The National tribune., 1890-01-09
CHAPTER Xix.
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II is curious how much the belief in the in
durability of many diseases has been modified
in the course OF the last three generations.
Sixty years ago consumption, hydrophobia,
diabetes heart disease and asthma were all
considered either fatal or wholly rremediable
disorders. Now the list Of the latter class of
affections has been reduced to twO-certan
forms of cancer and fuly-developed hydro
pbobia. In its earlier phases Of development
hydrophobia is by no means incurable, but no
fuly-authenticated case of its cure in the last
or paroxysmal, stage has ever been recorded,
aud the hope of saving n patient, therefore,
depends on the timely recognition of the in
cipient symptoms
SYMPTOMS OF RABIES.
A person bitten by mad dog may expert
ence no distressing effects for period varying
surprisingly in different cases The wound
may heal, and for number of weeks is per-
haps all but forgotten, when suddenly the in
iured part begins to itch, to swell and to dis
charge q peculiar, acrid humor, while the
patient begins to complain of faiutness, nausea,
want of appetite, and before long of spasms in
the throat, great thirst and increasing difficulty
in breathing and III swallowing auid nOursh-
ment. The time Intervening between the in
Fiction of the wound and the supervention of
the abOve-descrbed symptoms is called the
period of incubation" and varies from six
days to o number of months, and even of
years.
In more than one fully established case the
patients experienced the first symptoms Of dis
tress more than three years after being bitten
by an animal, whose virus had caused tho
death of other persons in few weeks, and
medical specialists have recorded several in-
stances of an almost immediate development Of
the most fatal symptoms in consequence of
bite which seemed to have barely penetrated
the skin of the victim. Much depends there
fore, on prompt inquiry into the condition Of
tho suspected animal, aud whenever practical
bic a dog exciting msgivings by its snappish-
ness and unusual ll-humor should not be
killed mt once, but securely confined and
watched for n number of days. If the change
in the appearance or conduct of the animal is
duo to genuine rabies, want of appetite and in
crcasng restlessness will soon be followed by q
still more characteristic symptom-a peculiar
bowling bark, repeated from time TO time,
without any visible cause, and entirely diifer-
ent from the long drawn wall of dog clamor-
ing for release from an uncomfortable kennel.
While refusing his usual food, the dog will cat
straw aud dirt, or gnaw up wood, and often
snap at his own legs. The lower jaw will
hang down, and on the fifth or sixth day paral-
ysis will supervCue and the animal dies in
shivera, resembling intermittent commissions.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
person bitten by dog exhibiting those UNI
mistakabie symptoms OF rabies, should get his
wound cauterizcd with the least possible loss of
time, or iu stress of circumstances, resort to
actual eautery y; |. c. heat poker to white
heat and burn out the injured tissue 10 a depth |
beyond the presumablo extent of the original |
injury. The torture of that operation can be |
greatly diminished by an aDgsthetic which |
generally can be- procured in every larger town, /
viz, a mixture OF pounded leo aud salt pressed |
against the skin just before the application of |
the hot iron. In less than I've minutes the cold |
VIII have benumbed all hut the deop-scated aud /
less sensitive nerves. For a week or two the
patient should be Omitted 10 sparing diet. and
should bc encouraged 10 divert his mind from
the cause Of his approheusious, STAGE there is
no doubt that an excited imagination tends to
diminish the chances Of recovery in this as in
many similar eases. IL half month has pass
ed without tho development of any serious
symptoms. those chances may be considered
sufficiently good 10 dismiss all further fears; for
ia the first place nine days is the usual limit of
the period of incubation and, besides, IL Is an
established fact that only small percentage of
persons bitten even by undoubtedly rabid
fall victims To the consequences In
many thick clothes may intcfcept the virus,
in others the animal may have exhausted its
saliva by previous attacks, or all constitutions
may not be equally susceptible TO the effects Of
the poison at all events. only one out OF 10 or
IL bitten men animals will experience any
thing worse than the usual results OF snap
bite. DIR. John Hunter mentions II case in
which, out OF II persons attacked by an un-
questiouably mad dog. only one was infected.
That circumstance. by the way, might IN large
plurality of cases have explained the success of
the SO called specifics Of the Pasteur school. In
at least 10 well-established instances patients
inoculated with the antidote of the French
pathoogist died after all. and, AS an American
critic we'll observes, that proportion considering
the limited number of eases treated in the Pas
tcuf hospitalsl is fully ms large as that observed
before the discovery Of the antidote plan. The
mere belief in the efficacy of that plan may,
however. actually have saved more than one
life, thus contributing another illustration To
demonstrate the occasional value Of plausible
" faith cures"
METHODS OF INFECTION.
On the other hand it must be admitted that
the occasional cases of hydrophobia ascribed To
the effects of pnre imagination. might be- ex-