Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1871-01-06
From the Baltimore Sun.
HYDROPHOBTA.
by Prof. N. NJ. Smith.

Medical communications should, as a
rule. be given to the public only through
medical journals, but as the important facts
which | am about to publish may never
reach those who are interested except
through the columns of a newspaper. take
this method Of impsrting them without
further apology, especially as the universal
popular Ignorance on the subject is often
permissiye of fatal results.
| have seen recently in the public prints
notices of several deaths by this most terri
bic Of diseases, in which the fatal results
might have BIZ en- easily averted had the sim
pie facts which l here publish been known
to the sufferers or their friends. [ have
often reproached myself for not having
sooner made this mmunication not that
the profession are ignorant Of what pub
fish, but that the public are lame ntably SO.
The virus Or poison which propagates hy-
drophobia exists in the saliva of the rabid
animal. 1t is not injected through the tooth
into the wound, as is the venom Of the rat
tlesnake, Or as is the venom Of the bee,
through the sting. The poison merely be.
smears the tooth, as tie lancet is coated with
the virus in vaccinating. There is another
very important distinguishing fact in regard
to its effect on the wounded part. 1t pro-
duees no irritation, no immediate effect -
Like the vaccine virus, or that Of the small
pox, it has certain period of incubation or
zymotc process before the system becomes
affected. This period, in the production of
canine madness, is b 'ppily long, as com
Jared with the period Of incubation of other
poisons. The period varies, but is com
monty about six weeks, and then, before
constitutional disease is developed, slight
irritation occurs in the scar, and red list
of infamed absorbents is seen extending up
the member. When these phenomena take
place there is no hope; the constitutional
symptoms, follow Immediately But if du-
ring the long period which precedes the local
symptoms the proper remedies be employed
and especially soon after the bite, the pre-
vention of the disease is almost certain
Contrary to the common belief, deep
wound inflicted by the bite is less likely to
be followed by hydrophobia than is a slight
scratch, abrading the skin, for reason that
ought to be obvious-the copious effusion Of
blood washes away the poison
Some years ago treated IN Baltimore a
case of fatal hydrophobia which originated
thus: A boy was bitten deeply on the cheek
by pet dog, which flew at him without
provocation The master of the dog struck
the animal with his hand, and received a
scratch on his hand. Tho dog ran off and
was never seen. The wound in the boy
cheek bled freely, and in consequence was
washed freely. The scratch on the mans
hand was treated by an cd lady with salt.
The man persisted in ak weeks in the ago
MES of hydrophobia The boy escaped,
though possibly because opened the scar
and cauterized 1t deeply, for possibly the
poison might still be incubating there.
When persons are bitten through clothing
perhaps two garments, the poison may be
all wiped from the tooth, and the bite prove
innocuous, but not certainly. A large ma
jerity, however, Of those bitten throua b
clothing escape the disease. These are the
cases in which ridiculous nostrums unfortu-
nately acquire reputation for preventing the
disease, it being generally supposed that the
bite Of rabid dog is necessarily followed
by hydrophobia, unless some preventive
remedy be employed.
A person in oae of the Northern States
once received q reward Of thousand dollars
for revealing the composition of remedy
ted many cases Of hydrophobia. He had
administered it to many persons who had
been bitten through clothing and had never
gone mad. They gave him their honest
certificates that they believed themselves to
have been cured Of h. dropbobia. The COM
position of the nostrun proved to be 'nino
leaves of sage, gathered in the mig and
the wane Of the moon, the marrow of dog IS
jaw, and the false tongue Of a toad"
The use of such nostrum does no direct
harm, but confidence in it does fatal mis-
chief, because it precludes the use of ration
al preventives. There is no neighborhood
10 which there is not some old woman who
declares, and perhaps, honestly believes,
that she can prevent or cure hydrophobia
and, perhaps by the use Of her remedies the
precious opportunity to avert so terrible a
disease is lost as [ have myself witnessed
have been hundred times called upon
by persons bitten by dogs known not to be
rabid, but yet these persons we're tortured
by the apprehension that, should the dog
that inflicted the bite ever 60 mad, they
would themselves be affected with hydro
phobia. This would be simply ridiculous
were it not that so many believe it, A
person might as we'll fear having smallpox
who had, five years ago, shaken hands with
a man that now had it.
1t is the practical part of this communal
cation which is important. We cannot cure
this terrible disease when once developed
It is true that there often occur in the pub
lie prints, and sometimes in MEDICAL jour-
mails. notices of cases cured by certain pow
erlul remedies, such as chloroform, atropia,
woorara, the cannabis, &C. But when these
remedies have been tried in other cases they
have utterly failed.
Remedies acquire a false reputation for
the cure of hydrophobia by being employ
ed in spurious cases Of that disease Ner-
vous persons, who have been bitten by
healthy animals, fancy that they have the
disease, and they initiate almost every
symptom of l'ydrophobia. They recover,
whatever means may be employed. I
knew person in Vermont to be affected
by this false form Of hydrophobia. His
son had recently died Of the disease, result
ing from che bite of a rabd eat. His IA
Their, in aiding to nurse him received speck
of the boys saliva upon his lip. From that
moment he became tortured with the apy
prehension that he had contracted the dis
sease, though assured that it could not be
thus communicated After short time the
symptoms which he had witnessed in the
how herop +o d;s,l,y thon colyas He ravod