself is no evidence of rabies. In epilepsy, the flow of saliva is much greater than in hydrophobia. Nausea and many different kinds of convulsions are accompanied with profuse flow of saliva, leading persons ignorant of this fact to pronounce dogs suffering from these maladies, mad. This excessive flow does not last longer than ten or twelve hours, when it decreases in quantity, and becomes thick, viscid and adherent.

If a dog attacked by rabies be allowed his liberty, he will, as the stage of delirium and extreme restlessness approaches, lose all affection for home, and wander over the country, gratifying his disposition to bite at every opportunity.

When he is completely exhausted, he creeps to some sheltered place, where after sleeping twelve hours or more, he dies from convulsions or sheer exhaustion.

Reliable authority states that the entire duration of hydrophobia in the dog is from two to six days.

The killing of dogs suspected of madness immediately after biting human beings, thereby rendering it impossible to determine the true condition of the animal, may, and often does, lead to great anxiety and even death.

That a person of extremely nervous temperament may have the distinctive symptoms of hydrophobia brought on through the emotions of fear and expectation alone, there is no doubt. With these facts before us we can readily see the importance of securing any animal that has bitten a person, when there is even a suspicion that he is laboring under the symptoms of rabies. The animal should be kept under observation a sufficient length of time to determine his condition beyond the possibility of a doubt, and if it can be proven that he is not laboring under any illness, or if suffering from some one of the many non-contagious maladies to which he is subject- the early symptoms of which are similar to those of hydrophobia- the person bitten is relieved from an indescribable condition of fear and anxiety which, if allowed to continue, may prove fatal.

The period of incubation varies greatly in different cases. We quote from Youatt.

6 - B. OF H.

"In the dog, I have never seen a case in which plain and palpable rabies occurred in less than fourteen days after the bite. The average time I should calculate at five or six weeks. In three months, I should consider the animal as tolerably safe. I am, however, relating my own experience, and have known but two instances in which the period much exceeded three months. In one of these, five months elapsed, and the other did not become affected until after the expiration of the seventh month."

TREATMENT.

It is gratifying to know that but a small proportion of persons bitten by rabid animals contract the disease. When the wound is inflicted through clothing, the virus is likely to be wiped from the teeth of the animal before they penetrate the flesh, thus rendering the bite comparatively harmless.

In fully developed hydrophobia, all known remedies fail to exert the slightest curative influence, consequently reliance must be placed solely upon preventive measures.

When the virus is once lodged in the human tissues, its removal or destruction is all that offers protection to the person inoculated. The parts wounded, if located where it is practicable, should be removed with a knife, and bleeding encouraged by the application of cupping glasses, or by immersion of the part in warm water. As soon as the blood ceases to flow, the wound should be cleansed with soap and water, and thoroughly cauterized with nitrate of silver. A person, may, however, be so unfortunate as to be bitten while far removed from a surgeon competent to excise the part, and as time is of great importance, it is well to consider the proper course to be pursued under such circumstances, while surgical aid is being procured. If the wound is upon one of the extremities, a ligature should be tightly applied around the limb between the wound and the body, bleeding encouraged by immersing the part in warm water, and if lunar caustic is to be had, it should be applied to every part of the wound.

We have the utmost confidence in the application of the caustic. Youatt claims to have applied it four hundred times, and in no single case did rabies follow the inoculation. In case the wound is deep and small, making it difficult to reach every part of the lacerated tissues, it should be enlarged with a sharp pointed knife

to a sufficient extent to allow the caustic to reach every part where it is possible the poison can be lodged. In case the caustic cannot be procured, an iron, heated to a white heat, should be applied sufficiently to insure the destruction of the virus. Better cauterize too deep than allow the smallest particle of the poison to remain.

VENTILATION.

I. VENTILATION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

II. INSPECTION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

1. The State Prison.

2. The Institute for the Blind.
3. The State Capitol.

4. The Northern Hospital for Insane.
5. The Racine County Poor House.

BY GENERAL JAMES BINTLIFF, OF JANESVILLE,
Member of the State Board of Health, and Chairman of Committee.

I. VENTILATION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The proper ventilation of buildings is a duty devolving upon the individual as well as upon the state; but the solution of the probtem involves so much recondite investigation, and so many costly experiments, before the precise fitness of means to ends can be determined, that state or national resources are alone adequate to the undertaking. Already modern nations have expended enormous sums in attempts to remove vitiated air from public buildings, and to replace it with the fine fluid which should oxygenate our blood; and, it is still pitifully true that, but few edifices can be named in which the conditions of health have been realized. Public buildings should be well ventilated as a means of education and experiment for the community at large, no less than in the interests of those for whose immediate use such structures are erected; and in carrying out the operations requisite to secure the main end in