The evening times., 1899-07-14
THE LoCKJAW EPIDEMIC.
More Than Twenty Cases About New
York Since July 4.

New York. July 14.-Although but one
lockjaw in this city yesterday, reports
from outside points indicated that the cpl
demic is showing no signs of abatement.
This fact increased the great interest
aroused by the new method of tetanus
treatment discovered by DR.. Frank Hart
ley, of No. 50 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
followed with wide attention.
Joseph Lavinsky, the fifteen-year-oId
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
pitai, antitoxin serum was injected into
Lavinsky's brain. but he was taken TO
the hospital too late for any treatment to
be successful.
DIR. Hartley and Professor Hotchkiss de-
voted themselves during the day to other
cases of lockjaw in the hospitals. The new
method was applied to William Rainberg.
twelve years old, who is patient ia
Roosevelt Hospital He shot himself in
the right hand with a toy pistol on July 4.
Although he was not taken TO the hospital
until Wednesday, Rainberg went through
the operation in good condition, and he has
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 he
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 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
new method is applied in time. In several
instances where patients had died after
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.. Hartleys 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 with a blank cartridge, has been
in precarious condition for several days
but it was decided to use the new method
in final effort to save his life. 1t was
said at the hospital last night that young
Roth was very low and that he was not
expected to live.
There have been six deaths from lock-
jaw in this city since July 1. 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 lockjaw within a week in the
immediate vicinity of New York.