Arizona republican., 1907-05-26

of May. had examined lac cases, and
or these just one half had rabies.
These were all dog or cat cases. The
advantage of the comparatively quick
method of diagnosis in Use at Brown
lasting never more than half a day
is that in case a person has been bit
ten the Pasteur treatment can be adj
ninistered without delay. The earlier
the treatment is given the surer are
the results. If there Is a delay OF sew
eral weeks il Is apt 10 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 an emulsion 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 Fran
cisco. The board Of health OF New
York City also sends the emulsion out
OF town for use ir cases that for some
reason need to be treated at home The
treatment takes from Is to 90 days.
In New York. at the Pasteur Hospi-
tai. is kept a supply OF rabbits that
have been inoculated with rabies. Every
day there are deaths in this life-sav-
Ing 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 weak.
er Is its effect, so the usual treatment
begins with incubation with emulsion
made from piece of cord that has
been drying" for at least l6 days.
The following day the emulsion used
Is made from a cord that was remov-
ed Is days before: and so the treat
ment goes on, step by step. until fin
ally the patient is inoculated with a
dose containing cord only a day old.
In urgent cases the progression is
more rapid; II may jump from the six
teenth-day cord to the twelfth, and
from that to the tenth or eighth. and
so forth. In the case of an adult. us
ually two injections are made stimuli
taneously. A single dose contains
three cubic centimeters of the emul-
sion.
ouNl - ltit tlit ulStONtEs
of which has given Pasteur place
among the great benefactors OF the
human race. Pasteur found rabies a
source OF universal dread. but he rob-
bed OF its worst terrors and left il
comparatively innocuous. From the
early part of the Christian era the dis
ease had periodically ravaged certain
parts of Europe. notably France, Spain
and Italy. All sorts of remedies had
been tried without avail. The immort-
al Galen himself recommended the use
of a compound of crayfish. eyes. Later.
the livers-unfortunatel not the
suppines-of mad dogs were admins
tered: and today the so-called mad
stone Is applied TO some victims. even
in this country. But Pasteur. after
the customary discouragements. sue
ceeded where all his predecessors had
failed. There was no longer any ex-
cuse for smotherine victims. rs they
used to do In the old days, nor for
nurses in hospitals To refuse 10 attend
hydrophobia patients because they
feared they would be bitten.
The only difficulty that remained
when Pasteur died was that due to the
absence of any sound method OF dag
nosis: even Pasteur himself did not
know the cause OF rabies. Now thanks
in a large measure to the efforts OF
American students. this final difficulty
has gradually been removed. until
today by means of the discoveries
made in the laboratory at Drawn. an
accurate means of diagnosis is offered
to the medical world through research
work done In the ordinary course Of
preparation for advance degrees in the
department of biology. Mr.. Hadley.
the discoverer OF the improved smear"
method, comes from Shelburne Falls.
Massachusetts. He received his degre"
Of Phi. 3. at Brown four years ago.
since which he has done special work
in comparative anatomy and bacter-
iology as a candidate for the dgree OF
Phi. d. Through him Browns biologi-
cal department has added considera-
bly, TO Its list of marked achievements
The preventive treatment of Pas
teur and the recent smear method
of diagnosis are positive facts in the
life saving revolution which has been
accomplished by applied bacteriology
In recent times. But there are other
positive facts not so well known. One
Is that stray dogs are the chief car
riers Of the disease. Therefore n"
mongrel cur can be above suspicion.
Beware the dog. when rabies is pre-
valent in the community. and particu-
larly the dog that nobody owns. He
Is the animal that does the most dam
age for he Is that one that Is USUALLY
seen running around biting and snap
ping. TIE home-trained dog more Of.
ten gets rabies in the paralytic form