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It will be remembered that in 1884 rabies began to increase in the London and home counties districts. No notice being taken of its spread, it soon produced a severe effect, when in 1885 the numerous deaths (twenty-seven) among human be

to have been greater. With indolence in | tracted so much notice on account of its the common acceptation of the word it excessive mortality, and which terminated would have been impossible to charge by causing the local mischief which forms him. Nor could he be accused of that the ground of this article. improvident dissipation of the mental ac tivities which sometimes results from a wide variety of intellectual interests. It could not be said of him that he had "too many irons in the fire." He confined himself pretty closely, so far as is known, to that work of historical and historico-ings caused a popular panic, and led the literary criticism in which he felt that his authorities to institute measures for its true strength lay; and it was assuredly repression. The authorities in the Lonnot from attempting too much that he don district having provided for the meraccomplished so little. Other causes, ciful extirpation of stray dogs, the familiar some of which we have conjecturally indi- vehicle of the disease, secured the noncated, must be sought to account for the transmission of the virus by enforcing the fact that the work of his pen should have use of muzzles. The result of their work fallen so curiously short of the power of during 1886 has been seen during 1887, in his mind, and that the public can now the practically total immunity of the popnever be expected to share that high_esti-ulation of this great city from this the mate of his abilities which was universal among his private friends.

From Nature.

RABIES AMONG DEER.

most justly dreaded of all diseases. Let us not forget to add in passing that as was pointed out at the time of the expiration of the local regulations by those acquainted with the malady, that the measures being but local could only produce a temporary relief from the evil, since the metropolis was continually being infected from disTHAT all domesticated or semi-domesti-tricts beyond the reach of the regulations, cated mammals succumb to inoculation with the virus of rabies has long been asserted, and examples of its occurrence have been duly recorded. The possibility, however, of the disease affecting half-wild animals seems to have been lost sight of, and it was therefore with much surprise on the part of the public that the announce ment was received last year of the deer in Richmond Park being attacked by the malady.

and that though it could be kept free for a time, yet reintroduction of the virus would certainly occur, and the work would have to be done all over again. This is actually now happening, though not yet officially declared. The disease has reappeared (as it has usually done) in the southern suburbs, and is gradually making its way into the metropolis.

But to return. The epidemic of 1885 terminated in the London district with the

Apart from the general interest attach-infection of the roe deer in Richmond ing to the welfare of the public using the parks in which these animals are kept, and beyond the special interest felt by the veterinary profession in the clearing up of the diagnosis of this strange and novel condition, the outbreak was of importance as affording a fresh opportunity of investigating the character of the malady under, as it were, new circumstances, and hence we find in the reports of this epizooty recently furnished to the Privy Council by Mr. Cope and Professor Horsley, many points which fill up certain blanks in our scientific information on the subject.

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Park, resulting in the extermination of several hundreds of these valuable and pretty animals. From Mr. Cope's interesting report it appears that the first to be seized was a doe which had a suckling fawn, and as we learn from the very valuable evidence of Mr. Sawyer, the headkeeper of the Park, it seems that under these circumstances a doe will attack a dog attempting to worry the herd, as a rabid dog passing through the park would do. Fortunately in the Richmond case no instance occurred of the transmission of the disease from the deer to man through the dog as in an outbreak recorded in 1856 at Stainborough. Had this happened, the deaths of the deer would not have been attributed to varicus canses, poisoning, etc., as they now were until the remarkable aggressiveness of the

features are sometimes widely separated. The paralysis may set in so soon as to obliterate aggressiveness, and thus a distinct form (dumb) of rabies be produced, though of course the aggressive form of the disease always ends in paralysis if not suddenly arrested by syncope. In the deer the combination of the two symptoms seems to have been very equal. For even when the animal had fallen down from paresis (of the hind limbs more especially) it would nevertheless spring up and attempt to seize and worry with its teeth every person or object coming within its reach. The complete metamorphosis of the usual temper of the animal is of course only to be explained by profound mental disturbance, exactly as seen in the human being. We have alluded to the mode of transmission of the disease— viz., through the saliva. This mode was put to direct experiment by an infected animal being placed with a healthy one which had been isolated for some time, and the incubation period was determined in this instance to be nineteen days, the comparative shortness of the period being no doubt due to

