Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-07-11
Killed by FRIGHT.

HAVING received within the present
week three letters relating to alleged |
deaths from hydrophobia," we infer that
an unusual estate of mind" on that sub
iect must be prevailing in some quarters.
1t is very much to be regretted that people
insist on distressing themselves with their
fancies about disease concerning which
so much is said on such slight foundation
in fact. Yet the traditional fear of hydro
phobia is widespread, and it is this aspect
| OF the case that has to be dealt with The
| prevalence of the fear among the relatives
| and friends of those who have had the
misfortune to be nipped or bitten by a
dog, reacting on the natural apprehension
of the victim of the bite, produces mis-
| chievous effect on the nerves and imagina-
ton of the sufferer, which eventually takes
on the form of hydrophobia."
Nothing in physiology has been more
thoroughly demonstrated than the influ.
ence of the mind upon the body; the in
tluence of the Imagination in causing the
stimulation of disease; the influence of
mental emotion in causing dangerous
illness and death. Instances in which
the hair has turned gray and even white
within few hours by sudden shock
or great bodily fear might be adduced
by the score. DIR. d. ii. Tuke, in his
little work on that subject, relates an
abundance of them. These are all physi-
cal effects from purely mental causes.
Death itself has been caused by sudden
fright, and it is said that the overpow-
ering effect of great and sudden joy is
nearly as fatal. The illustrious Pope Leo
y. is said to have died from this last
named cause. There is case mentioned
in the books wherein a criminal, who was
condemned to be bled to death, was hand.
ed over to the doctors for scientific expert.
ment. He was blindfolded and laid upon
a table; small cuts were made in his arms
and streams of warm fluid were set to run.
ming over his flesh, near the harmless cuts
! The man gradually sank away into death
He had not lost ten drops of @ood but
J believing that he was being bled to death
and imagining the life current rapidly
; flowing from his two arms, he died.
: To come back to "hydrOphobia" and
? the influence of the Imagination in pro
ducing simulations of that disease, there
2 is case exactly in point. DR.. Chomel, a
2 physician of Lyons, France, who had
} been aiding in the dissection of several
e bodies said to have been victims of the
dreaded disease, fancied that he had be
come innoculated with it. So much die
he think Of it, that on attempting tC
drink water he was seized with spasms
= This continued for several days, and, in
deed, until the persevering arguments o
/ his friends convinced him of the ground
n less character of his fears, when he con
5 quered his imagination and banishet
i hydrophobia by resolving that he did no
have it.
# Dr. Rush, of our own city, has record
/ ed instances of the power Of the imagina
IF ton in causing the appearance of dis
! and pf nt lpoSt of rI,o
,r may be denOminated spontaneous" hy
n drophobia Quite recently three cases Q
, the disease have been reported in Bait
d more, but it is not certain whether eve
" one of these is an authentic case. a.
. three persons were bitten by the sam
r. dog. One of them became alarmiDgl
If i'll, and died of what one doctor said wa
10 hydrophobla, and another said was mani
20 potu While this one was very i'll, one {
iS his bitten companions called to see hin
n. who went away in a state of alarm abor
himself, and not long after died with tn
70 usual popular symptoms of hydrophobi
10 10 The third of these victims of the sam
~ dog, instead of giving way to fear, wer
y for the doctor, and, fortunately, found or
o. who was not afflicted with the ''rabies" {
" =, hydrophobia, and, at last accounts, he WI
y nearly "cured"
!. The moral of all this is that most D.
on tent remedy for hydrophobia is to refu:
g to believe in the existence of the diseas
nr ,rr except as malady caused by imagin
e' 81 ton. This is the view of the matter take
~ by some intelligent physicians. DIR. Mar
of Gottingen, Germany has given pub
"A city to his opinion that the bite of "mi
w dog" does not of itsef produce even Il
AT symptoms of hydrophobia, and if it W
u not for the common belief, the spasn
ne and commissions would not take plaC
eu He regarded what is called 'hydrophobii
as as an affection arising from fright an
as a morbidly excited imagination. He a
III vises that men, women, and especial
rs children, shall be trained into disbelief
et the disease; to have no more fear of d
at; bite than any other cut or wound; and
II trust with confidence to the treatment
m the doctor, the same as they would
OF any other hurt. There are thousands
persons in Philadelphia who have be
'se bitten by dogs, but we have yet to see t
'ly first clear, indisputable case "hydroph
lot bia," wherein fear and Imagination we
Id, not more fatal than the dog bte,-Pht
mo- 1oJpJ;o 7 oJ0ap