The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-07
to have q committee let it be one that will
carry weight and whose conclusions will be
heard and read in every graded system Of
schools in the United States.
PAsTEUR,s CURE.

46p41Oo0 0OH1s
The physician who had forethought enough
to confne instead of killing the dogs bitten
by the cur that bit the Newark children, who
made a trip to Paris for treatment, has demon
strated, as near as such things may be, that
the dog that did the biting was not affected
with rabies. The seven ours bitten by it have
waxed fat in confinement, giving no evidence
Of madness, and have been turned loose. This
takes the wind out Of M. Pasteur's sails so far
as the Newark children are concerned. They
were "cured' of something they did not
have, and enjoyed a fine ocean voyage at the
expense of a sympathetic public. all for moth
ing. The incubation theory was neither vim
Dictated nor overturned. The subjects treated
were in no need of treatment, and,
apparently, no harm was done them by
the injection Of virus prepared by
M. Pasteur. Yet it is but fair to deal with
this gentleman with the same candor that he
has shown in this thing. Plainly, he is no
mountebank, for he has shown a disposition to
make public his discovery. In his recent
lecture detailing the process of his treatment,
he himself showed that comparatively few
bitten by dogs supposed to be mad died from
the effects. By a collection of records ex-
tending over six years, it was shown that the
number of deaths from this cause was about
one to six bitten. In 1873 the average was
one in four; in 1880 it was one in thirteen,
the general average for the six years being,
as shown, one to six. NJ. Pasteur has treated
altogether $50 patients, at various intervals
after they had been bitten, and Of this number
but one has died, and that one, he claims, had
allowed too great time to elapse before being
treated. AT the ratio that obtained during
the six years recorded there would have been
not less than ffty-eight deaths. It will
be seen, therefore, that he has made a good
showing, and it will rot do to laugh over the
fact that the Newark children were treated for
something they did not have. Specifically,
there is no way to determine from the wound
or scar whether it is the work of a rabid or a
sound dog. The only thing to do when one is
bitten by a dog suspected of being rabid is to
apply such treatment as would be suggested
were it known positively that the animal was
mad. This M. Pasteur does, without harm to
such as are not i~noculated with rabid virus
from a dog, and evidently with salutary effect
upon such as may be. He has established his
sincerity by taking hold of every case pre-
scented, with the result noted. And now he
comes forward and fully explains his secret,
which, indeed, has been no secret. There has
been no mystery about it, no ch~arlatanism, no
attempt to make capital of it. M. Pasteur
has proved himself a true, honest man, ap-
parently intent only on finding a remedy for
the dreadful disorder named. 1t appears that
he has succeeded, and all the world is his
debtor. Unless it be shown that he has not
done what he claims, his fame is assured for
all time to come. 1t will be a pleasure to
honor him.