The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-02-04
NJ. PASTeUR'S PROCESS.
INTERESTING DETAILS OF THE TREAT
MENT or THE NEWARK
CHILDREN.

The rest of the day they play about,
and are already verifying M. Pas
tours prediction by getting fat.
When they came to the laboratory
on Christmas morning, M. Pasteur
said to them, with strong French
accent, II wish you merry Christ
mas" The children all burst out
laughing. Nj. Pasteur then gave
each of them very small glass of
sweet Muscatellc wine. All the
children have taken u great fancy
to Mr.. Pasteur. Young Fitzgerald
calls him "Thc Little Guv'nor,"
and Eddie Ryan calls him "Papa.'
just before the incubation this
morning, M. Pasteur showed me
through his laboratory. We first
entered q small room. A wooden
table stood near the window, and on
the table were two large rabbits, one
white, the other gray. NJ. Pasteur
said: "Every day, two rabbits have
to be sacrificed, in order to obtain
virus ito inoculate the little chill
dren from Newark. To-day, these
are the two Victims Nj. Laer, NJ.
Pasteur's nephew and principal as
sistant, then caught one of the rab-
bits by the ears. took pair of sharp
scissors and cut all the fur from the
top of the rabbits head. lie then
stretched the rabbit out flat, belly
down, upon square piece OF wood.
The rabbits feet were then tied,
with strong cord, to each corner of
the piece of wood. M. Laer then
sprinkled chloroform on piece of
paper and held it to the rabbits
nose until the animal became I'M
conscious. lie then took very
sharp knife and made slit about
an inch long through the skin of the
rabbits head, just between the eyes.
The skin was then stretched apart
with pincers, and u sort of wedge of
silver wire was inserted, SO as to
hold back the skin and to expose
the bare skull. With delicately
constructed instrument, like small
auger, Nj. Laer bored q hole right
through the animals skull. Into
this hole NJ. Laer inserted needle
like the point of syringe, and in
jected into the rabbits brain solu-
tion of virus prepared from the brain
of mad dog. The syringe was then
withdrawn, and the wedge of silver
wire removed, the wound dressed,
the skin carefully sewed together,
and the rabbit was labelled with
date and quality of the incubation
and put into cage. In exactly six
days this rabbit will die of rabies,
and the Newark children will be in
oculated with the virus taken from
its brain. BY q series of NEGOTIATIONS
and reinoculations, Nj. Pasteur can
obtain virus of any desired degree
of intensity. The strongest virus
that he uses in NEGOTIATIONS is that
which causes rabbit to die of
rabies six days after incubation;
the weakest virus is that which
causes rabbit to die of rabies in IA
days.
In small room, kept constantly
heated to the temperature of 35 de-
grees centrigrade, and called the
''incubating room," Nj. Pasteur
keeps supply of virus ready for
constant use. Each bulb is labelled
with numbers. The bulb bearing
No. 6 contains virus that will kill n
rabbit in six days; No. z kills a
rabbit in seven days; No. 8 kills a
rabbit in eight days, and so on up
to No. IA.
The process of weakening the
virus was formerly accomplished by
successive inoculations of monkeys.
Nj. Pasteur now attains the same re-
suit by exposing the virus taken
from the brain of mad rabbit in n
room filled with artificially dried air,
called the incubation room. Each
day the virus thus exposed loses n
certain determinate portion of its
violence.
1t should be clearly understood
that nj. Pasteur does not pretend
to be able to cure cases where
rabies has already declared itself,
nor to cure cases where an incuba-
ton of virus has already taken
place. All that science can now do
is to prevent persons bitten by a
mad dog from dying of rabies, if
treated before the virus from the
bite has had time to incubate. The
mayor of Lozere telegraphed to M.
Pasteur that a young man was
bitten 20 days ago by a mad dog,
and asked if M. Pasteur wonld treat
him. Nj. Pasteur replied: sin the
scientific interests of my method
ought not to treat any one after the
lapse of 25 or 30 days after the
bite, but from purely humanita-
rian point of view l am resolved to
refuse no one" The yonng man
L.. -, 10 t,r