The morning news., 1888-09-22
SEEKING A MAIDSTONE.
Chicago Parents Find Relief For Their
Boy in st. Louis.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.


From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
What is known as the Smith maidstone.
now in the possession of the widow of
Stephen Smith, who lives near Sutton sta
ton, on the Manchester road, has been
brought into requisition within the last two
days for the treatment of a patient said to
have been bitten by a rabid dog. The pa
tient is George Greenhaigh, a G-year-old
boy, who received the wound at Lake Bluff,
near Chicago, where his parents live, one
week ago last Friday. The wounds are in
the left forearm, and are not yet healed.
They were cauterized by DR.. Bailey, of Chi
cago. who has had the benefit of personal
attendance at the PasJeur hydrophobia hos
pital, in Paris, and who is believed to know
all that is to be known of this mysterious
disease. 1t was not definitely known
whether the dog which bit the boy was
rabid or not, as he was killed Immediately
after ward, but, in view of the inflammation
which appeared on the wounds, even after
cauterization, DIR. Bailey himself advised
the application of maidstone, if one could
be found, and suggested st. Louis as the
place where he had heard that such a stone
was h Id. Mrs. Greenhaight wrote to her
father, A. S. Partridge, secretary for the
Brownell & Wright Car Company, and Mr..
Partridge, after some inquiry, located the
maidstone as stated. When he had found it
he telegraphed his daughter, and she arrived
in St. Louis with the boy last Thursday
night At that time all the wounds ap-
peared to have done well except one, over
which black scale had formed, and around
which had developed Inflammation that had
led DIR. Bailey to give it as his opinion that
bad case of blood-poisoning, If not hydro
phobia, was presented on Friday, seventeen
DAYS after the wounds had been received.
Mrs Greenhaight Mr.. Partridge and the
boy went to Sutton station and found Mrs.
Smith and the coveted maidstone. The
stone was applied to the ugliest scab, and
held there nearly an hour before it would
take hold, the delay being very discouraging
to the visitors, but not to Mrs. Smith, who
ins sted that the stoLe would find the poison
if given fair chance. Sure enough, at
the end of the first hour after the applica-
tion the stone adhered to the scab, and
stuck fast for another hour, when it dropped
off of itself, and seemed to have become
both darker and heavier. 1t was boiled in
water awhile and then placed back on the
wound, which, by this time, had lost its
scab and the greater part of its ugly redness.
After the second application she boy was
brought back to Mr.. Partridge's residence,
but returned to Sutton station yesterday for
another treatment. To-day he viii go again,
but this viii be his last trip, as it was said
by Dr. Bailey that the maidstone would not
be effective more than nine days after the
wounds were received. While no hydro
phobic symptoms developed in the boys
nervous system, his relatives firmly believe
he was exposed to genuine rabies, and that
the timely discovery and application of the
maidstone has saved his life, and there Is
none to dispute 1t. The maidstone is about
the size of an egg, generally oval in shape,
and resembles IN specific gravity, color and
general appearance piece Of clean coke.