The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-20
HYDROPHOBIA A FAKE.
so SAYS SUPERINTENDENT HAN.
KINSon, OF THE A. S. P. C. ia.

: Doesn't Believe That Many of Then
Go Mad-Hydrophobia Is Imagination
Some Of His Experiences With Cases.
Gan a man scare himself to dealt
after having been bitten by dog whicI
isn't mad?' | asked Superintendent Han
kinson, of the American Society for tn
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, on,
day, as he sat in his little Office on Twen
ty-second street.
Mr.. Hankinson is a good naturei
looking man with reddish hair, who l,
afraid of nothing and nobody; certainly
not of hydrophobia quacks.
"Why, certainly" he said, with de
cision. THAT man down in Asbury
Park who was bitten by a cat wa:
scared to death. He never had hydro.
phobia. He died of nervous prostratiou
brought on by worry over an imaginary
danger. His friends were all pitying
him and hoping he wouldn't die, and
phrophesying that he would, and he was
a man of nervous temperament, as edu-
Gated people sometimes are, and it sim.
ply killed him. suppose he read up in
the books about hydrophobia and it
turned his head. That's all there was
about it. Do you remember what
great howl there was about those New
ark boys who were bitten by a mad
dog, and who were sent over to Pasteur
! to be cured?
"Why, of course; who DOESN'T"
"Well, it's quite easy to cure disease
that never existed Those boys never
had hydrophobia and never would have
had it. The dogs didn't have it. Dur
ing that excitement we went to Newark
and found lot of dogs shut up. We
asked to be allowed to take them away
to our stables, but the people wouldn't
have it. Do you know what was done
with those dogs? After the excitement
was all over they were given back to
| their owners, every one of them. Not
one was killed Not one of them had
anything worse than fit. Why, our
men are constantly handling dogs, get
bitten again and again, but they never
dream of having hydrophobia. It's
myth. There isn't any such thing"
A CASE OF IMAGINATION.
"Then you don't believe in the exist
ence of such diseaseY' asked, think
ing that, as Mr.. Hankinson probably
knows more about animals than any
other man in America, he must be good
authority.
"No, don't. There may be such a
disease, but l don't believe it. never
saw case or knew of one positively"
"How about these doctors who cure
it," / asked.
They don't cure anything. l asked
man who makes a speciality Of treating
hydrophobia, as he calls it, if he ever saw
one single case of hydrophobia to which
he could swear. He refused to answer, but
he told me this story: "A man came to
him one day in terrible distress. He had
been bitten by dog; he feared madness;
he could not sleep at night and was
afraid he was going to die. He begged
the doctor to treat him. The doctor said
it was too late; the period of inocula-
tion had passed, and it would be no good
now. If he had hydrophobia there was
no way to stop it.
"The man went away, but came back
the next day nearly frantic. He hadn't |
slept wink and begged the doctor to do !
something for him. So the doctor took |
the man into his operating room and |
gave him a hypoder1nic injection of |
water-just pure Croton water. He |
went away, slept for the first time in |
two weeks and came back the next day |
for more water, and again the next, and |
was soon perfectly cured. The doctor
told me that himself, and he processes to
cure hydrophobia.
SHE WAS MAD.
why" continued Mr.. Hankinson,
"I've had woman in Mysteries right in
that chair you're sitting in because dog
had bitten her. She wanted me to kill
the dog. | wouldn't do it, Then she
screamed in terrible way. When she
stopped said to her: Madam, you ought
to be ashamed of yourself. A woman OF
your intelligence You've interrupted
the business of the Office and drawn
big crowd under the window to listen to
your yelling, and all for whir. Some
body told you you were going to go mad,
and now you think you ought to go mad
and you'll be mad if you don't go mad.
You just go home and say nothing about
it and you'll be all right. And she did it.
Another woman brought her boy in.
He had been bitten by mad dog, and
she wanted it shot, she said. The boy
looked perfectly well.
"'Now, look here said |, you've been
talking a good deal to the boy about
this, haven't you? And the neighbors
have too? And you've been telling him
that he's likely to have hydrophobis,
haven't your
Yes, of course. we've talked about
it, said she.
Exactly said l. You've been tax
ing the precise course likely to drive
him mad or make him think himself so.
Y on have been trying to scare him to
death. If he were TO go crazy it would
be your fault. How is it. bub,' said I,
turning to the little fellow. You don't
expect to go mad, do you?
mo, ne didn't think he should, he
said He didn't feel any different. He :
was a brave little fellow. So | sent
hem home, too, and that was the last
heard of it. The dog had had fit, that
vas all It's shame the way people viii a
shoot valuable dogs just for fit that
might easily De cured or avoided. -
New York World. .
A surgeon rel,orts that a young lady