affected animals led to a thorough investigation by the veterinary advisers of the government. Rabid deer were sent for observation to the Veterinary College, and the symptoms noted. The exact determination yet remained to be made, and, thanks to the recent researches of M. Pasteur, this was now possible. Portions of the central nervous system from these animals were sent to the Brown Institution, and there inoculated by Professor Horsley into rabbits by the subdural method. These animals died after exhibiting the characteristic symptoms of rabies, and after death the usual post mortem appearances were duly discovered. More infected deer were sent also to the Brown Institution, and the extraordinary changes effected by the disease more closely studied. This kind of deer, naturally gentle and timid, was transformed into a fierce and savage animal, rivalling the rabid horse almost in its attempts to do mischief. The early symptoms, as in all animals, appear to have been indicative of mental hallucination, for the animals would stop feeding, hold up their heads, sniff the air, and then, without the slight- the very numerous points of inoculation. est reason, burst into a gallop. When placed in confinement the least noise attracted their attention, and later-i.e., on the second and third day-caused them to charge in the direction of the sound. The mental perversion which leads a rabid dog one moment to lick with almost frantic energy a healthy dog placed with it, and then the next moment violently to bite if, finds its parallel in the deer similarly affected, for these animals in a like manner licked their companions, and then ferociously attacked them, seizing them with their jaws (usually about the shoulders) and tearing off hair and pieces of skin. The points thus inoculated with the virus after cicatrization became, as is almost invariably the case, the seat of intense irrita tion when the disease actively showed itself; hence one of the most prominent signs presented by the animals was that of their rubbing themselves with such force as to make these parts raw. In connection with the differences which are now known to be characteristic of the same disease in different classes of animals, it is interesting to note that in all large animals, whatever be the previous temperament, the course of the malady is closely identical; thus in the horse, the ox, the sheep, the pig, the deer, etc., the illness is rapid, there is great aggressiveness, and yet early paralysis. It is of common knowledge that in the dog these two latter

An interesting and confirmatory circumstance of the reality of this method of transmission was afforded by the fact that so long as the bucks retained their horns they were able literally to stave off infec tion, but as soon as these natural means of defence fell off at the usual periods, both sexes suffered alike.

The mode of death seems in all cases to have been ultimately cardiac failure, which supervened frequently before the customary coma, the final stage of paralysis, was developed. Relatively, syncope occurred much more frequently than it does in the human subject, and a fortiori than it does in the dog, a circumstance explicable by the necessarily extremely fatiguing nature of the fits of excitement to which deer are evidently specially liable in the early development of the disease. According to Professor Horsley's pathological report, both macroscopic and microscopic appearances of the affected tissues revealed the usual lesions which are symptomatic of rabies. This last fact is a healthy sign of scientific progress, for any layman who has sought to obtain from books or verbal statements made by those justly recognized as being qualified to speak with authority on this subject must have been disappointed with the uncertainty of knowledge which has prevailed respecting the morbid anatomy of rabies up to the present time. The obscurity

which existed on this point was aggravated | very greatly diminish the profits which no doubt by the absurd popular supersti- would otherwise be theirs. tions connected with the disease, and by the failure to recognize that it was simply a very severe kind of one of the acute specific maladies. From the latter cause especially has confusion arisen, since it it will be found that previous records of the post mortem appearances fallaciously comprehend the examination of animals dying at all possible stages of the malady. But now we know these points accurately; and as in this particular case the subject has been so thoroughly worked up, there will be scarcely any excuse for the disease escaping immediate recognition and adequate treatment.

Pasteur Institute should serve as the kind of example which a statesman whose desire for the improvement of the country and the people is not a question of votes but of genuine interest might study with advantage.

Just as we are much behind other nations in the foundation of technical instruction, so we are being fast outstripped in the provision for means for the scientific investigation of matters which, like the one we are now considering, greatly concern the public welfare. We believe it to be a fact that at the present moment neither of the two great government departments which are concerned in the scientific arrest of national disease, viz., the Privy Council and the Local Government Board, have any laboratory whatever at their disposal, and consequently are obliged to seek the necessary accommodation in private instiHere we cannot help pointing out what tutions; or, to put it in plain language, the a very grave injury is inflicted on the pub-government is not ashamed to get its public by the vexatious operation of the so-lic work done by the favor of private called Vivisection Act, which prevents the means. The Berlin Laboratory and the veterinary inspector from at once resorting to M. Pasteur's admirably simple and conclusive method of testing the real condition of any animal killed under the suspicion of rabies. Under the present régime valuable time is lost, and risk incurred of the inoculative material becom- Those gentlemen, unfortunately few in ing useless from decomposition, etc., by number, who represent science at the presreason of his being compelled to forward it ent moment in Parliament, would have to some such institution as the Brown for a large field of good work open to them examination. The very valuable observa- if they attempted to reform this state of tion recently published by M. Pasteur's as- affairs by adjusting the advantages and sistant Dr. Roux, that the immersion of the assistance offered by science to the real tissue in a mixture of glycerine and water needs of the nation. At present the actual prevents septic change, but does not miti-opinion of the scientific world on any subgate the influence of the virus, to a slight extent obviates part of the difficulties and inconvenience just noted, but the anomaly still remains that, while the immense value of the experimental test has received the full recognition of the recent committee of the House of Lords, the law does not permit it to be used except in one, or at the outside two places in Great Britain, which have with the usual difficulties and obstruction succeeded in obtaining the necessary permission. No one perhaps supposes that the benefits which science offers to the public will ever be received with anything like adequate acknowledgment of the difficulties, and it may be dangers, which have attended this or that particular discovery. But we think that it cannot be recognized by the mass of the people who actually or theoretically direct the legislature by their votes, that, while they eagerly reap the benefits of the harvest of science, at the same time they permit that harvest to be choked by the tares of legislative obstruction, and thus

