Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-01-06
Wednesday, January 6, 1886.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

From the amount Of attention given
of late to hydrophobia, both in tele-
graphic news and editorial discussion,
one might suppose it to be disease OF
similar importance to the great
plagues-yellow fever, cholera, ETC.,
and the discovery Of remedy for it,
by NJ. Pasteur, of Paris, TO rank that
made by the immortal Jenner. Ra-
tional interest in the matter is, how.
ever, confined to the question Of real
ity In the alleged efficacy of Pasteur's
operation, and this not so much be-
cause 1t promises a cure or prevention
for hydropbobia, as from the hope ex-
cited that we may be on the point Of
finding out principle of cure for
many diseases much more destructive
TO human life.
As matter of fact, hydrophobia in
man is one OF the rarest Of morbid
phenomena. Not one physician In
dozen ever saw a genuine case. In
the mortality lists II cuts no figure at
all One cent on ten thousand dol
lars would be high rate Of insurance
against it. A hundred persons perish
by lightning, by sunstroke, by drown
ing, by accidents connected with
every great industry-in hundreds Of
of ways counted rare-for every one
who dies of this disease. The chances
that any individual will have II, are
90 very small that fear of II is as
foolish as to fear death from
flower pots falling from chamber
windows" as Richter puts H.. But 1t is
one Of the singular things of psychol.
ogy that fear and dread Of things
which threaten life are inversely pro-
portioned to the frequency of our ex-
posture to the danger, and directly
proportioned to our ignorance of its
nature. With all Difference to Mr..
Ingersoll bible, we believe 1t is i'm
agination more than conscience
which makes towards Of the average
man or woman, and imagination plays
most wildly about dangers that are
obscure and unfamiliar. The very
rarity Of bydrophobIa has clothed it
with peculiar terror and given rise to
the most exaggerated stories respect
ing its horrors. In reality, il Is not SO
painful, and In no way more distress
ing than dozen other affections much
more frequent IN their occurrence.
The whole notion of its being a
madness" OF peculiarly frantic, de-
monstrative and terrible kind-trans-
forming the patient into the image Of
an Infuriated dog, barking and biting
at every person and thing that comes
near-is wretched myth. Two
things have given rise to it-exagger-
alton. to which all mankind Is given
In describing rare phenomena. and
hysterical limitations of the disease,
which are based upon descriptions Of
it merely. An intelligent physi-
clan who should find patient,
said to have hydrophobia bark.
ing like dog and swapping at
everything in reach" would at once
pronounce the case hysteria, and not
hydrophobia. True hydrophobia is a
convulsive disorder, and the convul.
sions attending II, brought on by
efforts to swallow water. or other
liquids, are distressing to bear or to
witness. Some deliriUm, also, usually
attenas its latter stages, and II Is us.
ually, though not invariably, fatal.
But other diseases-delirium tremens.
tor example-present pictures of far
greater mental excitement and terror,
while hundreds Of disorders are at
tended by greater physical pain. The
suffering Of both kinds incident to n.y.
drophobia Is by no means beyond the
reach of medical relief and there Is no
excuse In modern times for allowing
1t to continue at point of agony.
More suffering, thousand fold, IL en-
tailed by imaginary fear of it than by
the disease itself. We need a remedy
for this fear, much of which will be
excited through the wide spread dis.
cussion Of the subject and reports Of
mad dog epidemics-more than for
hydrophobia. There Is no remedy for
fear save intelligence. and the facts re-
specting this danger cannot be too
fully set forth or too frequently pub
lIshed IN connection with other talk
on the ject.-Minneapolis Journal.
- "ae...x Nnrfh-