The Press., 1897-08-12
FEAR IS NOT HYDRoPHoB1A.

rEAN ID NO HI aXDNOFHObIA.
 Every now and then one hears of the death of a person who has been bitten by dog that was was supposed to ba mad. Unless the case happens right in on"'s own neighbcrhood 1t IS hard to got at the exact facts, and even then one is liable to be deceived. Dr. Charles w. Dulles, of Philadelphia, a physician who has made special study of the subject for fifteen years and has investigated more than a thousand stories of alleged hy'!rophohia during that period, has written to ''The New York Medical Record' to say that he believes that there is a goo'i d"al of is worse than unnecessary, for in hi+ judg- ment mistaken notion as to the 5n. ious- ness of a bite often aggravatns the patients conlition
 In illustration of the latter theory tie doctor mentions two cases occurring neat Wilkesqarre, Penn., within a year. A boy, having been bitten by dog that gave no sign whatever of being mad, was sent to New York to be treated hy the Pasteur method. He died, soon after his return, of sort of combination of paralysis and hydrophobia. Another boy near neighbor, who had heard the sub ject discussed and had grown very ner- | vous about dog and the possibility of being bitten, finally had that experience about year after the first occurrences. He, too fA6 xxyifh several other children which were bitten by the same animal that attacked this little fellow are alive and well to-day. Dr. Dulles concludes from these facts that the two boys really died of fright | produced by sensational talk and treat | ment. If no fuss had been made he | thinks the boys would have got we'll He entertains the same theory in regard to | numerous other cases. A distressing story has been circulated within the last few months about the death of four out of eight Baltimore children who were..bit- ten by the same dog. Here, again, the doctor attributes the tragic result to the treatment and resulting scare, and not to the bite. If there was any hydrophobia at all, 1t was originated not by the dog but by human agencies.
 l Dr. Dulles also reports largo number of cases of death after being bitten by a dog which were due to pneumonia, simple blood poison, dropsy of the lungs or some other well-known malady, the truth being ascertained by a post-mostem examina ton.
 How easy 1t is to be mistaken abobt an animal is shown ny the following incident One of Dr. Dull,s's own patients was bit ten by dog, and the latter was carried off to a pound where. he died. Most. peoI,l, would have jumped to the conclusion in stantly that th' dog was mad and tha the person who was bitten would dit within a few days in a most horribl, manner. The pound keeper declared how ever, that the dog merely had fits, an( not hydrophobia, and, though the pat ient's parents were almost frightened tt death themselves, the doctor allayed thei fears and then proceeded to much easier task of curing the child. In other hand tn
 
 It is curious fact that those who ar most exposed to danger from what is call ed "hydrophobia" suffer the least. Dr Dulles has male careful inquiry regard ing the dog catcher and pound-keepers O. large cities in Europe and America, anc has boen able to find only one case O. hydrophobia among them. The attend ants of the London Home for lost and straying dogs, where over two hundred thousand dogs have been handled, have not once experienced this malady. This certainly tends to show how much the imagination has to do with the matter These people had bites enough, hundreds and evon thousands of them, but they :'did not genre worth a cent'' and suffered no serious eonsrHuenees.
 It will thus be seen that doctors anC parents who permit child to be alarmed after a chance dog bite are likely to pro- duce death to their behavior wher eas there is not one chance in many thousands that harm will result if those who are as. sociated with the victim behave as if the incident was a tri4ing one.-Neao Fork Tribune