Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-26

\ cent times none is more strik
ing than that which has reduced NOR
tality in the case OF hydrophobia fror'
more than 90 per cent down to twenty
five thousandths of 1 per cent of the
victims treated. This wonderru
achievement is Guc largely to the pre-
ventive method of inoculation olscoV'
cred by the great Pastealr:
But Pasteur's benencent Wort
stoned with the discovery of pre-
ventive If remained for Negri, al
italian scientist, to discover the germ
of rabies or hydrophobia. This SECOND
remarkable step in the conquest OF tne
disease was taken only three year
ago. and since then, particularly ~
this country, considerable advance mas
been made in the methods or diaenosLs,
The very latest, and, up TO date, tne
method regarded as most neary -, tho
Iihle was devised last September IN the
biological laboratory of Brown uni
versitv shortly after the outbreak OF
tba erSdemic of rabies which has peell
raging in the eastern part OF hhoue
Island. a,oo-nosis-
that is. of discovering the presence oh
the rabies germ-is the microscopy a.
q an1inetion of brain sections. But the
,as,,Its of this method, it was touno
were not always sufficiently conclusive.
II was still possible that the germ
,,,;oht he overlooked So the brown
snecialist. Philip B. Hadley, graou-
ate student working under the olrec-
tion of the head of the department,
Prof. Albert d. Mead, whose orlsinai
work along biological lines has done SO
much TO give Brown high reputation
IN +he medical and scientific worlo'
adonted the "smear'' method, which has
heen used so successfully by the well
known expert connected with the board
of health of New York city, DR.. Anna
~ williams. The Brown specialist did
more than adopt the smear niethoa,
however: he improved upon it by an
original method of making the smears
and of using the stain. This stain plays
the part of a detective. 1t seeks the
germs and so ,colors them that they are
unmistakable.
The method of diagnosis used at
Brown, and which has been of 1nvalu-
able assistance to the authorities VINO
have been fighting the epidemic in and
around Providence, begins with the re-
rnoval of the parts of the brain OF the
suspected animal in which germs make
their residence. These parts are the
top of the brain, the base-scientiflcally
known as Ammons Horn-the cortex of
the cerebrum and the back part or
cerebellum. These parts are placed
upon little glass slides three inches
long and an inch wide and are then
''smeared" or spread thin over the
length and breadth of the slide so as to
reveal the contents in detail. After
ward the slides are immersed in alcohol
to .'flx' or harden the brain specimens.
Then comes the important stain treat
ment.
1t is in respect to this staining that
the work at Brown has surpassed all
other methods of diagnosis in this par
ticular field, and given practical re-
suits which promise new benefits to
humanity. Mr.. Hadley uses coal-tar
stain whose constituent colors are a
brilliant carmine and an ultramarine
blue. When applied to the slide the
blue spreads itself through the brain
cells and other tissues while the car
mine seeks the rabies germs or Negri
bodies, which lie within the nerve cells,
and stains these germs a bright Grim
son. There is no escape for the germ,
it seems. If it is present in the brain
cells, there it appears under the micro
scope-a Veritable red danger signal.
Colored thus the effect is rather pretty,
for the rabies organisms look like car
buncles set in sapphire. Under the
microscope, which magnifies them from
1900 to 1000 times their actual size, the
rabies germs appear on the average
about half as big as dimes.
The epidemic which led directly to
this improvement in the methods of
diagnosis began last August. 1t was
probably brought into Rhode Island
from Massachusetts by rabid dogs In
all there have been, it is estimated,
more than 1000 cases of rabies and hy-
l,-Ax, .Ial. Co.
severest epidemic ever reported in the
United States. Upward of 200 human
beings have been bitten by dogs, but of
all those treated by the Pasteur method
only one has died, and that, appar-
emily, was a case in which complica-
tions set in. Altogether six persons
have died.
The Brown specialist. up to the first
of May, had examined 146 cases, and of
these just one-half had rabies. These
We're all dog or cat cases. The advant-
tage of the comparatively quick method
of diagnosis in use at Brown-lasting
never more than half day-is that in
case person has been bitten the Pas
teur treatment can be administered
without delay. The earlier the treat
ment is given the surer are the results
If there is a delay of several weeks it
is apt to fail
This wonderful treatment, which
makes recovery possible, according to
the records, in all but one out of every
10000 cases. consists of inoculating the
patient with anemulsion of the spinal
cord of a rabbit that has been inocu-
lated and has died of rabies, pieces of
the cord, when dried, being ground up
and mixed with sterile water or with
sterile salt solution. The treatment is |
given in the Pasteur hospitals in New
York, Baltimore, Chicago, st. Louis.
New Orleans and San Francisco. The
board of health of New Yorl. city also
sends the emulsion out of town for use
in cases that for some reason need to |
be treated at home. The treatment
takes from eighteen to twenty-three
days.
In New York, at the Pasteur hospitaI.
is kept supply of rabbits that have
been inoculated with rabies. Everv
day there are deaths in this life-saving
collection. AS soon as the rabbit dies.
the spinal cord is removed, and, sooner
or later, this is put into use. The
longer the cord is kept the weaker Is
it's effect, so the usual treatment begins
with inoculation with emulsion made
from piece of cord that has been