Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-24

pearance of being a large man. He ha.
that perfectly clear white skin which is 81
seldom met with in men. He wears a je-
black beard The Doctors full red lips
which when parted in the smile that plays
around his mouth, continually disclose 6
set ofwhite and beautifully regular teeth.
He usually dresses in the most severe
black. His manner is at once reassuring
and gentle, which with that innate polite.
ness which characterizes every educated
Frcnchman, goes to make up the personel
of the man. Dr. Gibier has not been able
to get rid of a decided accent when he
speaks our language, and at times he hesi
tates in the selection of word. But when
he finds the word he wants, it is just the
thing.
QUITE A MAGNETIC MAN.
DIR. Gibier possesses considerable person
al magnetism. He appears to be enthusias,
tic over his work and once hydrophobia lis
mentioned, he takes up the subject with
great warmth.
at is a most horrible disease, and one
which may well be dreaded by humanity at
large. No malady of which medical science
has any knowledge is so insidious in its
workings. 1t is completely beyond the
control of ordinary remedies. Hydrophobia
has been known to develop five years after
the patient was bitten, and cases where two
or three years have elapsed are very COM
mon. Where the Pasteur treatment is not
resorted to il is simply impossible for the
patient to recover. The agony which the
unfortunate person endures is beyond the
power of words to express
animals, and more especially birds, do
sometimes get over it. l have experimental
on a number of hens which inoculated with
the virus from rabid dog. The birds
showed all the symptoms of rabies, and
bones and feathers. They would partake
of no food. I administered nourishment
artifically, and they all lived to form the
active principle of u pot-pIe."
FIFTY VICTIMS OF RABIES.
Concerning the humber of deaths from
supposed hydrophobia in the United States
since the Pasteur treatment was introduced
here, the doctor said:
Fifty cases are reported where people
have died of rabies during the past year.
Only one of the cases was treated according
to the Pasteur method" The following is
the first annual report of the "Pasteur" In
stitute issued in March:
NEW YORK, March %.
DR. Paul Gibier, Director of the New York
Pasteur Institute begs to inform you of the
result of the preventive inoculations against
hydrophobia performed at this institute
during the first year of its existence (Feb-
ruary is, 1880, to February is, 1891. Eight
hundred and twenty-eight persons having
been bitten by dogs or cats, came to be
treated. These patients may be divided
into categories.
First-For 64S of these persons it was
demonstrated that the animals which at
tackled them were not mad. Consequently
the patients were sent back after having
their wounds attended. during the proper
length of time, when it was necessary.
Second-In lS5 cases the anti-hydrophobic
trca tment was applied, hydrophobia of the
animals which inflicted bites having been
evidenced clinically, or by the incubation in
the labaratory. and in many cases by the
death of some other persons or animals bit
ten by the same dogs.
No death caused by hydrophopia has been
among the persons inoculated.
IT is A DECEPTIVE REPORT.
The inaccuracies oftbe report are apparent
to anv one who reads the accounts of cases
in the newspapers at the time that they oc-
cur The clinical evidence that the animals
which inflicted the bites had hydrophobia
was not obtainable in more than two or
three out of the large number of cases
treated. No physician capable of making
proper diagnosis was at hand while the an
imal was alive.
In some cases a portion of the brain of the
animal is sent to DIR. Gibier. From this an
emulsion is made, which is injected under
the dura mater of rabbit. The latter ex-
pertinent is of little value, owing to the
length of time that elapses from the death
of the animal TO the incubation of the rab-
bit
There is not single case on record where
DR.. Gibier has cured q patient who had been
bitten by an animal declared by any compe-
tent authority to be effected with hydropho-
oia All of the cases he treats are those of
people who suspect that they have been bit
ten by a rabid animal If their suspicious
are confirmed by any physical signs, they
Are told that too much time has elapsed for
Them to be cured by the Pasteur or any other
method.
DIR. GIBIER'S THEORY.
Asked to give the theory of hydrophobia,
Its process in the human system and the
theory and process of cure, DIR. Gibier said:
''The theory of hydrophobia, or rabies,
has been so often gone over that it is to me
what you Americans term chestnut 1t
is as well established as is any of the more
common diseases which are treated by the
medical profession every day. But if there
is likely TO be any controversy at this late
day over the existence of rabies and its pre-
vention by the Pasteur method, must
decline to be interviewed. l will make no
defense of the methods employed by the
Pastcur school 1t requires none.
There is koch's cure for consumption.
How long lid that stand the light of scien-
tific investigation? A few weeks and the
bubble exploded, much to the disappoint-
ment of every medical practitioner who was
at all advanced in his profession. Has the
Pasteur treatment withstood the attacks
made upon it by the few who will admit
nothing that they have not read in their
textbooks while at school? Decidedly,
yes.
RABIES PATIENTS DON'T BARK.
''Ths case Of Hugo Eitel was to nv mind
l case of false hydrophobia. AS soon as
read of his barking like a dog, at once
made up nv mind that it was not the
genuine thing. Real hydrophobia patients
10 not bark. They do not go upon all fours
Or snap at persons near them. When YOU
read of that you may be sure it is either
reportorial establishment or it is false
hydrophobia.
"What have you to say, doctor, concern
ing the death of little Myron Adams at
Mass, after having assured his
parents that there was no danger"
'It was merely one of the cases which 90
10 make up the l per cent who die after be-
ing treated. Out of l, 800 persons who were
noculatcd in Paris last year only IL died
from rabies. Every one of the 800 had
been bitten by animals undoubtedly mad
That you see is less than per cent. >"
DR.. Gibier then described the sensations
produced iu the patient by the inoculations.
He had himself been through the course of
treatment for the purpose of noting the
effect on the system. He noticed during
he first few days that there were slight
pains through the lumbar regions, decided
increase in the secretion of saliva and
he fluids of the body and towards the last