Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-07-26
IERRORS OF RABIES
What the II searches of Pas
tour Have Revealed About
This Dreaded Disease.

There are still found here and there
doctors who deny the existence of
hydrophobia us Il disease, and declare
that its victims de of fright merely.
AS Il matter of fact hydrophohia j.
just as real as d'phtheria or tuhcrcu-
losis, and its existence is just rs cas-
~ demonstrated Ii is caused by
| some organism and it progresses
along invariablc lines When once it's
symptoms are fully developed it IS
absolutely and utterly fatal.
In all the literature OF medicine
there is no trustworthy record of II
cure But fortunately it develops
slowly and if treatment IS begun
within reasonable time there is no
reason why the symptoms should de.
velop at all
lIydrophobia is a malady of both
man and Least. Dogs. wolves, cat f.
cattle, rabbits, monkeys. and nearly
all other mammals suffer from its
ravages. AS IL rule it appears in The
human subject as the. result of a bite
from some domestic an mal-usually
a dog.
Pastcur, after long experiments,
found that the infected spinal cord
of an animal killed by hydrophobia
had the power Of producing the di
seasc In healthy animals, but that this
power gradually disappeared For
example If an emulsion be made Of
the spinal cord of Il rabbit which had
just died of rabies and that cmuls on
he injected into Il healthy RABBIT, the
latter will invariabl ydcvelop the ma
lady and die.
If, however, the spinal cord of the
first rabbit be kept for n day or a
week before the emulsion is made.
there will appear more and more
chances in favor of the second ran
bits recovery. In other words, IL IS
possible TO attcnuatc and weaken VIZ
ulcnt organisms. even those of hydro
phobia. that they become less and less
harmful and finally entirely harmless
This attenuation may be accom-
plished by various means. but in prac-
ticc ii has been found most sat'sfac
tory to depend upon the beneficial
operation of time. The spinal cords
of rabbits dead of the disease are cut
into small pieces and suspended in
sterile glass jars over caustic potash
which absorls moisture kept
at uniform temperature of twenty
TWO degrees ccntlGraUe.
a cord removed at the end of for
ty-elght hours is just shade less IN
fectivc than it was when taken from
the carcass. A cord removed at the
end of fifteen DAYS has lost its power
of infection entirely.
This process of immunization con
s'sts in fortyfying the human patient
during the period of incubation with
lamentations of virus of gradually in
crcasing activity. On the first day
of the treatment the patient is moe
ulatcd with an emulsion from fiji
tcen-day cord. This. beng practically
inert does not iniurc him.
Next day he gets an injection of a
thirteen day cord Then as man
vaccinatcd develops an exceedingly
mild attack of cowpox. just SO this
hyhrophobia patient develops an cX-
cccdinely mild and harmless variety
of rabies. II is so mild indeed, that
he doesn't notice IT, He NAV 20 about
his business ana minglc with his fol
lows as If nothing were wrong with
him
On the third day there follows an
injection of the clevcnth-day cord.
which contains the hylrOphobia or
ghnisms i'll pretty healthy condition.
But the thirtccn-day cord has produc-
cd certain immunity already and
the patient does not grow ILL., On
successive DAYS injections are made
of emulsions of more and more ac-
tive cords.
Finally the patient receives an In