Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-25

l only wish we knew that were true. These children, who seemed not nearly so much in- terested Tn the matter as the parents, had
 been bitten two days before, and had tray eled over 6 score of miles.
 The day after the children had been treat ed man and his wife made their appear ance, also seeking the maidstone. This man was also 8 farmer and told the following sto- ry in substance: The same dog that had bit- ten the children had afterward entered his door yard and attacked his own dog lying on the front porch. A savage fght ensued be- tween the animals, and the farmers dog was badly bitten and torn. Both dogs were shot. The farmers wife, who was a neat hoUsekeeper, immediately after the afray get to work serubbing the froth and blood from the floor of the porch, not thinking at the time that she had cut on her hand that might have come in contact with some of the saliva from the rabid dog. This matter so preyed upon her mind, for neighbor had
 recently died from hYdrophobia, that her husband took her to the maidstone. The woman was very much excited, and we actually feared for the great strain on her nervous system while the owner of the stone was preparing it. When applied the stone at once became fixed to the wound on her hand, and did so for the third time, when it fell off and would adhere no more. The good woman seemed wonderfully relieved, and when they started for home some hours later her nerves had not yet obtained their
  happy as could be. Nor did she or the three ohilpren suffer any bad effects from the oc- casion afterward, although it was currently believed that COW bitten by the same dog Pea stYif sd5sd of hydroph9hiss issu1,sp.. ly. The chances were very slight TA-s:I, , small wound on the woman's hand had ab: sorbed any virus, but the chances were frightfully large of hpdrophobic symptoms l being the result of her highly excited ner- vous symptom. Neither could it be doubted , | for single moment that the maidstone in this particular instance was beneficial. This , maidstone is ter]iary fossil, with the mouth } of the eoralites open and without matrix, oi which. although rare, there are living repre-
 sentatives in some of the warmer waters oi
 tho tropical seas.
 y Another noted maidstone is of the same
 fspecies and tertiary coral. This has, dur
 | ing the last half century, by repeated boil.
 ings in vinegar, water and other liquids
 been reduced until it is g mere fragment ! Recently the owne-an old, gIay-headed far mer in Jersey county, Illinois-was given { = ! new and perfect one. His perfect faith il
 E the new, like his faith in the old, never wa ) ! vers for a moment. The old mans faith ii | simply founded on the fact that no one tt whom the stones have been applied have suffered from hydrophobia. This is simply more negative evidence.
 The writer has, without enti-e satisfaction however, endeavored to convince himself , ! that the action of the stone in adhering tt , | the wound was purely mechanical one, af- 1 | ter the manner of oupping glass, and tha , \ each coralite or polyp cell became sort O
 { valve, and exerted from a vacuum created.
 ! He has not quite satisfactorily endeavoree ! to attribute the action of the stone to th peculiar construction of the polyp cell itself
 i It is well known to naturalists that all coral , making polype have remarkable powers O.
 | absorption and secretion. Enormous masses ! of coral are built up in the sea, the polyp
 ! in some strange manner absorbing the ston, ! matter from the sea water. The little an1 mals build their houses about their bodies
 ! never leaving their abode even for food; this
 ! is absorbed also. The peculiar radiation o 3 the cells forms a sort of cillia, and althougf
 stationary, may have acted as such. We d. ! not know what peculiar substance the polyl
 1 absorbed as food. No one seems to knov l this. But we do know that amid the tainted ] ! waters of the early seas, when nothing coul' 6 live on land and no very high organization i : the water, the coral polype hourished prodi
 ! giously, and 1t is thought by one of our bes l I naturalists of to-day that the polype of th t sea, like the plants of the coral, absorbed tn S virus from the element in which they live. @ It is not at all beyond the province of na n ture's laws that she might arrange ce h ! structure so that it might absorb certain sui # l stances. In vegetation every root fibre ab n \ sorbs it's peculiar substance and never d. t. parts from it.
 " An6 tnre5tlgatlon Ot the maaSIOne may [ l. thought by some to be unprofessional, bu
 ! who can tell but that it might lead to profit e ! able resultsa Nature provides poisons, bu
 we know she provides antidotes ss vel y Any one who has had the misfortune to SC . fellow man die of hydrophobia will feel a
 interest in any investigation on the subject |, l Then again, if it could be shown that the1 s was any reasonable evidence that there wa
 no such thing as the transmission of rabies b 1 and that hydrophobia was simply an afec It ton of the nerves through the mind, and - the application of the maidstone served t
 allay that excitement, soothe the nerves b
 satisfying the mind, it were none the lei
 valuable. And also it must be admitte
 that even if 1t could be shown that hydro
 phobia had been brought on by nervous el
 citement through the mind, it does not at a
 ! prove that rabies cannot be transmitted b
 l the virus from rabid dog. And it may i. a satisfaction for some to say that no or
 need despair if maidstone will help hin
 should he be in great extremity, and man e l would as lief trust to one as to the microb' s of M. Pssteur.