hose of us who have not the enlightened understanding to be
enamored of him may endure with such fortitude as we can command
his feats of tooth among the shins and throats of those who have; we
ourselves are so few that there is a strong numerical presumption of
personal immunity.

It is well to have a clear understanding of such inconveniences as
may be expected to ensue from dog-bites. That inconveniences and even
discomforts do sometimes flow from, or at least follow, the mischance of
being bitten by dogs, even the sturdiest champion of "man's best friend"
will admit when not heated fay controversy. True, he is disposed to
sympathy for those incurring the inconveniences and discomforts, but
against apparent incompassion may be offset his indubitable sympathy
with the dog. No one is altogether heartless.

Amongst the several disadvantages of a close personal connection with
the canine tooth, the disorder known as hydrophobia has long held an
undisputed primacy. The existence of dus ailment is attested by so many
witnesses, many of whom, belonging to the profession of medicine, speak
with a certain authority, that even the breeders and lovers of snap-dogs
are compelled reluctantly to concede it, though as a rule they stoutly
deny that it is imparted by the dog. In their view, hydrophobia is a
theory, not a condition. The patient imagines himself to have it, and
acting upon that unsupported assumption or hypothesis, suffers and dies
in the attempt to square his conduct with his opinions.

It seems there is firmer ground for their view of the matter than the
rest of us have been willing to admit There is such a thing, doubtless,
as hydrophobia proper, but also there is such another thing as
pseudo-hydrophobia, or hydrophobia improper.

Pseudo-hydrophobia, the physicians explain, is caused by fear of
hydrophobia. The patient, having been chewed by a healthy and harmless
dog, broods upon his imaginary peril, solicitously watches his imaginary
symptoms, and, finally, persuading himself of their reality, puts them
on exhibition, as he understands them. He runs about (when permitted) on
his hands and knees, growls, barks, howls, and in default of a tail wags
the part of him where it would be if he had one. In a few days he is
gone before, a victim to his lack of confidence in man's best friend.

The number of cases of pseudo-hydrophobia, relatively, to those of true
hydrophobia, is not definitely known, the medical record