, 1886-11-18
CONCERNING HYpRoPHoslA.

neighborhoods thrown INTO states OF the
widest excitement by the supposed pres
ence of a rabid animal in the neighbor-
hood. Living in a neighborhood where
several alarms were sounded during the
last few months, the writer was more
impressed with his own as well MS the
ignorance of other people about Its pc
culiarities than with the disease itself,
and in his search for the literature on
tine subject, in the hope of spreading
some enlightenment, found nothing
more recent or authoritative than an ar
ticle on Hydrophobia in Paris" con
tributed by NJ. Dujardin- Beaumetz to
that most remarkable of periodic publ
cations, Les Lettres ct les Arts.
To be sure, the writer of the article in
question is n believer in Pasteur and his
theories, although there are many who
speak Of the learned French scientist as
a charlatan. Nevertheless, NJ. Du jardin-
Beaumetz is n man of high standing,
and whether his theories are correct or
not the facts he presents are interesting
and have been gathered by observation
the modern scientific method.
l have spoken of the writer as a man
of high standing and distinction. He
was, it appears, delegated in 1881 by the
department of health in Paris to observe
the manifestations of ~hydrophobia in
man, and in this connection was sent to
Constantinople to learn, if possible, the
causes of the immunity enjoyed both by
the dogs and its inhabitants from the
disease. His mission, therefore, was a
thoroughly scientific one, and since man
has a peculiar affection for dogs, and, as
the essayist says, wherever there are
large congregations of people there are
bound to be many dogs and many cases
Of hydrophobia, his researches are as APP
plicable to New York as to the French
capital.
at is a mistake" says Dujardin-
Beaumetz, ito suppose that all persons
bitten by rabid animals attain the dis
ease" Pasteur, in "A communication
made to the Academy of Medicine,
stated his belief that not one out of six
persons bitten by a rabid dog would
contract the disease. This belief he
founded on statistics furnished by the
department of police. NJ. Dujardin-
Beaumetz goes even further than this,
saying that owing to the incomplete
statistics gathered by the police, he
should fix the number at one in every
fifteen, or even twenty. ave ought"
he says, first of all to establish this law
that is, that persons bitten through
their garments DO not contract hydro
phobia, since the slightest texture will
wipe the teeth of the dog and prevent
the penetration of the rabid virus into
the systpm. In all the eases of HYDRO
Iii H., ~maln ~ Id
1900 49, nr. 80 49,,
-. - - -
amarrna ~ Is - I. aaJ
"
oyoan,iono1 a.sa La.a H.. lie
- ~
.aas r., - ~"
eah, hoa sa -" ~
,t1',s uarn,it,ad ,Io ,na,m -
h ralaJ ,,ar, p;tas nr -
face nre nsuollv tho oros 10 mradmna
hvdrorhobio thos. an no hanhs -
mora froorer,ly III. coreo rhn1ran
Offering more nakod n,r,g 10 ,ho rati5
doc arc To-, ,bis reason NOVA ns,ar
overtoken Inv ,be MALAY E,r,hor-
more n clsld o,rers Ieas rrs;at,ncn finn
n man.
at sbould he remembered ,bo, il ia
NOT alone the bite of , ,,bid dog th,t
con transmit fine diseose 10 man A
touch of the tongue is enough TO inocI.
late if it comes in contact with any raw
part of the skin. Indeed. incubation of
this kind NAV be said to he the most
dangerous. because il almost invariably
passes unnoticeI, remember ia have
seen n younp man in a rabid fiji while |
was with Dr. LEROY des Barres at 81.
| Denis. The lad was n workman. and
| had picked IN n little stray dog from the
street. The animal covered him with
caresses and among other thinps licked
his lips. after which he ran AWAY.
| Simple contact had been enourh To
cause the death of the moor fellow.
4Even whom tbe inocuIotion IL CARRIED
from one animal To nnotbcr an tbc mos,
scientific nrincinles il does NOT olvy,vs
produce rabies. ont of sixtecn doga in
| oculoted Inv Uertvi, only six yent md
and ont of ninetv-nine ,nocuI,tions hy
Renault at Abort only sixtv-sevon
wore successruI FINALLY p,sta,r hy lilo
new processes hna found some animals
totally unsusceptible IN fine yirus
4rLere Is oiso ~ o,irior nra,olon,
tho, r,odnnss - ,Lo Ill - az -
onmen, 10 which wa s,hioc, he mi
mails and osnec;auv ihc nriyotinns
which follow This ida, Inns s,ronr
nnrtisans They maintain that tho los
which live in nerfect freedom nnvar have
~hydrophobia. This doctrine is not based
on any scientific fact. In Alriers where
docs live in freedom tbe disoosn twists
s%tantinople. who have been sighted as