Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-23
THE PASTEUR CURE.
A Great Medical Discovery That Koch
Proposes to Eclipse.
TALKS WITH DRS. MOTT AND GIBIER
The incubation of Rabbits by Which the
Virus is Secured.
HYDROPHOBlA IN THE IMAGINATION

HYDROPHOBlA IN THE IMAGINATION
The great expectations aroused by DIR.
Koch's new cure for consumption give
| special pertinenee at this time to a sum-
mary of the results secured by the Pasteu<
method of curing hydrophobia in the
United States. When DIR. Browu-Seouard
announced that he had discovered what
might prove the elixir of life, doctors all
over this country got out their syringes and
began jsbbing injections of veal tea into
anybody who would permit it.
But the Pasteur treatment for hydro
phobia by injection is a slow and scientific
cure, beyond the reach of empires and pro-
ductive of almost unerring results. One
hears little now of the Brown-Sequard
''elixir," the hasty injection of which led in
| a number of cases to death a year or two
ago. But the following testimony of Dr..
| Paul Gibier and DIR. Valentine Mott, its
leading and indeed only exponents in this
country, to the complete success of the Pas
teur cure for hydtjphobia by hypodermio
| injection, will he read with interest.
| A PERFECT SUCCESS.
DIR. Valentine Mott was the first medf-
| cal man OF standing to try the Pasteur
method in the New World. DIR. Mott has
\ studied the Pasteur method for years before
| that date, and as far back as September,
1886, read a paper before the American
| Social Science Association, in which he de-
| clared that Pasteur had given his cure years
| of research land it now shines forth trium-
| phant in its success, blessing to human
| ity." DIR. Mott, vino has Just returned
from Europe, is still entirely convinced of
the success of the Pasteur method in the
| United States.
81 myself" said he, "have inoculated 20
patients and lost none. A great many who
applied to me for the treatment soon found
were not proper subjects for it. 1 discov-
! cred beyond doubt that the animal by
| which they were bitten was not rabid. How
can the fears of such one be quieted? By
| detailing the circumstances of their cases to
| them and assuring them of the impossibility
| of rabies supervening. A very slight treat
ment Of their wounds, after this, readily
satisfies them. Many cases of rabies are
| reported cured, however, which were not
rabies at all, but pseudo-hydrophobia, the
| result of an overweight imagination. So
| great is the power of mind over body that
death in certain cases results from this i'm
aginary ailment.
| DIAGNOSING PSEUDo-HYDRoPHOBIA.
| 'It is not easy to diagnose pseudo-hydro-
| phobia. When death ensues rabies or
pseudo-hydrophobia may be arrived at as
the cause by inoculating dogs or rabbits
with germs from the brain and spinal cord
of the deceased. If they become rabid, the
disease was rabies in the man. And vice
versa, if they do not, the Imagination has
claimed another victim. And an interest
ing symptom of hydro Dhobia is the
fact that the sufferer shows much more dread
OF swallowing than does the actually rabid
patient.
"Why did cease the practice of the Pas
teur treatment for rabies? Because found
nv time engrossed by patients unable to
pay for my services. could not bear to
turn them away, and had either to give up
the whole subject or abandon my private
practice. Naturally l quit the Pasteur
| treatment. trust that DR.. Gibier may not
| have to give it up. 1 hear some wealthy
men will put the institute on paying basis
and only hope they may. Such an insti-
tute, free for all who may have been bitten
by animals, should be established either by
the State, the city. or individual subscrip-
tions."
THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE.
The "Pasteur Institute for the Preventive
Treatment of Hydrophobia and the Study
of Contagious Diseases" as it is called BY
its founder, DR.. Gibler, was opened in New
York City, on February IS, $780, and 610
persons bitten BY dogs or cats have applied
for treatment. In DIR. Paul GibIer's lab
oratory are many test tubes, in which mi
crobes are Matching and developing. To
the uninitiated eye the yellow fever mIcrobe,
the microbe of smallpox and the microbe OF
hydrophobia look alike. But the photo
graphs there exhibited of the brain of
healthy ard rabid man show at a glance
the deadly foreign growth whose origin is
still so mysterious.
"The great necessity" says Dr. Gibier,
sis to find out as soon as possible if the ami
NAL that inflicted the bite is rabid This
once determined, the treatment is perfectly
clear. Most of my patients have been un-
able to pay for anything, and with them
am forced to be specially particular, for I
insist on the PATIENTS surroundings being
scrupulously clean, especially IN the mat
ter of bed linen. AND, as in order to insure
the tulfllment of these essential conditions,
prefer, If possible, to have the patient re-
main here in the institute. L have more
| than once, so crowded was the house, been
obliged to give up my own bed.
SECURING THE VIRUs.
Since the introduction OF the Pasteur
| method into the United States the expert
ence of both DIR. Mott and DIR. Gibier shows
| a marked improvement in methods. The
composition used as an injection" says DR..
Gibier, Twas formerly productive OF great
deal of pain to the patient. That now in
use partakes of the nature of the serum of
the blood, infIcts no pain, and in some cases
is used of a strength ten times greater than
formerly. A rabbit inoeulated with the
microbe of rabies dies within 10 or 20 dsys,
The rabbit inoculated with virus from the
first rabbit dies, and third is inocuIated.
After the tenth rabbit has died, the duration
of the disease begins to diminish.
"After the sixtieth death, this diminution
ceases, and dog inoculated with virus from
the sixtieth dies quicker than from the first
rabbit. The virus is then fit for use on man.
An ordinary patient is inoeulated in the
side of the abdomen once a day for Is or 16
days. In virulent cases inoculations are
made four or five times a day for the first
five or six DAYS. In the matter of cure the
institute is perfect success. have never
even had doubts about the relief OF but one
patient, little girl of this city, who sobbed
and cried so violently when first brought to
me that 1 feared she would die before she
could come again. Sheimproved with each
visit and Is now entirely we'll.
A FAILURE FINANCIALLY.
"But financially the institute has not
earned any money and 1 often feel like
| giving it up and returning to chemistry.
There are prominent people here. however,
who say they intend to put the institute on
a paying basis. This will necessitate the
purchase of larger property and the iay-
! inc ouL of a great deal of .nnna, ba