[ Fleming / Rabies and Hydrophobia ]
George Fleming (1833 - 1901) was a Scottish veterinarian and writer/translator of multiple works on veterinary subjects; he was also a staunch anti-vivisectionist.
Rabies and Hydrophobia: Their History, Nature, Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention was first published in 1872 (London: Chapman and Hall); this appears to be the only edition.
The first mention of Newfoundlands in Fleming's book is a quoted passage from Elisha Kent Kane's Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55 (1856), in which Kane expresses concern for his Newfoundlands when one of the expedition's other dogs becomes rabid.
Newfoundlands are listed in a couple of tables showing two different veterinarians' statistics of the rabies cases they has treated broken down by breed; relatively few cases are recorded in Newfoundlands (and other working or sporting breeds), part of the evidence for the claim, advanced by other veterinary writers, that when it comes to rabies "it is the dogs which lead the least sedentary lives that are the most frequently diseased" (116). Fleming himself concludes his consideration of breed on the incidence of rabies by writing "In this country we have no statistics to refer to, but from casual reports and notices it might be concluded that dogs at large and dogs in confinement are alike susceptible to the malady, and that no particular breed suffers more than another" (118).
The next mention of Newfoundlands occurs in a footnote, where Fleming quotes verbatim (with attribution) an anecdote about a rabid Newfoundland that first appears in Delabere Pritchett Blaine's Canine Pathology (1817); click the link to open Blaine's work in a new tab/window.
The next mention of an apparently rabid Newf is an original anecdote. Discussing the sudden onset of problematic behavior in animals that later prove to be rabid, Fleming offers the following illustration:
So common is this peculiarity that it may be said to be pre- sent in every case of rabies; and it should put people upon their guard, as it is generally an early and striking indication of a change in the dog's manner — appearing even before any other very prominent symptom. Numerous proofs of this might be given, in addition to those already furnished; but it will suffice to adduce the case of the dog which introduced the disease into the Monreith kennels. My friend, Sir William Maxwell, informs me that towards the end of January, 1841, a large Newfoundland dog, apparently completely worn out from fatigue, and covered with mud, found its way into the kitchen of the factor's house, near Monreith. The children played with it, and after an hour or two the servants turned it out; during the whole time it never attempted to bite any one. On the same afternoon it showed itself at the home-farm offices, and the overseer, thinking it belonged to the gamekeeper, put a rope round its neck and sent a lad with it to that functionary's kennels, about a mile off. It went with him very quietly, and arrived at the kennels just as the keeper returned from shooting, with a couple of pointers at his heel. The sight of the latter seemed to put new life into the strange dog; breaking away from the lad, it savagely attacked one of the pointers and rolled it over; but receiving a blow or kick from the keeper, without attempting to bite him, it ran away and was seen no more in that neighbourhood — though a dog answering its description was shot as mad next day at a place about twelve miles distant. On examination, no wound was found on the pointer, except a small scratch on the lip. No mischief appeared, or was even suspected, until near the end of March, when the animal showed symptoms of rabies, and in April the disease commenced among the other dogs. (215 - 215)