Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-11-05
CURE FOR HYDR0PH0BIA.
Brilliant Success OF French Scfem
lists Experiments.

special cable dispatch from Paris to the
New York Herald gives the subjoined mos
interesting account Of Dr. Louis Pasteur'f
uuccessfui attempt to find cure for hydro
phobia;
mo more hydrophobiaI No more mad
dogsl DR.. Louis Pasteur's experiments have
resulted in a most brilliant success. At per-
maps the most important sitting held by tht
academy OF sciences DR.. Pasteur thus de-
scrlbed the process of cure by means of Q
rabbit inoculated with the fragment
OF tissue taken from the spine of a rabid
dog The incubation OF the poison occu
pied fifteen days. As soon as tho first rabbit
inoculated was dead a portion from its spinal
marrow was in turn inoculated into a sec.
ond rabbit, and SO on until sixty rabbits had
been lnoculated At each successive inocu-
lation the virus increased in potency, and the
last period of incubation did not occupy Jdors
than seven days.
Having ascertained that exposure todriec
air diminished the virus. and consequently re-
duced its force, DR.. Pasteur supplied himself
with 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 an operation DIR. Pasteur begins by in
oculating his subject with the oldest tissue,
and finishes by the injection Of q pieca al
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
Melster, who had been bitten fourteen times,
came from Alsace with his mother to see Dr.
fasteur. The autopsy of the dog which had
bitten the boy left no doubt as to its having
suffered from hydrophobia. Dr. PasteuI
took the celebrated DR.. Vulnian and
professor of the school OF
medicine to see the boy Meister. These two
doctors came to the conclusion that the bov
was doomed to painful death and might be
experimental upon In thirteen days inocu-
iations were made upon Meister with
pieces of spinal marrow containing
virus OF constantly Increasing strength,
The last being from the spine Of
q rabbit that died only tie day before.
Now 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.
'One Of the leading doctors present remark
that tbs gu estion was whether a man
cured Of hydrophobia could suffer from a
second bite. In other words, whether
the lnocuation Of virus was a guar
bntee against hydrophobia. In answer
Dr. Pasteur states that the malady
Is transmissible only by bite. If, therefore,
by general compulsory incubation Of dogs
Tor several generations dogs had been made
Incapable OF hydrophobia, the malady would
have disappeared and there would be no oc-
tasion to ask whether inoculation had per-
lnanent effect or not. As to the origin of HYDRO
phobia, DR.. Pasteur says nobody in the world
Tan explain its primal causes As he re.
inarked-perhaps out Of politeness-hi theory
will require study by the profession in order
to make it practical, but he emphaticalIv
stated that the cure for hydrophobia had
been found