The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-07-11
WHAT KIND OF STONE IS A NaD
STONE.
An Important Incidental Discovery-Ho,x
the Human System Acquires Tolerance
l for Certain Poisons-Snske Po;eo,o
-Leprosy-The Eygienic Con-
Gress, Etc, Etc.
New York Herald

gress, Etc, Etc.
New York Herald
Missouri has recently had sensation
about mad dogs and the maidstone, and
il is reported that a man voluntarily
exposed his arm to be bitten by a dog
which eertainly had hydrophobia, and
that he was bitten. Men have Gone
things rs foolhardy and desperate be-
fore to prove their favorite theories, and
this appears to have been done to prove
that the so-called "nadstonen is per-
feet antidote to the poison that COM
monty goes with the bite of a rabid dog.
Ifthe man was bitten as reported, if the
Inadstsee~ used upon the bite, and if
then the man does not die it will be &C
cepted as q demonstration of the sue
cess Of the maidstone by. those who be-
lieye in the stone. This is 8 fallacy,
however, because every one bitten by a
rabid ogdoes not die, treatmententire-
" aside.
But the maidstone is interesting
either as popular superstition or as
possible remedial agent; and as 8 rem
edial agcntit is certainly worth more
attention than the doctors have given
to it. 1t is, for instance, worth scien-
tifc study-worth analysis-if one can
be had for such purpose. Is there a
maidstone in any medical or chemical
museum, or does it belong to the geo.
logical collections? Who knows what
sort of stone it is? What is its miner
illogical classification? Is it a stone at
all, properly speaking? And in the
absence Of definite knowledge Of its ma
sure as 8 mineral, who determines that
any given stone is a maidstone? Is it
! related to fetish worship?
Thousands Of chemists would no
doubt bestow their ample patience on
the maidstone if one was forthcoming,
and some of the professional brethren
! might well hunt one up for the pur-
pose. In many instances chemistry
has come in to sustain and support on
basis of scientific knowledge what
may be called.
The medicine of superstitution, an
old "infallible" remedy forrheumatism
with the farmers, was cider which had
: been Summed with the ashes Of
How bark. Now We use salicylic
asssd; but who can doubt that there
S salicytic acid or some salicylate in
sGidflmed cidere
the bite of the rabid animal germs
are in the dogs saliva are i'm
ssss .f.se = ed with the bite. These fructify
&c = blood of the man and produce
ately the rabic fever. 1t is not
S3es' ssess, ely there is in the world some sub
W. i'ome ore that would neutralize this pois-
$ the start: some material which,
r :, applied tothe wound, would so
Srmy BON it or upon the fluids in or near
8allySo kill at once the disease germs.
.gnnce1ere probably is:such germicide,
/ ,ioaalso probable that it-may exist in
Pt| coFso-called maidstone. We do not
si'tha;w that it does, nor that it does not.
r. wsay not iaquire by experiments
+ diEntifeally conducted?
luesff Pasteur's experiments on hydro
e ksobia have not really put within easy
of,aeh an effective means ofhghtingth
fearful malady, they have been OF great
Itserviee as experimental studies in the
dnatural history of suicides and very
lsfruitful in stimulating ideas. In a
recent lecture by Roux on behalf OF
Pasteur before the British Royal Socie-
e ty there are some hints toward the elu-
eidation Of one Of the great mysteries OF
medicine; why certain diseases do not
occur twice in the same subject. For
ages the people have known as we'll as
the doctors that it is law Of certain
diseases to occur but once. Despite ex-
ceptions the law is certain that to have
had smallpox effectively protects per-
son, and he is exceedingly unlikely to
have it again. Why this was or what
inner mystery of physiology there was
to account for it no one knows. Forty
theories have fiourished, but there was
no real knowledge. Pasteur has observed
that rs a microbian poison is de-
veloped in the animal system the white |
eorpuscles Of the blood have certain
power of digesting the microbes. But
this power is not without limit. 1t
may be overcome by an overwhelming
dose of the poison; but if the poison is
small in quantity the power of diges-
ton is developed and that this is
natures way of fighting malady.
What happens then is perhaps that
disease occurring once impresses upon
the white corpuscles some change IN
virtue of which they! become qua!lhed
to digest that poison, and do, by sub
seoueat exercise Of that power, protect
the individual.
If this shall prove satisfactory ex-
planstion of the fact Of the tolerance by
the system of the poison of diseases it
has had it will give at least starting
point for an important classification OF
microbes, since all diseases supposed to
be dependent upon disease germs do
not protect the system in this way. 1t