The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-11
CURE FOR HYDRQPHOBIh,
Success of a French
Scientists Experiments.
Curing a Boy who Had Been Bit
ten by a Mad Dog.

A. special cable dispatch from Paris to the
New York Herald gives the subjoined most
interesting account Of DR.. Louis Pasteur's
successful attempt to find a cure for hydro
phobia: .
"No more ~hydrophobia! No more mad
dogs! DR.. Louis Pasteur's experiments have
resulted in a most brilliant success. At per-
haps the most important sitting held by the
scribed The process Of cure by means of q
rabbit inocuiated with the fragment
of a tissue taken from the spine of a rabide
dog. The incubation Of the poison occu-
pied fifteen days. AS soon as the first rabbit
inoculated was dead a portion from its spinal
marrow was in turn inoculated into q Sec
ond rabbit, and so on until >ixty rabbits had
been inoculated. At each successive inocu-
lation the virus increased in potency, and the
last period of incubation did not OCCUPY more
than seven days.
Having asccrtain:d that exposure to dried
cir diminished tho virus. and consequently re-
duced its force. Dr.. Pasteur supplied himself
with a series OF bottles Of dried air. In these
bottles he placed portions Of inoculated spinal
marrow at successive dates, the oldest being
the least virulent and the latest the most so.
For a operation Dr.. Pasteur begins by in
oculating his subject with the oldest tissue,
and finishes by the injection of a piece Of
tissue whose bottling dates back only two
days, and whose period Of incubation would
not exceed one week. The subject is then
found to be absolutely proof against the dis
ease.
"a boy twelve years of age, named
Meister, who had been bitten fourteen times,
came from Alsace with his mother to see DR..
Pasteur. The autopsy of the dog which had
bitten the boy left no doubt as to its having
suffered from hydrophobia. DR.. "Pasteur
took the celebrated Dr.. Vulpian and
a professor Of the school Of
medicine to see the boy Meister. These two
doctors came to the conclusion that the boysa
was doomed to a painful death and might be.
experimental upon. In thirteen days inocu>
lations were made upon Meister with
pieces Of spinal marrow containing
the last being from the spine of
a rabbit that died only tie day before.
Now a hundred days have passed since Meis-
ter underwent the last incubation. The
treatment has been thoroughly successful
and the boy is in perfect health. He had
been bitten sixty hours and had Travelled from
Alsace to Paris before the first incubation
was performed.
"a shepherd boy named Judith, aged fifteen.
was bitten by q mad dog a fortnight ago and
has now been a week under treatment. DIR.
Pasteur is confident of curing him.
"Dr. Pasteur said that il was now neces-
sary to provide an establishment where rab-
bits might always be kept inoculated with
the disease. In this way u constant supply
of spinal tissues Of old and recent incubation
would always be ready. Before the sitting was
adjourned DR.. Pasteur received an enthusiastic
ovation, from DO II the academy itself and
the public who We're present. Among those
present l noticed the Grand Duke Alexis
who is n great dog fancier. and NJ. de Les
seps, who went to hear DR.. Pasteur's report
Endorsed by Dr.. Nulpian.
Gone of the leading doctors present remark
ed that the question was whether o man
cured OF hydro ,iobia could suffer from q
second bite. In other words, whether
the incubation of virus was q guar
antee. against ~hylrophobia- In answer
DR.. Pasteur states that the malady
is transmissible only by bite. II, therefore,
by a general compulsory incubation OF dogs
for several generations dogs had been made
incapable Of hydrophobia, the malady would
have disappeared and there would be no oc--
casion to ask whether incubation had q per-
manent effect or not. As othe origin Of hydro-
phobia, DR.. Pasteur says nobody in the world
can explain its primal causes. AS ne re-
markcd-perhap s out OF politeness-his theory
will require study by the profession in order
to make it practical, but he emphatically
stated that tho cure for hydrophobla had
been found"