The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-13
A plea for the Dog.

timely plea for the dog. 1t objects to
the term dog days for the reason
that no particular day or group of days
in the year is more fraught with the
liability of rabies to dogs than any
other; and also because greatly and
cruelty as dogs have been made to
suffer from the general dread of rabies,
it is more than probable that human
beings have been even more extensive
ly and cruelty afflicted by the terror OF
hydrophobia."
We recently gave the conclusions of
DR. Charles w. Dulles of Philadelphia
as to the rarity of real cases of hydro
phobia, but the paper we are reviewing
cites q much greater mass of evidence
and opinion to the same effect. 1t
notes that in a paper read before the
American Neurological association, at
Philadelphia, Dr. Irving c. Rosse, +.
X. G. s., did not hesitate to speak Of
hydrophobia as a purely imaginary
disease, with no more reality to rest
upon than the imaginary witchcraft
which was punished with death in New
England not so very long ago. Dr.
Rosse said that during many years
of travel he had made dill
gent inquiry of the Oldest prac-
titioners of cases of hydropho-
bia which had fallen under their
observation. Many of them told him
that they had never seen a case, and
the result of his own experience and
inquiry had been about as fruitless as
the search for well authenticated in
stances of shark bites" which he had
spent years in investigating. DR.. Rosse
stated many facts contlrmatory of his
own experience. In Asia Minor and
in Constantinople, where pariah dogs
abound, one never hears of hydropho-
bia. 1t is unknown in Japan and Ko-
rea, where there are more dogs than
in any other country. In Germany it is
seldom heard of: not a case has been
reported in Berlin in many years. In
London, with five and half million in
habitants, only one case was reported
in 1892, and of the eight thousand stray
dogs which We're captured, not one
showed symptoms of rabies. "The sta
tistics of New York for thfrty-five
years." says Dr. Rose, "show nine
years in which no death occurred, and
two successive years in which there
was not one"
This, however, does not exhaust the
testimony. Our Animal Friends as
serts that during the thirty years of the
existence of the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
there has been no single well-estab-
| drophobia, and that society makes it a
point to look into all reports of rabies
| and hydrophobia. Furthermore, Dr.
| Landon Garter Gray has publicly stat
| ed before the New York Academy Of
Medicine that there was not a neu-
| rologist in New York who had seen q
| case in his practice" DR.. Birdsall has
said that he had never seen a case Of
rabies, but that he had seen cases Of
| hydrophobia from fright excited by the
| bite or scratch of a dog. DR.. II. Z.
| Loomis has said that "of 10000 necrop-
sizes at Bellevue hospital. eight cases
of alleged hydrophobia showed no gross
| pathological lesion" And numerous
| other physicians of equal celebrity
could be quoted to the same tenor.
That there are cases where as a con-
| quence of dog bites and great nervous
strain caused by the foolish commotion
made over those bites patients suffer
severe pain and in instances die is we'll
authenticated. But unless our ablest
alienists are at fault the scare and not
the dog is responsible. The common
sense of this subject is well condensed
| by John +. HGines as follows:
When you hear cry of MAD dogw in
| the street, the chances are many thou
sands to one that the dog is not mad.
| When you read in the newspapers that
some one has been bitten by a mad dog,
| the chances are thousands to one that
it is not true. If human being is bit
ten by mad dog, is he not doomed to
| die fearful death by hydrophobia? Not
| at all; for hydrophobia in a human be-
| ing Is much more rare than rabies in a
dog. Expert physicians who have given
| special attention to the subject are
convinced that hydrophobia is never
| caused by the bite of dog, and that II
| is simply a hysterical nervous disease
caused by an unfounded dread. Don't
take that for granted; but remember
| theSe facts; nrSt, that there are more
| than a million of chances to one that any
dog which is supposed to be mad is not
mad at all; second that, in all probabil-
| ity, any dog by which a person may
| happen to be bitten is not mad; and third
that even If person is bitten by a dog
that really is mad, the danger of hydro
phobia is very slight indeed What is to
be done If you happen to be bitten by a
dog that is supposed to be rabid? The
best thing you can do is just to take a
few vapor baths, as hot as you can bear
them. The perspiration will eliminate
any poison that the bite may have intro
duced into your system. Then endeavoT
to forget all about it. If you follow
this simple advice, the chances are in
calculably great that you will be per-
fectly safe.
In fairness to the dog no less than
in justice to apprehensive and excitable
mankind, this dog days" superstition
should be exploded.
| ------- --...----
The trouble with Japan, like the sus.
pected criminal, is that she doth pro.
test too much.
|
In reply to those who censure him for
splitting the Democracy Mr.. Bryan
tells the story Of the boy whose moth,
er reproved him for pulling the cats
tail. 81 am not pulling her tail 4" rs-
sponded the boy. u am just holding