The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-15 00:00:00

HYDROPHOBIA.

The following article of more than ordinary interest
is from the pen of Dr. Dolan, an expert on the sub-
ject. It appears in the Provincial Medical Journal
for May, of which Dr. Doran is the editor: In 1877,
we published in our work on "Rabies or 11.0ro-
phobia " (p. 51) an account of Dr. Buisson's e4Rri-
ences, and gave an account of his method of treat-
ment. Attention has been again directed to this form
of prevention, owing to the panic recently existing
on the subject of hydrophobia, and to the publicity
given by the lay press to the researches of M.
Pasteur. Hydrophobia has always been the wonder
of the hour. We have periodic periods when in-
terest is excited about the disease, and during
which numberless harmless animals are sacrificed
to the fears of humanity, and these periods are
succeeded by the usual reaV,ion. It is very dis-
couraging to those who really know anything about
the history of hydrophobia to find, when these panics
come on, the same errors committed, and old
suggestions brought forward as new ones. Letter
writers to the lay papers find on such occasions their
opportunity of airing their learning, and herein the
proverb becomes true, from Pope's "Essay on
Criticism," that " a little learning is a dangerous
thing." In reference to Dr. Buisson's plan, we may
here observe that, from his description, he was not
suffering himself from hydrophobia when he took his
vapour baths. We have seen within the last few
years seven cases of genuine hydrophobia, and the
symptoms he describes were very different indeed
from those of our patients. That Dr. Buisson was
nervous we have no doubt, and that the vapour bath
relieved him we have also no doubt. We have used
the Turkish bath in a number of roes where we had
to deal with nervous subjective symptoms arising
after the bites of dogs. The following is an
abstract of Dr. Buisson's experience: "Believing
that the malady would not declare itself
until, the fortieth day, and having numerous
patients to visit, I put off the application of my
remedy, that is to say vapour baths. The ninth day,
being in my cabinet, I felt all at once a pain in the
throat, and a still greater one in the eyes. My body
seemed so light that I felt as if I could jump to a pro-
digious height; and if I threw myself out of the
window I could sustain myself in the air (?) My hair
was so sensitive that I appeared able to count each
separately without looking at it (?) Saliva kept con-
tinually forming in the mouth. Any movement of
air inflicted great pain on me, and I was obliged to
avoid the sight of objects. I had a continual desire
to run and bite, not only human beings, but animals
and all that was near me (?) I drank with difficulty;
and I remarked that the sight of water disturbed me
more than the pain in my throat. I believe that by
shutting the eyes any one suffering from hydrophobia
can always chink. The fits came on every five minutes,
and I then felt the pain start from the index-finger
and run up the nerves to the shoulder. In this state,
feeling that my course was preservative and not cura-
tive, I took a vapour bath, Lot with the intention of
but of suffocating myself. When the bath was
at a heat of 52 deg. centigrade (189 deg. Fahrenheit)
all the symptoms disappeared as if by magic, and since
then I have never felt any more of them. I have at-
tended more than 80 persons bitten by mad animals,
end I have not lost a single case. When a person
has been bitten by a mad dog he must for several suc-
cessive days take a vapour bath, it la I?us,s.e, as it is
called. This is the preventive remedy. When the
disease is declared, it only requires one vapour bath
rapidly increased to 63 deg. centigrade, then slowly
lowered to 37 deg. The patient must strictly confine
himself to his chamber until the cure is complete."
From the foregoing it will be clearly seen that Dr.
Buisson was almost exactly in the same condition as
Andrew Crosse, the electrician, the history of whose
case is reported in Cornhill Magazine, July, 1879.
Crosse had been bitten severely by a cat, and feeling
symptoms which he believed to be those of hydro-
phobia, he put his gun upon his shoulder and
went out for a day's shooting, and so Hied
himself that all his subjective symptoms disappeared.
From our note-book we could adduce a number
of cases where we have been consulted by persons
with grave subjective symptoms, which have all dis-
appeared under the use of the Turkish bath, supple-
mented by small doses of bromide of potassium. We
can therefore confidently recommend both the
_Turkish and the.ppour bath in those cases where we
have nervous subjective symPtoms. In true hydro-
phobia the efficacy of the bath has been tested and
found wanting. Our knowledge of hydrophobia at
the present day would have been very much enlarged
could we have induced Someone in authority to take
up the suggestions we made in 1877. We proposed
"that Government should take the matter up, and
appoint some medical men to take charge of all, re-
ported cases of hydrophobia ;" but our suggestion
fell almost stillborn. Now that an interest has again
been excited in hydrophobia, we may expect the
Government to make some move in the matter. M.
Pasteur's great name has deservedly attracted atten-
tion to hydrophobia; and should his experiments
even fail, he will still have deserved well in arousing
an interest in the prevention of hydrophobia, and in
encouraging a search for its cure.

"Well, blow my eyes," exclaimed a fourteen-year-
old boy, after reading the names of Lubbock's "one
hundred best books." "Not a Injun or Pirat story
among 'em. That old cove don't know what a good
book is. Don't believe he ever read 'Skeleton Bill,
the Body Snatcher,' or such high-toned literature."
And the disgusted youth threw down the paper con-
taining Lubbock's "list," and resumed readiAo
The Holy Terror: or. Alasbed at Midnight.'