398 



HYDROPHOBIA. 



IDAHO. 



the year only from 60 to 85 Fahr. The nights 

 are cool, the water is excellent, and the mineral 

 district presents the anomaly of a mining camp 

 surrounded by the intelligence, refinement, and 

 culture of the best citizens of the country. 

 These mines have been worked for the past 

 150 years in the old, rude Spanish way. The 

 native reduction-works have a capacity of about 

 fifteen tons a day, and are kept running to 

 their full extent. 



New York capitalists have formed compa- 

 nies to work mines in this district, and are 

 sending on large plants of machinery, with 

 engineers and men. Among the historical mines 

 controlled by these companies are the Quema- 

 sones, the Guayabilla, Sacramento, Flores, Ta- 

 niagas, California, and Santa Elena. 



Commerce. The imports during late years 

 have averaged $1,500,000 per annum, and the 

 exports $1,600,000. The latter embrace $600,- 

 000 of bullion, $200,000 worth of indigo, $150,- 

 000 of cattle, $180,000 cabinet and dye woods, 

 and $100,000 of hides and skins. 



HUNGARY. See AUSTRIA- HUNGARY. 



HYDROPHOBIA. This terrible and mysteri- 

 ous malady has hitherto been little understood 

 by physicians, and when fully developed it has 

 been impossible to arrest its course. Several 

 theories have been advanced as to the cause of 

 the disease. Pasteur believes that he has dis- 

 covered certain micro-organisms that are the 

 essential virus of rabies. Koch is equally con- 

 fident that these parasites, though undoubtedly 

 present, have nothing to do with -the peculiar 

 phenomena. The ingenious idea has been ad- 

 vanced that small blisters or " byssi " appear 

 beneath the tongue in one to three weeks after 

 the bite is received, and that these blisters, in 

 some mysterious way, stand in the relation of 

 cause and effect to the hydrophobic manifesta- 

 tions. In accordance with this theory, it has 

 been claimed on very good authority that the 

 disease has been warded off by promptly cau- 

 terizing these vesicles. Even the distinguished 

 French physician Trousseau lends his support 

 to this practice. But by far the most impor- 

 tant observations with regard to this fatal mal- 

 ady have been recently reported by M. Pasteur, 

 whose name is so famous in connection with 

 the germ-theory of disease. He has been en- 



gaged for four years in making experiments 

 with the virus of hydrophobia, and the an- 

 nouncement of his results has created a pro- 

 found impression upon the scientific world. 

 His deductions are briefly these: 



1. The poison of hydrophobia, if transmitted 

 from a dog to a monkey, and then from monk- 

 ey to monkey, loses some of its power with 

 each fresh inoculation. The poison never ac- 

 quires the same virulence that it had at first 



2. When transmitted to successive animals 

 of the same kind, the virus gains in power. 



3. Virus that has once been diminished by 

 passing through animals of different kinds can 

 again be increased in activity by being trans- 

 mitted to animals of the same kind. 



The importance of these experiments will be 

 appreciated when we hear that M. Pasteur be- 

 lieves he has at last discovered a cure for hy- 

 drophobia. He says, u Thanks to the length 

 of the period of incubation of rabies, when 

 communicated by the bite of a rabid animal, 

 I have reason to believe that we can with 

 certainty produce a condition of insuscepti- 

 bility in those who are bitten before the fatal 

 malady is due." The distinguished savant has 

 not made this confident assertion without hav- 

 ing a strong basis of fact upon which to sup- 

 port it. He is well known to be an accurate 

 and painstaking observer, and statements that 

 might sound chimerical when proceeding from 

 a lesser man deserve careful consideration when 

 they are made by him. 



M. Pasteur himself is far from being pre- 

 pared to put his theory to the test by inocu- 

 lating a human being with the virus of hydro- 

 phobia ; he thinks that many additional experi- 

 ments must be performed upon animals before 

 he will be justified in venturing upon this step. 

 But his statements have received ample con- 

 firmation. The committee appointed by the In- 

 ternational Medical Congress to test the value 

 of the communications that he made to that 

 body have already reported upon their first se- 

 ries of experiments. Forty-three dogs were 

 selected, nineteen of which were inoculated 

 with the virus of rabies. All of the animals 

 were then exposed to the bites of rabid dogs ; 

 the nineteen vaccinated animals alone escaped, 

 the others being attacked with hydrophobia. 



IDAHO. Territorial Government. The follow- 

 ing were the Territorial officers during the 

 year : Governor, John N". Irwin, succeeded bj 

 William M. Bunn; Secretary, Edward L. Cur- 

 tis ; Comptroller and Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction, James L. Ondcrdonk; Treas- 

 urer, John Huntoon; Chief-Justice of Supreme 

 Court, John T. Morgan; Associate Justices, 

 Norman Buck and Henry E. Prickett. 



Bonds due Dec. 1, 18S5 $22.55355 



Bonds due Dec. 1, 1S91 46.715 ('5 



Total $69.265 60 



To offset this there is cash on hand 65,537 91 



This result has been achieved under a reduc- 

 tion in the tax rate of from 75 cents to 40 cents 

 on the $100 within the past three years, and 

 from 40 cents to 25 cents during the past year, 

 and during that time, owing to the increase of 



Financial. The Territory is practically free population, a heavier drain'by the prison, care 



from debt, having a funded indebtedness of of indigent sick and insane, etc., the current ex- 



$69,268.60, which is represented and to be pensesof the Territory have more than doubled, 



paid as follows: There is due from the counties, on the Territo- 



