The followng article, (with some additions), is the one in my last book, and it cannot well be improved on, but have added some strong words against Hydrophobia, the side-1 fight on, as, since this was written, fifteen years ago, my non-believe in hydrophobia has been made stronger, as during this period I have been bitten several times, and quite badly chewed up by dogs that - by all the symptoms that are supposed to exist, and yet I am here, writing another book, and none the worse for the bites.

"Germs" are now very fashionable with doctors, (before we had so many "germs" there were not nearly so many sick and dying people as there are now), but now most all veterinarians, and some doctors, get out of hydrophobia the easiest way they can, by calling it a "germ." I would like to see one of these "germs."

Appendicitis, now so fashionable also, in humans, and an operation almost invariably necessary, (the patient often dying, but "operation very successful"), and it's a wonder the poor dog has as yet not gotten this trouble.

To speak out plain and honest, I do not believe in hydrophobia at all, for I don't believe what I don't see, and a good deal that I do see. Many others, and among them noted authorities, however, do believe in the existence of such a disease, and in writing on this subject I shall give you my own ideas and belief, and also those of others more noted than myself -so you can read it all and believe as you like.

I have spent a lot of time since my first book in collecting additional information and statistics on this subject, as it is an important one to know all about that you can, and I consider that in this article all has been said that can be said. The authorities I quote, pro. and con., are eminent, and the case is now presented to you, the jury, to decide:

It might be considered presumptious and egotistical in me to say that there is no such disease, but I can honestly say that I have never seen a case, and don't believe in it, and I have as good a right today to have "gone mad" as any one who was ever bitten by a dog, for I carry scars on my body that have been there for many years - from bites of dogs - and I have been bitten hundreds of times in the past thirty years. While l"am writing this article I have five sores on my right wrist received yesterday from a boarder, a mastiff, but I fully expect to be able to finish this book and live for many years yet, long enough at least to see it in the hands of every dog owner in this country; in fact, I never had time to "go mad."

In handling dogs of all breeds, strange dogs, curs and thoroughbreds, incidental to having been a "dog crank" for thirty-five years, it necessarily follows that I have had a vast and varied experience, and .could not have done all this and not get bitten. The bite from a dog does not trouble me any more than if I cut my finger, which might be inconvenient and bothersome for a few days. The only thing I have ever done when bitten, if the bite was on a part of the body where I could get my lips to it, was to at once suck the blood from the place bitten and spit it out. This ends the matter there and then with me. There might have been danger of blood poisoning, as there always is from a wound, but if so, how simple to suck out this poison and at once get rid of all danger by spitting out the poison you have abstracted from the wound. It must be done immediately, however. Is there anything more simple than this?

In case you are bitten on any portion of the body that you could not get at to suck the wound, or some one was not near to do this for you, then apply Peroxyde of Hydrogen to the bite. Allow it to remain on for a minute or so, then remove the foamy matter produced thereby by squeezing onto it some water from a sponge or cloth. Then keep the wound clean by applying the Peroxyde three or four times a day and using often the antiseptic solution given under heading of "Bites."

(Since writing this article, tincture of iron is the latest treatment, now used by doctors for bites, instead of cauterizing the wounds, and then, the "Unguentine Salve" for healing).

Now, should you be bitten by a dog, if you are a sensible person, not nervous or easily scared, have not read too many highly colored and sensational "mad dog" items in the newspapers (which kill more people than dogs do), and keep your sober senses about you, don't believe or pay any attention to what your supposed friends say, when they tell you "how sorry they are," and bestow on you a look of pity, but go about your business as usual; forget the affair, and you will never go mad. If you believe all you read and hear as to going mad, lose your nerve and senses and get scared, it's the easiest thing in the world to "go mad" and die.

If this is not logic, why have I not gone mad years ago? I was bitten a couple of years ago by a Yorkshire terrier brought to me that was suffering from what a very good veterinary surgeon in Cincinnati had diagnosed as dumb rabies in this dog. I could not take the dog to treat, as I was just starting .on a trip, so sent the animal to a veterinary surgen, who took him to treat. This dog, after biting me, also bit him, and the dog died in twenty-four hours. The doctor held a post-mortem examination and told me it was a case of dumb rabies; but the doctor and I are both living.

Find me a doctor who can cure hydrophobia, and then I will be glad to have him explain to me what the disease is. If he can do this, then I'll try to believe there is such a thing as hydrophobia. If he can't cure it, he doesn't know what it is, for there is in this enlightened age a cure for every disease; but you must first know what you are trying to cure, or you won't cure it.

Every summer the papers are full of mad dog victims; but our best authorities who do believe in hydrophobia will tell you that summer, or in hot weather, is not the season of the year that dogs go mad. You read of the person dying in great agony; that he bites and barks, etc., etc. So he apparently does, I will admit, as I know of some authenticated cases like this, but the "barking and biting" could easily be explained if the attendants and friends who saw it were not all themselves scared and off their base and had let imagination make them so - all due to the scare that comes to so many from the awful word "hydrophobia" and the many vivid and overdrawn accounts they have read in the papers gotten up by a very bright reporter who had to furnish something sensational for his paper. It's just like the cry of "fire" to so many people, who often lose their lives by not retaining their senses about them and in most cases of this kind taking their time and getting safely out of the burning building, instead of either jumping out of a high window to be dashed to pieces on the pavement below or getting .crushed to death in the mad rush of the others.