The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-31
DOCTORS DEFEND
 MUzzL|NG LAW Interesting Letter from Dr.
 Mason on Rabies ENGLAND AS AN EXAMPLE MuzzIne Law In That Country Has Had Remarkable Effect In Reduc- Ing Deaths Per Year From
 Hydrophobia.
ENGLAND AS AN EXAMPLE

John Bratton published an open letter taking the Jefferson County Medical so- ciety, which is the official board of health of the county, sharply to task for indors- Ing resolution introduced by the city health officer having for its object the muzzling of dogs to prevent the spread of rabies among these animals. as well as to the infection of human beings.
 A few days after the appearance of the letter another of similar import from the same author appeared In the Birmingham News.
 It Is difficult to gather from these let ters whether the author intends to deny the existence of rabies as true disease or whether his contention is that 1t is an exceedingly rare disease. In one place he says, While pseudo-hy ydrophobia or lys- sophobia, may be of frequent occurrence, the real disease, according to the greatest authorities on the subject, is exception ally rare; in fact, is not in any true sense a disease"
 In another part of his letter he says, "The Philadelphia Public Ledger of May 9, 1908, had an article in which hydro phobia was discussed by the most eminent specialists of the country. They are unan- imous in saying that hydrophobia Is so rare that few physicians have ever seen real case.'
 He quotes, without references as to time or place of the writings or utterances from Dr. Charles W. Dulles of the Uni versity of Pennsylvania, "the best-known neurologist in the country" Dr. Matthew Woods of Philadelphia and Dr. Henry ". Cattell.
 To the first of these he attributes the statement that the so-called hydrophobia is nothing but convulsions psychosis, or extreme nervous excitability." To pr. Woods he attributes the offer, In public lecture, of $1OO to any person who would bring to him an undoubted case of hy- drophobia-an offer, the impracticability of accepting which, even if the disease were very common, would insure the safe- ty of his money.
 To Dr. Cattell he attributes the state- ment that "his Investigations led him to belief most of the cases reported were un- true"
 He also refers to pr. William Osler, in his Standard Work of Pathology" and quotes him as follows on pseudo-hydro- phobia Tt is interesting affection which may closely resemble hydfphobia but is really nothing more than neu- rotic manipulation It lasts much longer than the true rabies, and is amenable to treatment. It is due to a nervous person bitten by dog and who has only symp- toms of the disease" He further quotes Dr. Osler as stating "That the disease is of rare occurrence"
 For himself he says, "How the Jefferson County Medical society adopted such res olutions is more than I can understand" ]" He asks where pr. Hardness gets his fig ures, and in what three years was the English muzzling ordinance in abeyance, and closes his Age-Herald communication with the following sentence;
 "In view of these facts I trust the au- thorities will not heed the resolutions of the medical society, but will leave things as they are"
 Now, Mir Editor, 1t would take time to locate and examine critically the full utterances of all the writers who have been quoted by your correspondent, es- pecially as he has cited no references in many instances.
 Some of the statements which we can follow up, however show such glaring in- accuracies, and such of his quotations as We can reach in the original are so mex act, as well as unfair in their limitations, to an unbiased discussion of the real mer- it's of the hydrophobia question, that one may draw his own conclusions as to the real value of the facts" which your cor respondent has presented.
 Dr. William Osler, one of the best known medical writers In the world, is the author of a text book on the practice of medicine, and of a more recent sys- tenn of medicine In five volumes, known as "osler's Modern Medicine" He has written many monographs on medical subjects, but Is not insofar as I have ever known or been able to find out, the author of any Standard Work on Pathol- ogy."
 Again, Dr. Charles w. Dulles, "of the University of Pennsylvania, whom your correspondent has referred to as the 'best known neurologist in the country is not, so far as I can learn by inquiry among the graduates of the University of Penn sylvania, practicing medicine in this city, a neurologist at all.
 From the term "of the University of Pennsylvania in the connection in which your correspondent uses it one would in fer that his teaching connection with that institution was important, but on re- ferring to the register of the university for 19O9-1o, which is just out, his name does not appear at all on the list of pro- fessors, associate professors, assistants. demonstrators or lecturers. The name of one Dulles appears on one lecture sched- ule as giving one lecture week after F ebruary 1 on medical history.
 The reader should not confuse the dis ease hydrophobia, also known as lyssa or rabies, with the spurious, hysterical imi- tation known as pseudo-hydrophoba or lyssophobia. Hysterical persons mani fest symptoms of many organic diseases. so 1t is found that hydrophobia is often initiated by the nervous and excitable if they have been exposed to real or fam cied infection with hydrophobia.
 To fairly discuss this subject Osler should be quoted more fully and he should be quoted on the true disease as we'll as on the hysterical do-hydrophobia.