ject of special interest is usually only extracted with difficulty by evidence before a select committee. It would be very easy for the scientific members of the House to concentrate their force by previous meeting and organization, and so to give weight to that side in a debate which was truly working for the best solution of any national problem involving health and disease. In former years, the opinion of unscientific persons has been sought on the subject of rabies as being of equal weight with the assured observations of scientific experts. This lamentable state of things has led to the present condition of our legislation against this disease, under which the malady is but temporarily, if readily, stamped out in one district alone; this same district becoming infected again from neighboring parts of the country as soon as the regulations are withdrawn. There is no doubts from the minutes of the Lords committee on rabies, that the report of that committee was drafted in this unfortunate manner owing

to the influence of Lords Mount-Temple | access that it is almost impossible to reach and Onslow, who, in their speeches and it in less than ten days from England, but writings, have afforded numerous evi- the post, that great solace of the exile, is dences of their complete want of scientific extremely irregular, Letters come quickly knowledge of the nature of the disease, enough as far as Trieste; but then they and who, consequently, have failed to are put on board an Austrian Lloyd grasp the most obvious way in which it steamer, and spend nearly a week dawdcan be extirpated - namely, the univer- ling down the Adriatic, till they reach sal application of preventive legislation. San Giovanni di Medua, which is one of Mistakes of this kind, it seems to us, the worst ports in European Turkey, and would be utterly prevented by combined that is saying a very great deal. Scodra action of the scientific members of either is about twenty miles from the seacoast, House, and if, as is sometimes our unfortu- and each consulate possesses a postman, nate duty, we have to chronicle ill-advised who takes it in his turn to ride down to measures of supposititiously scientific offi- the port to meet the steamer and bring cialism, let us hope they will not have back the mails. When the weather is passed out into law without a strenuous bad, the boats do not touch at Medua, so protest from the united voice of "our the postman has the pleasure of seeing representatives." the Lloyd go by to Corfu, and of spending the time at fever-stricken Medua somehow or other till its return. Sometimes there is quite a collection of postmen, who have handed over their mail-bags to the Lloyd agent, and are waiting to receive the post when the steamer does touch. But supposing the gale to moderate sufficiently for this, the difficulties of the postmen are not over. We always talk of the "road to Medua, but it is only by courtesy, for, strictly speaking, there is not even a track for the greater part of the way.

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From Chambers' Journal.

IN A TURKISH CITY.

FIRST FAPER.

THERE are still some places left in the world where a man may feel in exile. Railways, steamers, and telegraph lines have brought most parts of Europe within easy reach of the omnipresent travelling gentleman known to residents abroad as the T.G. There is an English society of one sort or another in most foreign towns; and where there is no society, there is a British merchant or two, or some one trying for a concession, or some one financing a railway. A man does not feel himself absolutely in exile when he can hear his own language spoken occasionally by residents or visitors; but here in Scutari-or Scodra, as it should properly be called we so seldom see a T.G.'s face, or hear any English voices but our own, that we may fairly consider ourselves in exile. The place itself seems utterly ignored by the average Englishman. If I tell him I am going to Scodra, he says, "Oh yes!" but his face shows that the name conveys no impression to his mind. If I say: "It's generally called Scutari in Europe," his face lights up, if he be a person of intelligence, and he replies, "Oh, of course where the Crimean cemeteries are." Unfortunately, it is just where the Crimean cemeteries are not; but as people on the continent have resolved to call the capital of North Albania and the suburb of Constantinople by the same name, the mistake will naturally continue to occur. Not only is the place so difficult of

