The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-01-29
ANOTHER CASE OF HYDROPHoBiA

.
ANOTHER CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA
Horrible Suaerings and Death Of
Victim at Delaware City.
The administration of the Indian
woorara poison to Alexander, the man
who was bitten by the mad dog forty
five days ago, was the final and forlorn.
hope remedy. This poison is called
the woorara. When it was produced
at the bedside of the raving patient,
Alexander was then recovering from
the effects of chloroform. It was adj
ministered in hypodermic injections of
one-third of grain. The first iniec-
ton produced muscular relaxation
within ten minutes, and the best augu-
ries were INDUCED in by the physicians.
It's effect is to produce, through the
agency Of the blood, paralysis Of the
nerve-centers, and as hydrophobic
poisoning, as far as known. produces
excitation of the nerve-centers. it has
been regarded as a possible antidote.
The first exhibition confirmed this
belief. Chloroform was temporarily
put aside. At the end of an hour
some symptoms of recurring spasms
made another dose of the South
American poison necessary. The
same amount administered, instead
of producing quiet, had cumulative
effect, almost at once exciting the
patient. A carriage driving up in front
of the door grated upon his ear, and,
with wild, heart-rending shrek, he
tugged at his ligatures with strength
enough to have broken them but for
the reinforcement of human muscle.
Chloroform was, called into requisition
again, and quoted by it he rested, with
little spasmodlc action, until another
dose of woorara was injected. This
followed within three-quarters of an
hour of its predecessor, and was one
sixth of drachm stronger. Again the
drug proved an excitant, and was
supplemented with chloroform. 1t was
administered five times, with only
cumulative exciting effect, and was
then abandoned finally.
The most distressing symptoms now
manifested themselves whenever the
patient passed into his frequently re-
curing spasms, his jaws snapped, and
salivary froth squirted from his mouth;
that was even while under the influence
of chloroform. He had ceased to have
lucid intervals, but, on awakening
from his Inconsistencies, his piteous
prayer was still for death, or some
relief from the terrible internal burning
sensation which tortured him.
A spasm seized him between seven
and eight p. m. His nervous force was
nearly exhausted then, and the ropy,
viscid, mucus-like saliva which always
characterizes the disease at some stage,
began to exude and cover the lips.
That was dangerous time for the at
of any of them might mark another
victim. The physicians had all along
taken the precaution of wearing gloves.
The attendants, in their excitement, for
got even the commonest precaution of
frequently washing their hands. Chloro-
form, while it subdued the violence, did
not prevent this danger to which some
at least were exposed.
The patient was now fast becoming
past the power of chloroform. He
yielded readily to it, but the recurrent
spasms followed more closely on its
administration. As the mucus collected
in the throat his efforts to breathe had
q sharp, yelping sound, that to the
nervous might easily have been mis-
taken for an attempt to yelp like dog.
The physicians say that the sound had
no other origin than that named. His
recovery from the Inconsistencies pro-
duced by the chloroform made his
breathing more labored, and the effort,
clogged by the distractions in the
throat, made the sound.
| During his last three hours the drug
was given him every ten minutes. The
surrounding villages, as well as the
drug stores of the town, were laid I'M
der contribution. The patient, within
eighteen hours, took a pound and a
half of chloroform.
At ten o. clock it became evident that
vitality was nearly exhausted, circula-
ton became very slow in the extremi-
ties, and the death sweat gradually
crept up to the knees and elbows, the
pulse was barely perceptible, and the
throbbing of the heart could hardly be
detected.
At eleven o'clock last night, after all
pulsation had been suspended for a
minute or more, he breathed twice,
and his tongue protruded; the eyes,
which had been strained upward and
backward until little more than the
whites were visible, closed naturally;
the face was still distorted as it had
been, but life had ceased. 1t was a
case of death from nervous exhaustion.
The physicians have found some
things to confirm and some things to
contradict in the dicta of the books.
One thing seems clear, namely, that an
inoculated human being cannot ger
inmate the poison within thirty days,
which is the short limit laid down; in
Alexander's case with the favoring con-
dition of place well supplied with
blood, it required forty-two days. All
the physicians agree that this could not
possibly have been one of the cases Of
hysteria and subsequent nervous col.
lapse because of the dread of inocula-
ton. 1t was genuine hydrophobia, il
there ever was a case.-DeldUdre Cits
| (Del.) Cor. Cincinnati Commercial.