The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-08-13

lnent OF rabies, and attention is di.
rected to the noted Frenchman's work
in Paris and to the measure of sue.
cess achieved by his pupil, DR.. Gibier,
who has charge of the New York
branch institute. AS usual. the claim
is made that those who die had hy-
~drophobia and that those cured were
never affected with that terrible NAL
ady. Be that as it may-and when
doctors disagree who shall decide?-
there is a certain painful interest about
the subject at ono repellant and fasci-
mating. Said | to a prominent physician
the other day:
You really think, then, that there is
such Il disease as h~ydrophObia: know
several men who have handled dogs ali
their lives who say there is no such
thing. They have been bitten. some of
them hundreds of times, and have never
suffered from the bites"
\. look Of profound disgust preceded
;he doctors answer. Yes said he. Il
believe there is such Il disease as HYDRO
phobia. | also believe there is such a
thing as a gunshot wound, although |
an acquainted with Il number Of men
who have been shot at repeatedly with
out being hit. More than that, hydro
phobia is incurable, SO far as human sci
ence goes. | am not saying that Pas
tours system is a failure, though | have
my opinion about that, but he can only
claim to prevent it, aud makes no pre-
tensions to curing it, as / understand
the matter. Now it by no means fol-
lows that a human being will necessarily
have hydrophobia even after being Bit
ten by a rabid animal. Many dogs bite
human beings every year.. OF the per.
ons bitten few incur hydrophobia.
Every one of these dies"
One Of the medical works of bygone
times, which in its day was relied upon
by the faculty as an expression of the
highest medical knowledge, was '.Boer-
naaye's Aphorisms: Concerning the
knowledge and Cure Of Disease Lon
don, 1T55.
am across the bOpl; the other dav
and was tempted to make copious cx
tracts from his chapter on ''Hydro-
phoby." DR.. Boerhaave first describes
the disease as it appears in the dog. and
fGllowa this with II vivid description Of
the easo with which ii ma he colmmu-
nicated to a human being and of the
horrible effect Of the poison. He says:
For some People are Immediately affected
with the symptoms of this Disease, some not
til twenty Years after they were bit. and
7ouc are more on lr~o disordcrcd all the while.
net Wccn its first Occasions and it, last Scenes.
This Difference de-, ends from the Heat of
he Weather, from the several Degrees Of In
lection in the Animal that did bite. the Com
o%titutiOn of the Person who received the Hurt
Tor cIOlcric Men are sooner and quicker af-
!"rted. but plii"GnlatiC or dropsical People
lower, and lastly from the different Diet and
Application of Nclicincs.
When a Man in perfect Health is infected
with this Poison after different Distance s Of
Time he begins to he dIsurdered much after
The following manner: The Place pains him
where he first of all received the Injury, then
follow wandering, uncertain Pains in other,
but chiefly the nearest, Parts; "a Wearincss.
ilcaFlncSs, SloWncso succeeds in the Who'll.
system of the Muscles; his Sleeps az. dis
turbed, uneasy; all Of Frights, Convulsiols
aud Catchings in the TendOns; lie is contin-
lally restless, signs, looks detected and affects
10 he alone: and it is much after this manner
that this Disease begins and finishes its first
stage. If You bleed him then, the Blood
doth not carry the Face of any Defect. Thcn
are all the foregoing Symptoms increased,
aud there follows besides II prodigious Mar
r0Wncss and Pressure about the Heart ami
Chest; Breathing is difficult and accompanied
with Signs; he frequently shakes all over; his
Hairs stand on end, and tremblcs all over at
the Sight OF Water, of any sort of Liquors, or
even upon the Sight Of transparent Things. or
rejecting like Looking glasses; he loses his
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow anything
that is very dry and solid. The touch of any