The times., 1899-07-15
THE LocKJAw EPIDEMIC.
Wore TE-c T.-S..,,-- CSsaS About yexr
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York Since july 4.

wore IT,. T.:c7ss T.,1:.:; cas- About yew
York since Js:y 4:
New York, July Nthough but one
,nore was added to the Hst of victims of
lockjaw in this city. ysstsfday, reports
from outside points indicnt ed that the cpl
demic is showing no sig1s OF abatement
This fact increased the great interest
aroused by the new method of tetanus
treatment discovered by DR.. Frank Hart
ley, of No. 80 West Fiftieth Street This
method. by which the antitoxin serum is
injected into the brain of the sufferer. is
being used wherever possible in the New
York hospitals, and its results are being
foll<Ted with wide attention.
Joseph Lavinsky, the fifteen year-old
boy who shot himself in the left hand on
July with a blank, cartridge, died in
Bellevue Hospital at an early hour yes
terday morning. He had been treated by
the new method discovered by DR.. Hartley,
but no importance is attached by medical
men TO the fact that the new treatment
Iailed of success in this case. Under the
direction of Prof. l.. w. Hotchkiss, one
of the visiting physicians at Bellevue Hos
pital, antitoxin serum was injected into
Lavinskys brain, but he was taken to
the hospital too late for any treatment to
be successful.
DR.. Hartley and Professor Hotchkiss de-
voted themselves during the day to other
cases of lockiaw in the hospitals. The new
method was applied to William Rainberg,
twelve years old, who is a patient in
Roosevelt Hospital. He shot himself in
the right hand with a toy pistol on July T.
Although he was not taken to the hospital
until Wednesday, Rainberg went through
tha inn in no
been resting quietly since. 1t was said
at the hospital last night that the patient
was doing very well.
DR.. Hartley, when asked about his new
method yesterday afternoon, said that lie
had been working on it for two years, and
that while it was not an unfailing method
| it promised success in a much greater pro-
portion of cases than any other method
thus far used. He said that the point long
striven for was to be able to inject the an
titoxin serum into the base of the brain.
This now could be done with mathemati-
cal calculation, and DR.. Hartley said there
was no reason why the new method should
fail to cure if resorted to in time.
| The case of a girl from Panama, who
was treated successfully at the New York
Hospital about a month ago, DR.. Hartley
said, was an Illustration of the results that
could reasonably be expected when the
/
| instances where patients had died after
! this method had been used, DR.. Hartley
said the fault did not lie in the method,
| but in the lateness OF its application. He
| said that nothing could have saved the
Lavinsky boy, and that the same thing
was true OF others who had fallen victims
| to the deadly tetanus recently.
| DR.. Hartley's method was also given a
test in the Harlem Hospital yesterday.
| Charles Roth, thirteen years old, who shot
! himself in the palm of the left hand on
July 4 with blank cartridge, has been
in a precarious condition for several days,
but it was decided to use the new method
| in a final effort to save shis life. 1t was
said at the hospital last night that young
Roth was very low and thai he was not
expected to live.
There have been six deaths from lock-
| jaw in this city since judy III With one ex-
ception all have been cases OF boys who
were injured while celebrating the Fourth.
There have been more than a score of
/ deaths from loekjaw within a week in the
| m diafa uipinify of Nam ynrI-