The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-26 00:00:00

HINTS .4.23i/ITT HYDROPHOBIA.

Mr. Holmes Coote, of Princes-street, Hanover-
square, Loudon, has sent the following letter to The
Tunes for publication, which was suggested by Sir
Richard Mayne's order, that dogs must be muzzled or
be liable to be seized by the police, and which order
has been frequently and severely criticised by other
correspondents also, and has resulted in the destruction
of about tOOO of the canine race:—

As the Chief Commissi tttt er cf Police still persist. in
directing his energies towards guarding the public against
the dangers of bites front rabid animals, permit me to
make known through your columns that the disease
called hydrophobia is extremely rare in this, and I believe
in most other countries, anti that his fears have no solid
foundation.
I have pas,ed about thirty-five years, including student
Joy', at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and I can remember
only two cases in that institution lluring the whole of that
period ; one was tinder the care of the late Sir W. Lawrence;
the ,titer, which I scarcely remember, was under the care of
the late Mr. Earle. I have never had a case under my own
care. I also think that many ot my surgical colleagues
never saw a case, and the same evidence has been lately
given to me by foreign physicians with whom I have con-
, versed.
Its history is involved in much ambiguity, and the
Sylliptf MIS are It defined. It is a lons of tetanus, and the
dread of water is certainly not a constant symptom, for the
patient to whom I have referred obtained most comfort from
constantly sucking ice.
It is certainly not more common in hot than in cold
weather. I doubt whether it Is known in Turkey, in the
towns of which country the dogs run about uncontrolled,
and act the part of scavengers.
The stories which are related of the symptoms indicating
the disease first showing themselves some months after the
injury are scarcely supported by sufficient proof; neverthe-
less, the bison does appear to lie dormant fore time.
But it must be remembered that tetanus may follow any
kind of injury, or indeed occur ass,. idiopathic disease, when
it may he called hydrophobia. I feel sure that sir Richard
Mayne may dismiss his fears, and let the dogs run about un-
trammelled.

Mr. C'oote, in a subsequent letter to the same
journal, says :

Several letters on this subject having reached me since
pat did lite the favour to publish my communication of the
17th, I venture to ask of you permission for a reply.
Hydrophobia, strictly speaking, is not a disease, but only
a symptom, one °IA of many, of the disease called tetanus.
It implies a dread of SWallaWillir liquids, and is supposed to
Ire more comnion in that form of tetanus which in the human
subject follows the bite if rabid animals, each as the clog,
the fox, and the wolf. Hydropholoia, as it is called, is
horribly fatal Indeed, I know of no well-authenticated
case of recovery lit man, although the lower animate do not
suffer to the like extent A clear aml graphic account of the
disease will be hest afforded by the billowing case, for which
taint indebted to sir .1. Clarke Jervoise, iii lilsworth :
.• It—, a boy nine years of age, was bitten in May, 1566,
I,y a strange dog. The dog had been tied up with a view to
its being taken to its owner, and, thus circumstanced, had
been teased by a carter's boy accidentally passing, when it
broke away On B---'a running after to dog it turned
upon him and worried hint, biting him thiough the upper
lip, through the fleshy part of the thumb. and the forearm.
The wounds were touched ss ith caustic the same night, and
the next day the boy Woe taken by his friends to the sea.
Stile with the view of dipping him. But thetide mot serving
Ire Was taken trio surgeon, wino very properly cauterised the
wounds again The WOUIId iii the arm never bled ; that in
the lip injured the living membrane i,f the mouth and bled
profusely. It was first attributed to a bloody nose All the
wn,miils shortly healed. Nearly nix weeks elapsed, the
I.y being in his usual health, when being one day at school
be complained of the draught, and on reaching home re-
quested that the curtains of his bed might be closed. These
remarks of his were attended with a cionvulsive movement
as it he was repelling something with his hands. The school
children Mal called him "mad dog." The mother rennunded
the doctoi that just six weeks had elapsed since the acci-
dent, and that it was the first of the dog days. He died
with the usual symptoms on July 6. One id Sir J. Jervoise's
family, a lady endowed with that deviotion of character
which rises superior to fear or pi ejodice, bathed the child's
legs and ann. with vinegar and water, and offered him
lemonade from tin,. to time He was tolerably tranquil
with this lady, who was a witness to the terrors which the
ease excited in those around. The child tried to drink the
lentonade, but said he could not, his throat was so sore.
When this lady left him the poor boy clung to his Dialler,
assuring her that he would tad bite her, evidently alluding
the alarm which One neighbours had expressed about his
being dangerous. The Is ly, who hail taken the lay on her
lap and nursed hits, was considered to have done a very
dangerous act as regards herself. The dog seems to have
fed its usual and to have done no further mischief to other
persviss. '
Here, then, a dog, apparently free from any indication of
disease, bites a child who is giving it chase. The wounds
are mmteriseil and they then heal; and six weeks afterwards
the symptoms of tetanus or hydrophobia show themselves,
and run their fatal course with usual severity !
Whatever the amount of ridicule which may attach to the
order for muzzling dogs, there can be no doubt that some
very stringent sanitary measures are needed to keep so dread-
ful a eniiauurity as hydrophobia in abeyance.
We are clearly snider obligations to Sir R. Mayne for
having the streets cleared of all unclaimed or half-owned
useless mongrels. Moreover, in the metropolitan districts
no large and savage dogs should be allowed at all ; they can
do no good, and the confinement ti which they are subject tit
nece,,ity irritates them. An ample supply of drinking
trotaglis should if found in every district, alld the water
should be clean and pure, Sad trot likely to convey the germs
of ebtozioa. Every dog should have a collar, on winch
should be inscribed the name and, it possible, the residence
of the owner. As Lie. W. Jones rightly observes, hydro-
phobia as a virulent disease is rare among dogs if they are
kept as mach as possible in their natural state."
Lastly, let it lie rentembereil that niany cases have been
recorded in which the disease has been caused by pet dogs
snapping at their owners ire others is hen within doors. 1
approach this subject "of ladies' pets " with diffidence, but
at the .Ire time cannot close my eyes to the fact that these
little monstrosities are a. 9 likely, or event more SO, In, 110
the. same atuount of injury as their larger and coarser
brethren.
It is needless to say that the disease cannot be transmitted
from one human being to another.

