Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-20
9ai1Y eagle
PROF. SPITZKA ON RABIES.
FEAR OF HYDROPHOBlA KILLS MORE
PERSONS THAN THE DISEASE.


In the spring of 1886 Miss Morosini,
daughter of jay Gould's associate, was bitten
by pet dog, which was promptly killed. An
autopsy was made by DR.. A F. Liautard, a
veterinary surgeon of this city, who found
lone large bird feather" in the stomach The
presence of inedibl substances in the dogs
stomach was formally accepted as almost
indisputable proof that the animal was mad,
but Professor Spitzka says he has examined
scores of dogs, and he gives the following as
the result of such examinations:
mot one of the animals showed any signs
of rabies. There was scarcely one, and GER
tainly not one young dog, in whose stomach
i did not find more or less foreign material.
1 remember that kite strings ano top pegs
were frequent; that coal, ashes, straw, feath-
ers and cotton spools were occasional find
ings. Shoe leather, pieces Of cloth and, if
remember rightly, pocket knife, but GER
tainly some unusual article Of metal, in a
pet dog.n
Yet this dog was pronounced mad, and the
case was deemed by her family physician
sufficiently grave to warrant the sending of
the young lady to Paris for treatment by
Pasteur Meanwhile the brain OF the butch
cred dog was preserved and healthy dog
was inoculated on the brain with particle
of it. At the end of sixteen days this dog
was pronounced mad, it having showed the
first symptoms of dumb rabies-that is, pa
ralysis of the lower jaw. The mouth was
was slightly open, the jaw hung down, and
abundant saliva flowed from the mouth.
Still the dog was very affectionate. This is
not a quotation from Professor SpitZka, but
from the chronicler of the case. This was
of course, accepted as confirmatory evidence
that the dog which bit Miss Morosini was
mad Fortunately, however, for that young
lady, she had sufficient strength Of mind, or
enough confidence in Pasteur's treatment, to
render her proof against an attack of by
drophobia. Concerning this case Professor
SpiJzka says:
'The method OF demonstrating rabies by
direct incubation of the brain is fallacious.
The conclusion drawn by Liautard, from an
experiment thus performed, that the River
dale dog was mad was obtained by mislead-
ing methods. With regard TO the dumb
rabies which DR.. Liautard thought he had
produced in the second dog, every physician
familiar with the researches of Schiff,
Flourens, Hitzig, Fritsch and Goltz viii rec
ognize in it the ordinary results of expert
mental and infammatory disturbance of the
brain functions in the dog According as
the irritating injection affects one certical
field or the other the paralysis will vary, but
paraplegia is quite characteristic of menin-
gifts and encephalitis in the dog"
In plain language, the inflammation of the
brain set up by the placing of foreign sub
stance under the skull and in contact with
the brain matter is sufficient to account for
all the symptoms displayed by dogs expert
mented on and commonly pronounced those
of genuine rabies This was eventually
proved quite satisfactorily by Professor
Spitzka and his associates. They obtained a
number of healthy dogs and inoculated their
brains with various substances, such as a
particle OF the spinal cord of healthy calf,
an emulsion of calls cord, an emulsion from
the brain of a man who was supposed to
have died of bydrophobia, piece of common
yellow soap and stale urenic liquid. The
effects of the NEGOTIATIONS with these various
substances were substantially the same as
that of the virus from the supposed mad dog
which bit Miss Morosini. In fact Professor
Spitzka says there were no symptoms of
hydropnobia related of Dr. Liautard's ami
NAL which were not present in these dogs
He was inclined to pronounce the mental dis
turbances resembling dumb rabies, SO called,
mented on
These dogs were confined in the veterinary
infirmary of Atcheson & Hamill, on Four
teenth street, near Avenue A, and some Of
them may still be seen there A mongrel
bulldog, inoculated with healthy calls cord,
manifested on the third day a slight droop Of
the left upper eye lid, the eyes appeared dull,
there was manifest paralysis of the hind legs,
r n Al
position was exceedingly friendly, he wagged
his tail feebly, crawled forward and fawned
as soon as the door was opened. On the
seventh day he manifested a desire to devour
foreign substances. On the eighth day, al
though his disposition toward the expert
mentalists was unchanged, he quarreled with
another dog over food. On the eleventh day
the parapegic gait was very marked The
dog seemed to be acting impulsively at
times; attempted to swallow a dry drum
stick of fowl, and would have eaten other
foreign substances if not prevented. A mon
grel Spitz, which had been noted as rather
an aggressive animal before the operation,
became, in three days, entirely changed
fawned, wagged its tail, and chung to any
one who would give it a friendly word. On
the eleventh day the paraplegia was more
down a distance of two feet, but let itself
down on its fore feet and then slid down the
rest of its body. At the same time it had be-
come shy, avoided visitors, crouched and
concealed itself.
Here is the seventh days record of large
cur inoculated with twenty drops of an emul-
sion of calls cord:
THE animal is very stupid, runs against
objects. does not avoid obstacles and exhibits
decided manege movements, running in cir
cles TO the right On being reused, when
living down, which Is the animals usual
position, it rolls over and frequently slips
with its hind legs, which tren.ble a great
deal At night this dog howls a great deal
and growls at people entering the court at
all times. There is a question as TO whether
it is able to sec well; bat owing TO its stupid
ity, it is difficult TO settle this point Satsfac-
torily."
A large dog inoculated with a piece of
common yellow soap showed on the seventh
day the dropping jaw, and its tongue often
protruded between the teeth. 1t ran around
aimleSsly, and arriving al running hydrant
stood still SIS if panSive, bus did not drink.
The animal moculated with uremic liquid
died on the seventh day ot blood poisoning.
Parts Of the brain and spinal cord were found
reduced to pus, The rsSs q the dogs recov-
cred, and some were subsequently exhibited
by Professor Spitzka before the Society Of
Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine.
In a Rhod. Island factory town a certain
employer recently paid OUT to bis employees On
Saturday night 500 an new bills that had
been secretly marked. On the following
Monday $500 of thess marked bills were t,e-
r,osited in the hank hv the saloon keepers Of