Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-05-19
HYDROPHOBIA CASES.
METHOD EMPLOYED 5Y THE
FOUNDER OF BAcTERlOLOGY.
Claims Made by the Partisans of the
Pasteur spurious Ra-
bies-Pcst Mortcms Show Three
Causes of Rabies.


Pasteur's method of treating it. Con-
corning the first, the preponderance Of
opinion now seems to be that there
really is sueh a disease, though its
frequency has probably beca exagger-
atcd. The number of spurious cases
doubtless exceeds the true ones.
Upon the other point perhaps a
wider difference of opinion still exists.
The partisans of Pasteur have made
extravangant claims, and his critics.
among whom Dr. Charles w. Dulles of
Philadelphia has long been conspicu-
Gus, may have misinterpreted some
of the statistics which they have col
lected. Dr. George Newman, of Kings
College, London, in his work on Dac-
terra, reproduces figures supplied by
the Pssteur Institute in Paris. These
would indicate that the percentage of
deaths to persons treated in that par
ticular institution fell off from 094 in
1886 to 0.13 in 1895, but rose to 0.39 in
1897. While these figures are not
without value, one is left in the dark
as to the exact proportion of the pa
tents that were bitten by genuine;y
rabid dogs. This may have been small,
and it may have varied from year to
year. On the other hand, it has been
asserted that in several foreign coun-
tries the number of deaths from hydro
phobia after the introduction of the
Pasteur method was greater than be-
fore If such were the fact, it might
nevertheless be true that a much
larger number of cases had developed
owing to an inadequate enforcement of
muzzling laws. 1t might be assumed,
too, that even in these very countries
only part Of the genuine cases were
treated in accordance with the eminent
Frenchman's suggestions.
Whichever group of disputants is
nearer right, the general reader will
be interested in knowing something
of the treatment in question Up to a
certain poilts it corresponds to Beh-
rings way of dealing with diphtheria.
The latter begins a series of inocula-
lions of some animal, preferably a
horse, with minute quantities of a So
luton containing diphtheria bacih
or their poison. BY degrees the animal
is thus made proof against the dis
ease, and eventually blood serum is
taken from it's veins and injected into
human patients. The immunity pro-
duced in the horse is in this manner
communicated to the child Pasteur
also resorted to series of inocula-
tions, but he operated direct upon the
patient, not upon an intermediate OBJ
jeet In the blood of the former, per-
haps, an antitoxin may have been pro-
duced, but there was no transfer of
serum from one creature to another
Up to the present time no distinctive
bacillus has been discovered in vic
Tins of rabies, though psychologists
hope that they may yet be able to find
it. Still, they have had no trouble
in locating the virus. If dog really
has hydrophobia it's spinal cord is
tainted. By introducing suitable
amounts of the marrow into other ami
mails the disease can be developed I'M
mistakably.
Pasteur deemed it necessary to re-
duce the virulence of the poison before
beginning his treatment Of a human
patient, and gradually to increase the
strength. Here is the plan which he
finally adopted: If the spinal cords of
rabbits that had died from rabies were
carefully dried, those which were only
one day old were more potent than
those two days old. The diminution
continued for a fortnight. Hence his
first injection was with an emulsion
derived from a cord that had dried
fourteen days, the next from one
which had dried only thirteen days,
and so on for two weeks or more. The
length of the treatment and the
strength of the emulsion were varied
in accordance with the character of
the bite
1t might be stopped in fifteen days,
Or it might be continued for three
weeks. The last few NEGOTIATIONS
were with fluid compounded with cords
three or four days old-never anything
stronger. The quantity administered
each day seems to have been uniform.
In classifying the possible iisk from
bites. Pasteur recognized three groups
of cases. If person was bitten
through clothing the danger was not
regarded as so great as if the bare
skin of the hand was lacerated. while
bite on the face, in his opinion. was
occasion for still graver apprehension.
Post-mortem examination is apt to
show three signs of rabies. The ner-
yous system is usually affected. The
brain is congested, and what the ana
tomists call 1.-THE axis of the cylinder"
of the nerves breaks down. Second, the
stomach may have patches like those
produced by arsenical poisoning.
Finally the salivary glands show
changes in structure. as if they
were disintegrating. To the bacter-
iologist. though, perhaps the most
conclusive indication Is obtained by in
oeulatng rabbits with bits of spinal
marrow from the suspected animal. If
these develop the disease the inference
is obvious.
In the last ten or fifteen years Pas
teur Institutes have been established
in number of places. Europe. Ameri-
ca and Asia have them. In some little
has been done besides treating per-
sons who have been bitten by dogs.
while in others attention has been
given TO the investigation of num-
Der of diseases believed to BE of bacter-
ial origin. These being practically in
dependent Of one another the success
which attends the administration Of
Pastepr's ideas varies, of course.-New
York Tribune.