The identity of rabies as a definite disease appears now to be generally accepted, although there is still some question as to its etiology. The impression has prevailed, however, that the prevalence of the disease among both man and animals was exaggerated and that press reports of rabies among animals were in most in stances erroneous.
That rabies has been endemic in the United States for more than a hundred years is shown by reports of cases and references to the disease in the medical literature from time to time during that period.
In reviewing the history of rabies in America, Ravenel states1 that the first outbreak was reported from Boston in 1768, that it appeared in Philadelphia in 1779, that it was prevalent throughout the Northern states in 1785, and that soon after that time it spread to the Southern part of the country.
Reports of the disease have