Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-12
HYDROPHOBlA.
Professor Fairfield Averring that
Even the Saliva Of a Mad Dog
May Communicate Hydro
phobia.

To the Editor of the New York
Sun-Sir: viii you allow me to cor
rect an error of some Importance in a
generally very able and accurate arti-
Gle on hydrophobia recently printed in
the Sun? The writer of the article.
by way of comforting nervous people.
says that hydrophobia never occurs
except in consequence Of the bite of a
rabid animal, or uses words to that
effect. This averment is at issue with
both observation and experiment.
One of the most marked causes of ny
drophobia that ever occurred in this
city, was that of a gentleman who had
allowed a pet slut to lick his face.
The animal had shown no symptoms
of madness, and did not afterward be
come mad, so far as | am informed.
The victim had a slight abrasion of the
skin on his face, and allowed the crea
ture to lick it, with an old fashioned
faith in the healing virtue of a dogs
tongue. He dieG within four weeks
Of pronounced hy~drophobia.
AS to the genesis Of the disease.
styled rabies indogs, ! need scarcely
remind you that ii has been produced
experimentally by the incubation Of
healthy animals with saliva taken
from the mouths Of non-rabid animals
in the first instance, and in another
way. AS a very fall and interesting
account of the experiments conducted
at the Lyons Veterinary College. at
the Veterinary school in Paris, and
by private hospital practitioners 10
France was printed in che London
Veterinary Journal volume for 1879
1t is not necessary to refer to them in
detail. An American edition of the
Veterinary journal is issued by one of
our medical publishing-houses and
the back volumes, for the last three or
four years, at least, are accessible to
those wishing TO verify the preceding
statement. 1t will be remembered.
perhaps, that something like an cpl
demic OF rabies prevailed among
English dogs in the latter part Of
1871, and that the attention of the
British public was directed to the
subject with such intensity that par
llamentary action was called for and
(if | correctly recollect the debates)
taken. Wholepacks went mad. and for
once the English squire was thoroughly
excited and alarmed.
notwithstanding the apparently
conclusive experiments cited By the
Veterinary journal during that panic.
| am still inclined to doubt whether
rabies can be .experimentally pro
duced in the dog By incubation with
saliva in its normal condition. There
IS no secretion of the animal body
that responds more readily by altera-
tons in its molecular constitution, to
slight disturbances of the nervous
system, than the secretion of the
salivary glands. Normal saliva. in
addition to the saliyary eorpuseles.
always contains, when examined With
q powerful microscope, a small nun
Der of monads and bacilli-the most
familiar forms Of bacteria. L. Similar
organisms occur in the secretion OF
the tear glands, Of the mucus mem.
branes, and in the cerebro-spina
fluid, as well as in healthy perspira
tiOns. They are not signs of disase il
any sense whatever. On the contrar,
their association with healthy pro
ducts of secretion is constant. Under
conditions Of very slight and transfer.
nervous disturbance, not only is TIL,
reaction of the saliva to tests of acid
ity or alkilinity altogether different
but the monads and rods are replaced
by swarms Of scarcely less minute
though considerably less transparent
organisms. The discovery Of thes.
organisms in the saliva of rabid ami
mails and hydrophobic men some threl
years ago led me to the conclusion
that they are the germs by which thr
disease is %propagated, but, | am no,
inclined to believe, upon insufficient
grounds; for it is now a familia
fact that the anthrax rods found il
the blood Of animals suffering iron
anthrax fever are not the real agent
in propagating the disease. On th
contrary, their destruction by acros
tatic pressure by no means prevent
anthrax blood from producing its fats
result when introduced into the circu
lation Of the healthy animal. S,
agaiu, the properties Of vaccine al