Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-10-30


York HcrGid sends the following to that pa.
per:
"No moro hydrophobia No more mad
dogs DR.. Louis Pasteur's experiments
have resulted in q most brilliant success.
At the sitting held by the Academy of Sci
ences Dir. Pasteur thus described the process
of cure by means of rabbit inoculatcd with
the fragment Of tissue taken from the
spine OF 8 ratid dog. The incubation of
the poison occupied fifteen days. AS soon
as the first rabbit inoculated waa dead a
portion from its spina! marrow was in turn
irocul,tcd into second rabbit, and SO on
until sixty rabbits had been inoculated. AT
each successive incubation the virus in
creased in potency, and the last period Of
incubation did not occupy more than seven
days.
Having ascertained that exposure to
dried air diminished the virus, and conse-
quently reduced its force, DIR. Pasteur sup
piled himself with series of bottles Of dried
air. Ia these bottles he placed portions of
incculated spinal marrow at successive
dates, the oldest being the least viruient
and the latest the most so. For an opera.
ton Dr. Pasteur begins by inoculatng his
subject with the Oldest tissue, aud finishes
by the injection of piece Of tissue whose
bottling dates back only two days, and
whose period of incubation would not eS-
ceed one week. Tha subject is then fonnG
to be absolutely proof against the disease.
"a boy, twelve years of age, named Meis
ter, who had been bitten fourteen times,
came from Alsaca with his mother to See
DR.. Pastcur. The autopsy of the deg which
bad bitten the boy left no doubt as 10 lis
having suffered from hydrophobia. d..
4, a. Il >to.2 N, 10.
and professor of the School OF Medicine
to see the boy Meister. These two doctors
came to the conclusion that the boy was
doomed to q painial death and might be ex-
perimented upon. In thirteen days lnocu-
Ia,ions were made upon Mestev with pieces
of spinal marrow containing virus OF con.
stantly increasing strength, the last being
from The spine Of a rabbit Ina. died oniy
the Gay before Now hundred days have
passed since Meistcr underwent the last in
| oculation. The treatment has been thor
oughly successful ANA the boy Is in periec!
health. He had been bitten sixty hours
and had travelled from Alsace to Paris be-
| fore the first noculation was performed.
"A shepherd boy named Judith, aged fiji
| teen, was bitten by mad dog fortnight
ago and has now been week under treat
r1ent. DR.. pasteur is confident of curing
| him.
"Dr. Pasteur said that it was now Deces-
sary to provide an establishments where rab-
bits might always be kept inoculatsd with
| the disease. In this way constant supply
of spinal tissues Of old and recent inocula-
ton would always be ready. Before the
sitting was adjourned Dr.. Pastcur received
an enthusiastic ovation, FROM both the Acad-
emy itself and the public who were present,
among whom were the Grand Duke Alexis,
and NJ. dc Lesseps.
Zone of the leading doctors present re-
| marked that the question was whether n
| man cured ofhydrophoba could suffer from
second bite. In other words, whether the
| incubation Of virus was guarantee against
| hydrophobia. In answer DR.. Pasteur states
| that the malaly is transmissible only by
bite. If. therefore, by general compulsory
inoculation of dogs for several generations
! dogs had been made incapable of hydropho.
bia, the malady would have disappeared
and thore would be 70 occasion to ask
whether incubation had permanent effect
or not. as to the origin of hydrophobia,
| DR.. Plsteur says nobody in tho world can
explain its primal causes. He remarked
that his theory will require study by the
profession in order TO mako it practical, but
he emphatically stated that the cure for
hydrophobia has been found"