, 1879-11-20
The Mouse Cure.

and STARTLING rs this assertion Is, there
sno doubt Of its truth Modern ply
sicians have learned TO discriminate Ne
tween diseases thai the physicians oil the
last ~aner,ton believed to be identical,
and in this way they have added at
least two dozen able diseases to their
reDcrtoirc. For example, 1t was tor-
merly supposed that when man who
lived in his own house Lad fever, the
SYMPTOMS OF which were apparently
r.e tle same ms these Of n maarious fever
from which his next door ueighbor, who
lived in hired house, suffered, the Two
diseases were Identical, but we now
know that man who lives IN his own
house never has malarious fever,
though he often suffers from nervous
,- affection, the symptoms of which closely
% resemble those of chills and fever In
addition to thus discriminating between
2l rs diseases which were formerly confounded
modern physicians have made very eX-
s,- tensiye additions to the materia medca,
and Of these, the recent discovery of
what seems to be specific for nearly all
nervous diseases is by no means the
least important. 4s4
hl eOfall nervous diseases, tetanus is one
or the most ueIeTWlutu pOpJCtSlOuet'
BILE. 1t is usually induced by over in
diligence in rusty nails or tish:hooks,
~ and when it once takes hold Of the pa
tient it's nearly impossible to drive it
away One of its permanent symptoms
errrT isgthe closing Of the jaws 50 tightly that
{. ~N J. Shey cannot be pried open with crow
bar. When it is remembered that
women as well as men suffer from this
disease, its tremendously powerful ma
,g, ture becomes evident. 5agFH. 1.H
Hitherto there has been no remedy
which could be regarded as specific for
,,tetanus. In the last century the usual
treatment was to knock out few Of
the patients teeth SO as to pour a little
brandy down his throat, and then to or
der his coffin. With the progress of
medical science various other remedies
were suggested, among which the subcu-
taneous Injection of curare, a particu
larly deadly South American vegetable
az poison. gave on the whole, the best req
suits, and frequently so far got the
mastery over tetanus that it killed the,
patient before the disease could kill him.
At last, however, an ingenious French,
physician has apparently hit upon
AE remedy before which tetanus yields as
readily as toothache yields to the dent
.5, ~ lists forceps, and which will, Of course,
supercede curare and all inferorremedies.
The French doctor in question was
called in to attend lady suffering from
0o tetanus In his report he says that she
was a married woman of 81 years Of
age, and that previous to his visit her
family physician had tried every known
remedy for tetanus, including curare,
without producing any effect. The pa
tient was lying on her back, with her
Jaws tightly closed, and the muscles of
her chest and throat were so rigid that
"a J she was unable to utter sound
The doctor at 1aonee sent out
and procured "a live mouse of the
usual size and voracity, to the
tail OF which he attached a strong horse
hair Placing the mouse at the foot Of
the bed, he permitted it to walk the en-.
tire length Of the patients body No
fl00is sooner did the patient notice the mouse
than she sprang up loudly calling to
the attendants to take it of, and de-
nouncing the doctor as horrid heartless
wretch who ought to be ashamed of
himself, and guillotined on the spot
There was no recurrence of the symp-
toms or tetanus. In 1act, the doctor
adds that the lady's jaws were SO thor
oughly and permanently unlocked that
the husband, who is, of course, ignorant
Of law, has, threatened to begin an &C
@S1y' tion for damages against him
The success of this experiment en-
couraged the doctor to try the mouse
cure in other nervous diseases. He
reasoned that the administration of mice
powerfully stimulates the nerves of a
evw female patient, and enables the nervous
system to throw off any disease with
which it is afflicted Soon after the in
cident just related, he met with violent
case of hysteria The patient, married
lady Of 81 years, was subject to
u &l hysterical attacks, but this particu
lar one was of unprecedented violence
Among its prominent symptoms was an
g absence of whisker on one side of the
husbands face, broken clock, and an