In the summer it is all plain sailing; the boats touch with commendable regularity; the river Drin is low, and the postman ambles along the level banks, or occasionally in the dried-up bed of the stream. But in winter it is a very different thing; the Drin has no respect for its banks, and not content with flooding all the plain, carves out new courses for itself now and then which puzzle the most experienced postman. Sometimes he has to wade, sometimes he has to borrow a londra or canoe, and paddle across the river; and sometimes he gets intercepted for a week, and the precious mails for which we are longing with the impatience only known to exiles have to be stored in a damp hut, waiting until the rush of waters be past. The postal officials, too, in Europe have vague notions as to our whereabouts. A letter plainly addressed "Albania" has been sent to America, and returned from Albany, N.Y., with the inscription, "Try Europe;" and a parcel after having been despatched from England was no more heard of for months, until one fine day a Turkish postman arrived with it safe and sound. It had been sent to Constantinople by a clerk who was too sharp to pay attention to the address, and thence carried

across the peninsula by a zaptich at an enormous expense of time and trouble. It is such little contretemps as these that make us welcome so heartily the solemn face and long grizzled moustaches of Giovanni the postman as he jogs up the road from the bazaar with the mail-bags swinging at bis saddle-bow.

It is a queer land this; a land of upsidedown; where men wear petticoats and women trousers; where women ride astride and men ride side-saddle; where men air themselves in their best clothes, while women do the work and carry the burdens; a land where justice is quite as blind as she is elsewhere, and quite as frequently pops the innocent man into prison and lets the real offender go free, although she does not disdain to raise a corner of the bandage over her eyes, when the right sort of oil is applied to allay the itching that troubles her palm. But here is a stout little gentleman in the Stambouli uniform, with his fez slightly on the back of his head, and his hands crossed behind him, twiddling a string of amber beads. He is a jovial-looking little man, although he does walk so slowly and solemnly, with his two secretaries or attendants behind him. He represents the blind goddess here, for he is, let us say, the supreme judge of the mercantile court. He is also a Greek, and therefore a plausible and unscrupulous rogue. With what a charming air of old-fashioned courtesy he salutes us; how politely and even eloquently he discourses of indifferent topics of the day! In his court he is just as polite; but the suitors know that it is quite as well to have the judge on their side, and that his taste for antique and curious works of art is rather more expensive than his salary will permit him to gratify; and so, somehow or other, before an important case comes on, valuable rugs or chased silver ornaments find their way to the judge's house as presents. Should Barbelushi and Skreli go to law, and should BarbeJushi, foolishly relying on what he considers the justice of his cause, omit to play a counter-move to the gloriously patterned carpet that has mysteriously found its way from Skreli's house to the president's, he will inevitably lose his case; the matter is too simple for a moment's doubt. But let us suppose that a friend of Barbelushi informs our little acquaintance that a pistol with a magnificently carved silver butt is awaiting his accept ance, and that only Barbelushi's native modesty has prevented him from offering it long since as a testimony of regard for

so upright and learned a judge; then the matter becomes more complicated, and it requires all the ingenuity and tact of a Greek to see that justice be done.

When the case comes on, the president of the court is even more courteous and affable than usual to the litigants; he has weighed the matter over well, and has decided, we will say, that he has plenty of carpets for the present; that Barbelushi's pistol is a very handsome specimen, and that perhaps, by judicious hints, the fellow to it, which he knows is in existence, may be enticed from Barbelushi's house to his own. When the arguments have been heard, the president and his two colleagues confer over the matter before giving their judgment, and the former speaks very strongly in favor of the justice of Barbelushi's case - so strongly, in fact, that the two colleagues, seeing which way the wind is blowing, and being too wise in their generation to oppose their chief, give their votes for Barbelushi. Thereupon, the president plays a master-stroke, and gives his own vote for Skreli; but being outvoted, judgment is given for Barbelushi. The latter, rejoiced at winning his suit, returns the judge his most grateful thanks for the eminent justice and skill in the law displayed by his Excellency; and going home, at once despatches the second pistol as an earnest of his gratitude.

But poor Skreli is naturally much disappointed, and fancies that his carpet is lost for nothing. However, he is too good a fish to be thrown away, so the president takes the first opportunity of condoling with him on his misfortune, and assures him that it was entirely owing to the majority being on the other side; for that, as the records of the court show, he himself voted for Skreli. And all this is said with so much apparent sympathy, and with so much sorrow that his efforts should have been unavailing, that the simple Skreli is almost consoled for his loss, and goes home resolving that before his next lawsuit a much better carpet shall have become the property of so worthy and upright a judge. And thus all parties are quite satisfied; and the law, as in other parts of the world, gets the oyster, while the litigants get the shells.

But tricks however cunning get seen through at last, and the judge and his predecessors in office are no doubt largely responsible for that hole in the wall of the house opposite us. The owner of the house evidently does not think his white wall disfigured by the hole, for he has not

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