The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-11-12
HYDRopHoe,A.
The Results of Recent Observations
Prevalent misconceptions About
It-wheretn Danger of Rabies
Exists Statistics OF Nor

Every passing summer brings Its quo
ia of stories that have gone mad, of
children and people bitten, and of
whole neighborhoods thrown into states
of widest excitement by the supposed
presence of rabid animal in the
neighborhood.
Living in neighborhood where sew
eral alarms were sounded during the
last few months, the writer was more
impressed with his own as well as the
Ignorance of other people about its pc
culiarities than with the disease itself,
and in his search for the literature on
the subject in the hope of spreading
some enlightment. found nothing more
recent or authoritative than anarticle on
''Hydrophobia in Paris" contributed
by Nj. Dujardin-Beaumetz to that most
remarkable of periodic publica tions.
Les Lettres ct les Arts.
To be sure, the writer of the article
in question is believer in Pasteur and
his theories, although there are many
who speak of the learned French scien-
tist as a charlatan. Nevertheless, M.
Dujardin Beaumetz is 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.
Ihave spoken of the writer as 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 hydro
phobia in man, and in this connection
was sent to Constantinople to learn, if
| possible, the canses of the immunity
enjoyed both by its dogs and it's inhabi-
tants from the disease. His mission,
therefore, was thoroughly scientific
fection for dogs, and, as the essayists
say, wherever there are large congre-
cations of people there are bound to be
many dogs and many cases of hydro
phobia, his researches are as applicable
to New York as to the French capital.
With population in Paris of over
100000 in 1885, there were close up
on 10000 dogs statistically accounted
for, and probably from 10000 to $4,000
more which escaped the tax and the
scrutiny of officers. making total of
almost 100000 dogs. Such a number of
animals congregated in the narrow
limits of city offers the most enticing
field for the spread of contagious
disease. The number of rabid animals.
according to statistics of Leblanc and
Alexandra, is startling. In 1881, there
were 615 cases; 1882, 276; 1883, 1872;
1884, 3O1, and in 1885, 518. The
number of the cases of human hydro
phobia varied with the cases of dog
madness as follows: In 1881 there
were 20 deaths of human beings, while
in 1888, when the rabid animals were
fewer. there were only five cases of
the human disease registered; but while
there is a relationship between the two
no definite ratio can be fixed.
''lt is a mistake" says Dujardin-
Beaumetz, ''to suppose that all persons
bitten by rabid animals attain the dis
ease" Pasteur, in communication
made to the Academy of Medicine,
stated his belief that not one out of
six persons bitten by 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. We ought"
he says, first of all to establish this
law-that is, that persons bitten
through their garments do not contract
hydrophobia, since the slightest texture
will wipe the teeth Of the dog and pre-.
vent the penetration of the rabid virus
into the system. In all the cases OF
hydrophobia that have observed" Che
had treated as many as fifty cases) .'ir
mankind during the last five years
everyone of them had been produced
by bite on the uncovered parts. In
exceptional cases have seen the dis
ease appear after bite through gar.
mcnt; but here the animal, in HARD
fight, has torn the clothing to pieces
aud thus permitted the teeth to pene
trate to the naked part. Bites on the
hands and face are usually the ones tt
produce hydrophobia, those on the
the hands being more frequently tn,
cause. Children, Offering more nakec
parts to the rabid dog, are for this rea
son more often oyertaken by tn,
malady. Furthermore, a child Offer
less resistance than man.
'.lt should be remembered that it il
not alone the bite of rabid dog tina
can transmit the disease to man. 4
touch of the tongue is enough to inocu
late If it comes in contact with any raw
part of the skin. Indeed, inoculatiol
of this kind may be SAID to be the mos
dangerous, because it almost inyariabl,
passes unnoticed l remember to hav,
seen young man in Il rabid fit while
was with DIR. Leroy des Barres. at St
Denis. The lad was a workman, ant
had picked up little stray dog from
the street. The animal covered hin
with caresses, and among other thing
licked his lips, after which he ran away
Simple contact had been enough t.
cause the death of the poor fellow, Th'
history of hydrophobia is full of analo
gous cases, where the lounge of the dog
covered with contamination, has sprea
the disease by the simple act of touch
ing an imperceptible scratch.
: Nevertheless men who are bitte
: on uncovered parts sometimes escap
the disease. A thousand circumstance
!. might prevent the virus from penetra
;. ting. Bleeding may carry the yirulen
element away, or the dog by preyiou
t use of his teeth may have wiped ther
= clean.
g Even when the inoculation is carrie
from one animal to another on the mos
scientific principles it does not alway
produce rabies. Out of sixteen dog
inoculated by Hertwig only six wer
= mad, and out of ninety-nine inocul:
tions BY Renault, at Abort, only sixt,
seven were successful. Finally Paster
r by his new processes has found som
+ r animals totally unsusceptible to the '
il rus.