The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-24
CENSUS OF THE CANNES.
sAvANNAHs DOG POPULATION BE-
ING COUNTED.

!
Recommended TO Council, HOwev-
er-The MuzzIe Ordinance Not Like
Iy 10 BE EnfOrced-Rnbies as Like
Iy 10 Break Out in December as in
June-Interesting Experiments Be-
ing Made with Rabbits InOculated
with the Virus of Rabies.
Hydrophobia is the disease which is
being most generally discussed in Savan-
nah now. II the CANNES of the city have
not observed a notable GOODNESS on the
part of their former friends and admirers
during the last few days they are inca
pable of observing anything. All dogs are
viewed with suspicion, and strange dogs
are treated with little ceremony.
The attitude Of the average citizen now
| adays toward the four-footed friend of
man is one of the standof1shness, and
their acquaintance is no longer cultivated.
The prevalent fear of hydrophobia is like
ly to result In the destruction of a good
many dogs, and there are no doubt many
In the city which could very well be
spared. The general suspicion is likely
TO result in hardship to many well-behav-
ed and healthy dogs, but under the cir
cumstances 1t could hardly be otherwise
The death Of Miss Jennie Glatigny from
hydrophobia, reported at the semi-month-
ly meeting OF the sanitary board yester-
day afternoon by Health officer Drummer,
and the subject informally discussed. The
board will make no recommendations to
council, however.
'There are no recommendations we can
make" said Mayor Meldrim when seen
by Morning News reporter. I'VE cannot
prevent hydrophobia from developing in
persons already bitten, If there be any
such cases. We do not know of any n.y.
drophobia or rabies prevailing among the
dogs Of the city now and the only way in
which we can make hydrophobia abso-
lutely impossible is to kill all the dogs in
the city. That is out of the question. The
disease is of exceedingly rare occurrence.
l do not remember any other death from
this cause having occurred here"
Mayor Meldrim was asked if the old Or
dinance requiring dogs to be muzzled dur
ing the summer months will be enforced.
Il hardly think So" he replied. THE
ordinance only goes into effect June l. Miss
Glatigny was bitten In December and sta
tistics show that dogs suffer from rabies
as much in winter as in summer months,
so there would be very little gained by
requiring dogs to be muzzled during
portion of the year."
The physicians who attended Miss Gla-
tigny are positive that their diagnosis OF
the case is correct. The symptoms were
so plainly marked that the disease was
recognized even before it was known that
the victim had been bitten by dog with
in the last few months. Miss Glatigny
herself did not know the nature of her
disease and was not aware that the slight
wound on one of her hands had any con-
nection with the pain she was suffering.
Consequently her condition could not have
been due to nervous excltability and I'M
agination.
The special symptoms of the disease
as described by one of the physicians, are
| paroxysms of the pharyngeal and respi-
| ratory organs with a sense of strangula-
| ton at the throat and an inability to
| bear the sight of water or any liquid. Be
Sides the patient is oppressed by sense
| of nameless dread for which no cause
can be assigned. All these symptoms were
| prominent in Miss Glatigny's case. The
| sight of water threw her into paroXysms
| and she complained constantly of feel
| Ing Of dread, which she could not describe.
| The physicians performed an autopsy az
ter death and found her brain to be in an
| innamed condition, which they naturally
attributed to the character of the disease.
By the use of sterilized instruments,
germs of the disease were obtained and
| cultures made according to the usual
method. With portion Of the virus Oh
tanned in this manner two rabbits were
inoculated, the injection being made in
| the muscles of the neck at the base of
the brain. One of the rabbits died short
ly afterward. 1t manifested no symptom
| of the disease, however, and its death is
| attributed to other causes About four
teen days is required for the disease TO
| develop after an incubation of this Kind
| and the remaining rabbit is being Vesy
| far aA 1aA off Of
| officer Drummer at the city exchange
| Should 1t develop symptoms of rabies con-
| elusive proof will be furnished that this
was the cause of Miss Glaugny's death
| A physician who has given the subject
very careful attention said yesterday that
| he was opposed to the muzzling OF dogs
| as a safeguard against hydrophobia. Muz-
bling of dogs makes them morose and Ir-
ritable he said, and tends to develop any
| symptoms of disease which may be in
! the system, thus leading TO the belief that
they are mad and resulting in the destruc-
| ton of many valuable dogs. Rabies, ne
| said. is not a disease developed by eli
mate or conditions and can only be con-
veyed by the bite of one dog to another.
BY lessening the number of dogs. espe-
| cially of the homeless and wandering
| kind the means of spreading the dis
| ease would be greatly lessened. BY plac-
| ing a high tax upon dogs, he said, the
| keeping only OF SuCn uOSS dS dAS COhSiN-
cred of some value will be assured, and
| the owners of dogs will be more likely to
| take proper care OF them.
! The police are now taking the dog CEN
sus for the year. This Is not due to the
hydrophobia scare, however, as the CEN
sus was begun before the recent death
| from hydrophobia was announced. The
census is being taken somewhat earlier
than usual however, and the hydrophobia
scare will doubtless have the result of
| causing a rigid enforcement of the ordi-
nance reuqiring all owneds Of dogs to take
out badges for them.
The receipts from the dog tax have fallen
Off during the last two years. In 1898,
! the receipts from this source were 81, 1883
| and in 1894, sl,GO3 In 1895, the receipts
were 81 ,224, and in 1896, $l,l2l, showing a
difference of 500, between the receipts for
| 1s9S-ls94 and 1S95-ls96. Up to date only
| 2S2 badges have been taken out There are
| probably between 5000 and 1900 dogs in
| the city. The tax is a difficult one to
| collect, however, as the owners are often
as hard to catch as the dogs.
BETHEsDA's ANNIVERSARY.