Referring to the above letters, Mr. James Allen,
Government Veterinary Inspector, of Nassau-street,
has written the folliiwing to The Thou:. :
Referring to 3lr. Coote's letter in The Timex of Thursday
as to the very few cases of hydrophobia that had occurred in
his practice, I 13111, from considerable experience of canine
pathology, confidently assert that it is a very rare thing in
veterinary practice Income across a real Case, albeit 3 very
great number Of dogs are condemned as mad by all incorrect
eiagnosis,.and destroyed in consequence.
The returns of mad *logs are fearfully exaggerated, 03
account of the very great dread of hydrophobia that very
naturally exists, and should a dog become unwell, and
mavish and snappish, and bite.y one of his hitherto friends,
be is generally set down as "going mad," although he is not
really no, and, as a rule. killed, thus leaving the bitten party
for an indefinite period in anxious fear as to the " latent
virus;" whereas, were the supposed mad dog subjected to
proper treatment, the result would in almost ninety-nine
cases out if a hundred be perfectly satisfactory.

Another correvondent, "K W. 5.," writing in de-
fence of the nnizzle, sayx
" •

You point out that the correspondence on the subject of
dog-muzzling has emanated exclusively from the muzzled and
their friends. As a small contribution from the other side,
allow ale to call your attention to a passage in Dr. Fan's
letter on the causes of death appended to the Twenty-ninth
Report of the Registrar-ileneral, published this year, p. 176,
in which he says,-- Hydrophobia, which had been fatal to
one. two, three, or four persons in the seven years from 1357
Is, 1363, became fatal to 12, 19, and 36 in three years ending
in 1366.

Mr. W. H. Jones, M.P., of Harley-street, Cavendish-
imuare, writing in reply to the foregoing, remarks
,‘ E. W. S." says that the objectors to the muzzle should be
called upon to suggest a better remedy before finally aban-
doning it. I caneot help thinking that in the first place
F W. S." and those who advocate the muzzle as a rsniedy
should be called epon to prove that it is a good one.
I am sorry that I have not the Registrar-General's
,Report at hand It would be interesting to have as much
details as possible concerning the cases which occurred in
I.!dSi, to know at what season of the year the sufferers were
bitten, whether in the streets, &C. If during the seven years
1557 to ISO 3, when only three or four persons died from
hydrophobia, the muzzle had been in constant use, and if this
precaution had been neglected in 1566, when :M died, then,
and then only, I think is e might have reason to believe in its
efficacy. But, as it bi crucially used, the muzzle is very in-
effective, I have often examined muzzled dogs in France,
and hi other count] its of the Continent, and very seldom
found that the leather strap muzzle was put on in such a
way as to prevent dogs opening their mouths rather freely.
Indeed, were it otherwise, the poor annuals would be much
tormented.
Mr. Holmes Coote, in his letter to The Times, expresses
his belief that hydrophobia as a virulent disease is rare
anodic dogs if they are kept as much as possible in their
natural state Ti, that opinion I fully subscribe. I have
I,Si. led some years in Turkey, where hundreds of dogs roam
thi mach the streets unmuzzled, and never saw a ease of
hydrophobia In that country.
Liming eight years of hospital practice in Paris I was de-
sirous of witnessing as many cases as I could, and availed
myself of the acquaintance :Ma friendship of many of the
iht,nes, who communicated with me immediately on the
,wcurrence of this malady in the wards of the different hos-
pitals. Only three cases came before my notice during the
period mentioned. Of two I was an eyewitness almost from
the commencement, and it nosy be worthy of remark, as
bearing upon the present discnssion, that these cases oc-
curred in early spring, and that the sufferers bail not been
bitten by dogs In the street, hut by those who were within
their owner's premises. In the last case which I witnessed
there had toes no bite. The patient, a young frinnte de ,
chauthre, hail permitted is small pet dog to lick her face •
earre,singly, the animal at that time exhibiting in. symptoms
Of the malady. She had a slight scratch on her nose, aim
through it the virus was transmitted.
Of course, numerous wounds from bites of dogs were tube
seen in the large hospitals of Paris, but I could never find
that they were followed by serious results. Once a singular
coincidence was presented to nip notice. On the same day,
M the same hospital, were four patients suffering from
bites—one In is. a olog, the amond, curio ins to relate, from a
Bin , the third from a horse, and the fourth (non a woman.
The first two were soon cured, the other two became more
,serious.