The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-26
MANS TREATMENT OF THE DOG.
Is There Any Such Thing rs
Rabiess
From the Country Gentleman.)

| RAbfess
| From the Country Gent,eman.)
| 1 have carefully read letter by j.
W. l., in your issue of March 10, and
| the question wh.ch suggests itself to
| my mind is this: What shall we I'M
derstand is ]. W. LIS remedy for the
| evils he depicts? He admits the many
uses and virtues of the canine race. and
| laboriously computes its defects but the
trouble with his reckoning is this-he can
estimate with considerable exactness the
| latter. but the former are incalcuable.
| Does some one at this point protest that l
| am wild" to make such a statement? Let
| US see.
| From time inmemorial the dog has been
| the friend. comrade. and servant of man.
He has guarded his property. protected his
| family. Ditch saved his life. and been a
patient. loyal vassal. Has that ever been
| estimated? No. Have tabs" ever been
| kept on the dollars and the lives he has
preserved? OF course not. Are there sta
! tistics" on the gain the dog has been to
| man from both moral and a material
point of view? Why, certainly not. 1t Is
not a habit with man to bother his head
about the benefits he receives; but when
some one, whether purposely or otherwise.
does him an injury. that is carefully treas
ured up. And yet man has fashion oc-
casionally (when it serves his purpose) of
estimating human life, "even one human
life" at a very high figure. even more
than all dollars-and all animals. Now,
why does he not apply this lofty principle
when it comes to consideration of the
multitude of human lives the dog has
saved?
The disgusting egotism OF man is one of
the marvels of the world. He preys on
everything in sight. he deluges the earth
with the blood not only Of other species,
but Of his own, and then he has the as
surance to hold up his hands in holy horror
when some lower animal initiates him
TO the one-thousandth degree! Man kills
for the pleasure of killing-few dogs will
do that Man robs his benefactor-few
dogs will do that. Man abuses and tyran-
nizes over the female and the young of his
species-no dog will do that. Man THINKS
his own kind is the only thing in the world
worthy of consideration-no dog but has a
broader mental vision than that. In numer-
Gus moral qualities-honesty. loyalty. cour-
age-I say without fear of contradiction
that the average dog will shame the aver
age man.
The dog is not only of incalcu!able value
as a protector and as a comrade, but also
as a humanizing element Students of hu.
name education tell us that the presence OF
the dog in the family is a constant sug-
gestion to the young Of the fellowship OF |
all life, and curb on the inherited in !
s.inct in man to crush and kill all beneath !
him. There are other things to be consid |
cred in this matter of the dog besides the |
cost of his board and the comparative {
value of pork.
And then comes "hydrophoba,' adver
tised and doomed every year, for which
Pasteur institutes are run. and serum"
mongers inoculate at SO much per inocu-
lation. ]. w l. says: NO person living
is able to estimate the value of lives lost
every year by hydrophobia." That is quite
true. ]. w. l., but for very different
reason than you imagine. Hydrophobia is
such rare disease in msu that IT is not
worth considering in mortality tables.
Deaths from nervous prostrat.on, fits, hys-
terra, etc, brought on by fear and fostered
by Pasteur institutes, are, however, of
quite frequent occurrence. or course, J.
w. I. knows that when Pasteur started his
rabies factory in Paris years ago the cases
Of and mortality from rabies and hydro
phobia7n France at once increased to an
extent; while in Germany,
where these preventive" institutes were
forbidden. the disease remained at its
usual low figure. or course, he knows
that, from carefully kept mortality figures,
a list Constantly increasingly exists. called
"Pasteur's Hecatomb." showing that up to
December 1. 1899. S33 persons have died
after taking the Pasteur preventive"
treatment, many of whom 1t is known
were never bitten by rabid animal. He
snows. doubtless, that the defenders them
selves of the Pasteur system admit that
only 10 per cent (some make Il as low as
per cent? of those bitten by a really
'abid animal have hydrophobia with no
reatment whatever. II
This is history and well-known facts: !
t may, however, not be so well understood
low extremely rare is an actual case of
iydrophobia. few years ago DR.. Mat $
hew Woods. of Philadelphia, wrote to
many eminent men. asking for a state I
nent Of their experience with this disease.
The answers were, to say the least, inter-
'sting, and are embodied in his open
letter to Editors" Space will allow of
'nly few extracts. The late DR.. Hiram :
,orson. who throughout lifelong prac- =
ice tseyenty years. had searched for the !.
isease In man and animal wrote, jan i
ary Is, 1896: Il have never had a real h
ase of hydrophobia.'' The welI-known {
pecialist. DR.. Edward G. Spitzka. Presi- !
ent of the New York Neurological So i
iety, said: Notwithstanding every effort a