Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-25

ease among its dogs and cattle anu
among a few people for ave years
and Charleston, w. Va, recently re-
ported an outbreak.
The District of Columbia, knowing
that the eyes Of all the nation are
turned that way in search of good
example, has, during the present year,
waged persistent warfare on the parlan
dogs. the great unwashed" Of the dog
world. The law requires the licensing
of dogs. and the upper tendon OF dog
dom goes about with tags on It's col.
lars and often with leashes safely held
Ia the hands OF careful owners put
from Virginia and Maryland waits ana
strays members of the tramp king
dom. smell from afar the incense from
thousands of kitchens and stray into
Washington to become the legal prey
Of the vigilant dog catcher. Tne DOG
catcher has been overworked SO tar,
and since January 80 over 2250 OF these
tramp dogs have been put to death.
or these eighty-six were found to nave
rabies, the bodies OF suspects having
been sent to the bureau of animal IN
dustry for laboratory examination.
Because the epidemic has Increased
and human life been greatly endan-
gered the authorities are ordering the
muzzling Of all licensed dogs and the
immediate execution of all unlicensed
ones. The president has taken the
matter up and this has brought an
added interest to the situation.
There is a widely popular belief
among many nnedicoes and laymen that
death from hydrophobia Is due not to
the malignancy OF the disease but to
auto-suggestion on the part of the pa
tient, whose fear of SO horrible death
eventually brings about such q death
as he had fancied. A new name coined
to at this death Is hydropho bophobda.
The death of William Harsh. the
wealthy Brooklyn man, has been at
tributed to auto-suggestion by the toi-
lowers OF this school. because at his
request, physicians had told him just
what was the nature of his illness. In
contradistinction to this comes evidence
from the other side. A few days after
the death of Harsh, Capt. Edward Ra-
bey also died In New York. his physi-
clans pronouncing the case a decided
one OF rabies. and, the point to this-ne
died without ever knowing what MS
trouble was.
The primary preventive measure
against rabies lies in the muzzling OF
dogs that the disease may not spread
and infect other members of the animal
kingdom, and prevention after infec-
ton lies In the treatment given st
Pasteur Institutes. There the disease
|
of the very virus that is poisoning the
patient. Pasteur, as Dumas said years
ago when decorating him with great
order has taught how mortal poison
may become an innocent preservative."
It took Pasteur many years to prove
this. for 1t was the most dangerous OF
all his experiments. Where bacili OF
rabbit or chicken broth, the baciii OF
rabis had to be cultivated In living
animals, and he and bis assistants
worked with wild-eyed. ferocicus beats
until they found the prevention and
cure OF the dread disease. He found
that as certain animals were incculated
In succession with the virus the poison
grew weaker, but that after q certain
number of ipoculations among rabbits
the strength OF the poison increased to
q certain point and then remained con-
slant and he could procure . fixed
virus"
This virus is strongest In the spinal
cord of infected animals, so In Pasteur
institutes, now located wherever rabies
Is prevalent. the civilized world over.
two rabbits are painlessly fnoculated
every day, and eight days later, when
rabies has developed, are painlessly
killed and the spinal cord extracted.
This cord is hung to dry In d bottle that
tom, and from this cord the gray liquid
for inoculating patients is made.
After he had upset the eheory OF
spontaneous life and established the
vitality of ferments, Pasteur turned to
the study Of rabies. When he proved
the truth OF his work by successful ex-
periments In 1884 he opened a new door
of hope to the world. 1t was In July.
1885, In Paris, that he first tried his
powerful virus on human beings, three
peasants having come all the way from
Alsace to ask that the experiments ne
had made on the twenty dogs the year
before be made on one of their num-
success, and in less than year he had,
successfully treated 6S8 cases. and had
changed the death rate of rabies In
Paris from one In six to one In 40.
At Pasteur's Paris institutions about
10000 patients have been treated since
then, many from all parts Of the world,
including Russian peasants suffering
from the most malignant forms, that
given by mad wolves. New York had
the first Pasteur institute in America.
opening 1t early in 1880. Chicago opened
one In July of that year. Since then
others have been established In Balti-
more, Richmond, Atlanta, Pittsburg,
Ann Arbor. st. Paul, New Orleans, st.
Louis and Houston, and the percentage
of mortality among the patients In
these-both humans and animhls-has
been gratifyingly small Then the pop
ular fallacy In regard to the good OF q
maidstone has been exploded every
where, when legislation can control the
spread of rabies through the licensing
and muzzling of dogs. and when other
superstitions that have existed since
the days of Pliny and Euripides have
been eradicated by the sanity Of modern
science, the dread OF a horrible death
will disappear among mankind, and q
saving in live stock bills as well be
credited to the enlightenment of tho
nation.
Copyright. 1908. by Frederic j.. Haskin.,
Tomorrow--American Libraries.