IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL OBSERVATION OF DOGS.

But without the enactment of additional laws much can be done to reduce the danger from rabies. Every owner of a dog should examine it daily with sufficient care to detect marked changes in its physical condition and character that may be the symptoms of approaching disease, and when such changes are observed the dog should be so confined that, should it become affected with rabies, it will not be able to communicate the disease to persons and animals. This is very little to ask of dog owners. If they care for their dogs as they should, no special effort will be required to watch them carefully; and to properly isolate a dog when he is sick, or not quite normal, is a common-sense proceeding that should be universally practiced not only with dogs, but with all animals and persons that are sick, until it can be determined that they are not affected with a discase of the infectious or communicable kind. All diseases of dogs are not rabies, and rabies is not the only infectious disease of dogs. Proper confinement and isolation the moment dogs show a variation. from their normal condition will reward itself in time, in addition to the effect it will have on the suppression of rabies, through a considerable reduction in the frequency with which diseases like mange, canine distemper, etc., occur.

Before a dog becomes affected with the active, furious form of rabies he commonly shows some preliminary symptoms. It is to be regretted that they are vague, indefinite, and uncertain. The dog may be morose and irritable or appear more affectionate than usual; he may be dull and stupid, or unusually nervous and excitable. Once the disease is fully developed there is nothing uncertain. The blind, desperate fury, followed by paralysis and death, are absolute diagnostic symtoms, but can not be observed by the owner unless the dog has been confined in time to keep him from running perhaps miles away from home.

Another precaution for dog owners to take is a careful examination of their dogs for injuries inflicted by other dogs when it is known that a dog in the neighborhood has become affected with rabies, or that a rabid dog has passed through the neighborhood. When injuries are found, the owner should either watch his dog with redoubled vigilance, muzzle him, and place him in confinement, or have him destroyed in a painless manner. Since dogs are at all times apt to bite each other, frequently in play without viciousness, and rabies may be communicated by the bite of a rabid dog certainly as early as six days, and according to some authorities eight days, before the symptoms are apparent, this precaution for the safety of animals and persons is really an imperative obligation to the community imposed by the ownership of dogs.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF DOG OWNERS.

Dog owners should bear in mind that, in urban if not in rural communities, they constitute a minority, and that even among themselves many, probably the majority, realize the great need of measures for the suppression of rabies. Unless precautions against the persistence and spread of rabies, such as have been suggested, are taken by dog owners, the enactment and enforcement of laws of the nature herein before specified will become imperative. The reason why laws of this nature have not been made is due to the active fight against them by a small, greatly interested minority that opposes a tardy, disinterested majority. The minority fights hard for a privilege it has long enjoyed and abused, that of allowing dogs to be at large without restraint at all times, and the majority has never half realized that this privilege is costing a high price in the destruction of property and in horrible agony and numerous deaths. Many of our large cities are supporting institutes for the treatment of persons who have been bitten by rabid or mad dogs; other cities are contemplating the establishment of such institutes, and the need for such institutes is wholly the outgrowth of the difference between the liberty and privileges given dogs and those allowed to other domestic animals.

The real question is not one of affection for or animosity to the canine species. The dog, in his place, under proper observation and properly restricted, is an admirable, intelligent, companionable animal. This article has been written from the viewpoint of the dog owner. The writer has owned one or more dogs as long as he can remember, and now owns six of them. They are sheltered, well nourished, and contented, and are kept under conditions which insure that they shall not be an expense or a danger to the neighbors or to the community.

The dog owner who knows what rabies is from experience, if he has the proper consideration for his own welfare and that of his dogs, will be among the first to demand a movement for its suppression, even if this should place restrictions on the freedom of his dogs. His interest is greatest because he has the most at stake and is himself most seriously and frequently exposed to the infection.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING AND SHIPPING PATHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FOR DIAGNOSIS.

By GEORGE H. HART, V. M. D.,

Assistant in Pathology and Bacteriology, Pathological Division.

While laboratories for research in veterinary medicine are still but thinly scattered over our country, they are nevertheless sufficiently numerous to be within reach of the majority of sections. This, together with the present elaborate technique and scientific methods of diagnosing various obscure diseases of our domestic animals, makes it wise for veterinary inspectors and practitioners to acquaint themselves with the methods of obtaining and preparing tissues to be sent to the laboratory for pathological and bacteriological studies. The great assistance which the laboratory should be able to render to veterinarians and others in various disease conditions is in many cases reduced to a minimum by carelessness or indifference on their part in preparing the specimens before shipment. Where the proper measures are not taken, the specimens are often irretrievably spoiled for pathological work by the time they reach the laboratory, even though they are in a fresh condition when taken from the animal. In other cases, where a micro-organism is to be isolated to establish a diagnosis, it has become so badly contaminated by the abundant growth of saprophytic organisms that it is either never isolated or the time required is so great that the report of the laboratory is too long in being received to be of any material benefit to the interested person.

