Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-12
An Alleged Cure for HydrophobIa.


 An Alleged Cure for HvdrOphobia. Mrs. Jane G. Swisshelm writes to the Pitts burg Commercial:
 lady met me this morning, saying, 'Did you see that receipt for curing hydrophobia, I in yesterdays paper ?" I had not seen it. ''Well," she continued, Git is just the cure l wanted you to write about two or three years ago-the old Chester Valley cure It was never known to fail, and was used in hundreds ! of cases iu the eastern part of the State. I re- member hearing of it as long as can remem- Der anything I have told people, and told and talked, and no one would mind me. l tried to get you to write letter about it, and now you must, for people will not believe. I remember perfectly her anxiety that I should write to the public and proclaim that elecampane and fresh milk are the specific for hydrophobia, and my purpose to repeat the account she gave me of it, but I do not re- member why did not do so. That I may atone for my negligence I now repeat what she so long ago told me, and what she now urges me to make as public as possible. In her old home in Chester county, Penn sylvania, lived German named Joseph En- cry, who used to be sent for, far and wide, when any one had been bitten by 8 rabid
 animal. He went to his patient carrying
 something understood to be 0 root, which he
 himself dug in the woods. He milked pint
 of milk fresh from the COW, put the root
 into it, boiled it, gave it to the patient, fast ing; made him fast after taking it, gave second and third dose on alternate days, and never failed in effecting cure. In some way which she has forgotten, his secret transpired, and the root was known to be ele- campane.
 The story, current in the country, was that an old German made the discovery in the days of Penn and applied to the Pennsylvania Leg
 islature for grant of $500 for making his secret public. His offer was treated with con- kavo orl 1ar hot hSc Hnn u1adr
 should die with him but drunken son knew it, wrote out the receipt, making number of copies, and tried to sell them at $1 apiece. One o1 them was offered to my informants grandfather, who laughed at this vender of important medicinal knowledge. He only
 succeeded in selling two, one of these to the
 man who made such effective use of it.. So
 well did he establish the local reputation of
 his specific that in his neighborhood folks were not afraid of mad dogs. His reputation was parallel to that of Dr. Marchant, of
 Greensburg, to whom every one in this part
 of the country used to go or send when bitten
 by a mad dog.
 The intelligence and integrity of my in-
 formant are beyond question: and regret that
 her love of privacy should prevent her giving
 the weight of her name to her conviction that
 you have published an unfailing specific for hydrophobia.
 The people of Chester Valley are not of 8
 class likely to be misled by superstition, and
 she is confident it was a general or universal
 belief that Jacob Emery never failed to cure
 or prevent hydrophobia. Ih one case the
 spasms had begun before the first dose was
 given, and the patient recovered.
 She is anxious you should publish the recipe
 again and again, keeping it standing, and call
 attention to it until every one cuts out and
 preserves copy, and is impressed with the
 importance of using gtheremedy at once in case
 of danger.
 IL
 very powerful Milk itself is specific for
 many poisons, and while the medical faculty
 know no cure for this terrible disease we should open every avenue of light into the
 dark subject.
 If the disease is one of the imagination we want specific to give confidence and cure by the imagination, but this looks like real cure of the verbal disease.