Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-03-26
NO HYDROPHOBIA,
SAYS BITTEN MAN
II. A. CHURCH, WHO WAS ONCE
BITTEN BY MAD DOG, DECLAR-
ES THERE Is NO SUCH THING
AS HYDRGPHOBIA.

II. y. CnuTcn, OF la LuChiS SlACSt' ~ /
lanta, a man who was bitten several
years ago bv a supposed mad dog and !
who was due in the course of human
events TO have hydrophobia, says there's
no such thing as hyurophCbia. And ne |
ought to know.
=. .ydrophobia is the biggest fake on
the tace of the earth.'' says Mir. church. !
Some OF the best aoctofs in the world
dispute the theory of il.
Il am Putting my experience up against
Pasteur's theory says Mr.. Church.
Mr.. Church in 1887 was fireman at
old No. l engine house. He stuck a nail
in his loot at a fire, and pearly died OF
tetanus, or lockjaw, as it is known. lie
Was ten days aped and suffered agonles
Of pain. But he got over it.
Three years later he was bitten by
little black flee that people thought was
mad. Ten days after that he was tlllng |
a saw Che was macknist them when
sudden spasm seized him, a contraction
OF the hip and abdominal muscles, and
he fell almost unconscious. Three days
and three nights he suffered. Then he
remembered that the little black flee,
supposedly mad. had bitten him and he
gave himself up for lost. He was going
TO die of hydrophobia!
Wanted to Kill Himself
Twice" says MIR. Church, Il slipped
out in my backyard to shoot myself,
when l thought the last agonies were
coming on. 1 had heard that 1 might get
dangerous, too. / had a wife and three
children, and l was afraid 1 might bite
them or hurt them in some way. l want
ed to kill myself in time"
But a new attending physician was
called in. There's no such thing as hy-
drophobia," the new doctor pbooh-poohed.
Anyway, if the dogs teeth held poison
on them, it would have been wiped off
! when he bit you through your clothes"
THAT was the first encouragement I
| received says Mr.. Church. Instantly
the suggestion had it's effect on me.
There was hope. The mental change af-
| fected my physical body. 1t took a firm
| grip on myself, and got over my nervous
dread. Soon / was well.
But for twelve months or more after
that" he adds, II could not even see the
word 'hydrophobia' in print without ex-
| periencing a nervous shock. l would
| throw the paper or book, or whatever 1t
! was. away from me as though it were a
snake, and / would be quivering like a
| leaf.
"Hydrophobia, as they call it, is all in
| the imagination. l ought to know that
I was bitten, and got over it, without
| any injection for rabies.
A Form of Tetanus
But there is such a thing as tetanus,
| or lockjaw. and the so-called hydropho-
| bit is a form of it. Both are caused by
| a puncture wound. A dogs tooth or a nail
leave a deep puncture wound that is un-
healthy because it heals outside first and
leaves the inside to tester. A cats bite
| is for that reason worse than a dogs.
And a flee dogs bite is worse, too, than
a bull dogs bite because the latter has
| hao via he
he's torn loose. Therefore, he leaves a
larger and more open wound.
But my own experience proves what
1 say. 1 had lockjaw. Certain symp-
toms developed. l was bitten by dog
| Certain symptoms almost exactly similar
to those of the rusty nails puncture de-
veloped. They were both lockjaw
| "Pasteur discovered" continues Mr..
Church. that there is a germ in the SAIL
va Of the so-called mad dog. An italian
| has since identified what are now known
/ as the negri bodies. They are consid-
cred the causative agents of the disease.
| They are found in the madula oblongata,
the base of the brain of the dog or other
animal That is where the doctors make
their diagnosis. Where Pasteurs theory
is disputed as to the germs being on the
dogs teeth, the negri bodies are accept
| ed as diagnosis. They are injected into
guinea pigs or rabbits Cthe most suscepti-
BILE animals known and if the pig or
rabbit dies the dog had rabies.
Germs of LOckjaw
IT accept part of that and dispute part
| of it. Why do they get their injections
from the base of the dogs brain instead
of from his teeth? Because there are no
germs on his teeth. It's the germs or
| lockjaw they find in his brain, and its
| lockjaw that the man he bites with his
| little puncturing teeth gets If he gets
| anything at all.
! Horses and sheep have tetanus, and
| them. The wounds that cause 1t in them
should b except open and poulticed.
| 1.-The word 'hydrophobia' means fear
OF water 1t must apply to one of mans
| five senses. If it is the sight of water
that causes it, blind man couldn't show
the symptoms.
| 1.-The thought of swallowing brings some
voluntary muscles into play. 1t is
| this thought, and not the mere sight of
| water of water, that causes the contrac-
tons of the jaw muscles and the con-
vulsions that follow when a human or
| an animal has what the physicians call
| hydrophobia but what is really nothing
more nor less than tetanus.
Fifty years ago this disease was treat
ed with a vapor bath. The Arabs had the
same treatment centuries ago.
A nail wound Is to be treated the
| same as a dog bite, and vice versa
Draw the poison out and keep the wound
| open on the surface till it heals inside,
and there won't be any bad results"
/