In many cases the mode of preparation of tissues must vary somewhat, depending upon whether they are to be used for pathological or bacteriological work. A dead body commences to undergo decomposition as soon as rigor mortis passes off, and in the case of the internal organs almost immediately on their exposure to the air. All solutions which will rapidly kill and properly fix the individual cells of a tissue are antiseptic and will render hopeless the procuring of any cultures. On the other hand, tissues not placed in such solutions will undergo more or less putrefactive changes during transit, which may destroy the delicate arrangement and staining properties of the cells so essential to proper pathological study. It must therefore be first considered which of the two is the more important in rendering the desired information, and, if possible, a method should

be secured which will answer for both, at least in a certain percentage of cases.

In all forms of infectious diseases the isolation of the specific organism is the crucial test in establishing the diagnosis, and therefore the bacteriological examination is the more important. On the other hand, in cases of tumors, cirrhosis of the liver, nephritis, etc., a bacteriological examination gives no positive information and the entire diagnosis rests on the microscopic examination of sections. In many instances, however, these two branches of medical science overlap each other and both are necessary in establishing the nature of the diseased condition. In such cases two sets of tissues have to be prepared during warm seasons or where the time for transit requires thirty-six hours or longer.

TISSUES TO BE FORWARDED.

The selection of the organs or parts of organs to be forwarded requires careful consideration. In cases where the infection is general, as in many infectious diseases, all the viscera as well as the blood will contain the causative organisms. In such cases organs for bacteriological examination should be taken which are least liable to be contaminated post-mortem, as examples of which may be mentioned the heart, the spleen, and the lymphatic glands. The liver and the pancreas, on account of their direct communication with the intestinal tract through their excretory ducts, are more liable to infection with saprophytic organisms than the above, which have no communication with the exterior. It must be remembered, however, that in any condition where the lesion appears to be local the importance of sending the affected viscera, as the liver or even the intestine, which always contains many varieties of bacteria, greatly outweighs the increased danger of contamination with other organisms. Where any doubt exists as to whether the condition is local or general, the spleen or the heart should be forwarded in conjunction with the seemingly localized lesions.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

In case a number of animals are showing symptoms of an unknown or obscure disease, it is better to obtain one which has recently died, or to kill one of the worst affected cases for post-mortem examination, and also to obtain fresh material to send to the laboratory for diagnosis. Where the disease is devastating the smaller animals, as poultry, or even sheep and swine, a positive diagnosis is more likely to be obtained by sending to the laboratory by express one of the animals howing well-advanced symptoms.

In making the post-mortem examination in the field, if the operator

has any idea that laboratory assistance will be necessary in rendering a diagnosis he should keep the fact constantly in mind during the procedure. Immediately upon opening the large body cavities the parts to be forwarded should be at once removed. As a general routine, the spleen and the heart are the organs which should be forwarded for a bacteriological examination, and they should be removed with the greatest caution and handled as little as possible. The heart should have all the large vessels ligated with string which has been immersed in a solution of bichlorid of mercury, 1 to 1,000, or in some other antiseptic solution. The knife and forceps used in removing the viscera should be either flamed over an alcohol lamp or over the flame of a match, or washed in an antiseptic solution, as 5 per cent carbolic acid. After removal the viscera should be laid separately on cheese cloth which has been saturated and thoroughly wrung out of bichlorid of mercury solution, 1 to 1,000, and wrapped up with several layers of the material. They should then be wrapped in paraffined or oiled paper and placed in a box for shipment. In the case of small animals the entire organs should be forwarded, as sections which necessitate the exposure of the parenchyma increase the liability to invasion with extraneous bacteria. In the case of large animals a portion of the spleen may be cut off, especial care being taken that the knife is sterile. The heart, however, must always be left intact. In addition to these organs, such other parts as show especially marked or peculiar lesions should also be forwarded, each piece being wrapped separately in the bichlorid gauze.

When intestines are to be forwarded the section should be removed and the excess of alimentary contents washed away by dipping in clear water. If the bowel is empty, it is better to tie both ends before removing and wrap in the gauze immediately, without washing. If during removal the tissues become covered with blood, it should be wiped off with gauze wrung out of bichlorid solution and not washed off in water. Removal of any foreign bodies, as dirt, straw, etc., should never be necessary, as such contamination should be scrupulously avoided.

Covering the tissues with a thick layer of powdered boric acid and wrapping in dry gauze is also practiced considerably and is equally valuable as the damp gauze, but has the disadvantage of being harder to remove at the laboratory. Juicy or friable tissues had better be placed in sterile or thoroughly clean glass containers without wrapping. Under ordinary conditions when the tissues are taken immediately after death and the laboratory is near by, the above mode of preparation preserves the tissues sufficiently well for pathological work. During exceptionally warm weather, however, or when friable parts are to be sectioned, and especially when tumors are to be forwarded, other methods have to be used in the preparation.