Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-14

appears perfectly normal: but e the
mouth happens to be red, hethinks there
is no danger from the bite. This Is en-
tirely erroneous. The black color 10 due
to a normal deposit OF pigment In the
mucous membrane Of the mouth. It 10
present In q certain percentage OF all
dogs and hassno connection with rabies!S
But what are the true signs OF ny.
drophobia which you have to look~out1oS
In dog. you are wondering. DR.. Hars
sums them up in these few words:
THE important symptoms. any one~of
which when well marked should render
the dog suspicious and lead to it's being
confined, are: Change in disposition, al
teration of voice. inability to swallow,
leaving home and returning In an ex-
hausted and emaciated condition, paral-
sis of the jaw: swallowing abnormal sub
stances as wood. stones, ETC..
most complete laboratory for dfagnos-
ing rabies in suspected animals IS part
of the equipment of the bureau of animal
industry Many heads of suspects are
here received from veterinarians and ply
sicians each year. and as soon as one ar
rives at the laboratory parts of the brain
are removed and examined under the
microscope for certain little spots or
bodies discovered nine years ago by Prof.
Negri of the Italian University of Pavia
to be present in the nerve cells OF the
brains of rabid animals. They have since
been discovered in from 90 to 9S per cent
of all established cases of rabies that
have been investigated. At the same
time the old test. that OF inoculatfng
rabbits with tissue from the suspected
brain, is made. The newer test is. how
ever, the surer and quicker. giving an
absolute diagnosis within a few hours.
whereas that with the rabbits requires
ten or twelve days and is valuable only
as check upon the other process
Of he Nc xV
test was thus described by DR.. schroe-
der:
<
a number of years ago a local phys1-
clan informed me by telephone that he
had under treatment an elderly woman
because she had been severely bitten by
her pet dog, which had suddenly and
without apparent cause become so surly.
morose and irritable that II was neces-
sary to kill it, l told the physician to
send the dogs body to me SO that could
obtain material from it to make a test in
oculation for rabies The body was sent.
and / took out the brain and used small
portions of 1t to inoculate two rabbits.
The rabbits became affected with typical
rabies and died on the seventeenth day
after incubation. When / called up the
physician to inform him that the diagno-
him to send his patient to a Pasteur in
stitute for treatment as soon as possible,
he told me in a very irascble manner
that he did not need my information and
that his patient was beyond Pasteur and
all other treatment: that she had died OF
rabies four days earlier than my test rab-
bits. and that she had suffered agonies
such as he hoped never to witness again.
THE woman died on the thirteenth or
fourteenth day after she was bitten: the
bites were inflicted on her face. neck and
arms. Had the bodies of Negn been
known then as they are known now, 1t
could have been determined on the same
day the dog was killed that he was affect
ed with rabies, and his mistress would
have resorted to Pasteur treatment with
out loss of time and would thus have es-
capped a terrible DEATH
Speedy recourse to the Pasteur treat
ment. first advocated by the great French
bacteriologist OF that name in 1855 is
recommended by the bureaus specialists
to all victims OF animals found by their
laboratory tests to have been rabid. One
of the accompanying photographs shows
a patient receiving the treatment. II has
been furnished to me by a well known
bacteriologist, regularly engaged In this
work.
copyright. 1912. by John Elfreth watkinsl