July 7, 1887] 



NATURE 



235 



dogs from countries in which rabies is prevalent should be for- 

 bidden or subject to quarantine ; (4) that, in districts or countries 

 in which rabies is prevalent, the use of muzzles should be com- 

 pulsory, and dogs out of doors, if not muzzled or led, should be 

 taken by the police as "suspected." An exception might be 

 made for sheep-dogs and others while actually engaged in the 

 purposes for which they are kept. 



There are examples sufficient to prove that, by these or similir 

 regulations, rabies, and consequently hydrophobia, would be in 

 this country " stamped out," or reduced to an amount very far 

 less than has hitherto been known. 



If it be not thus reduced it may be deemed certain that a 

 large number of persons will every year require treatment by 

 the method of M. Pasteur. The average annual number of 

 deaths from hydrophobia, during the ten years ending 1885, was, 

 in all England, 43 ; in London alone, 8 '5. If, as in the estimates 

 used for judging the utility of that method of treatment, these 

 numbers are taken as representing only 5 per cent, of the persons 

 bitten, the preventive treatment will be required for 860 persons 

 in all England ; f )r 170 in London alone. For it will not be 

 possible to say which among the whole number bitten are not in 

 danger of hydrophobia, and the methods of prevention by 

 cautery, excision, or other treatment, cannot be depended on. 



We have the honour to be, 

 Sir, 

 Your obedient Servants, 



(Signed) James Paget, Chairman, 



T. Lauder Brunton, 

 George Fleming, 

 Joseph Lister, 

 Richard Quain, 

 Henry E. Roscoe, 

 J. BuRDON Sanderson. 



Victor Horst.ey, Secretary, June 1887. 



The Report is followed by appendices, two of which we 

 reprint : — 



Abstract Report of Mr. Horsle/s Experiments. 



The first object of the experiments was to test M. Pasteur's 

 method of transmitting rabies by inoculation, and to compare its 

 effects with those of rabies due to the bites of dogs found rabid 

 in the streets.^ 



Through the kindness of M. Pasteur, two rabbits inoculated 

 by him were placed at the disposal of the Committee on May 5, 

 1886, and were conveyed within 24 hours safely to the Brown 

 Institution, where the e;':periments were carried out by Mr. 

 Horsley. 



In these two rabbits the first symptoms of rabies appeared on 

 May II and 12, and the disease followed exactly the course 

 described by M. Pasteur. 



At first the animals appeared dull, but continued to take food 

 readily until symptoms of paralysis appeared. The first of these 

 symptoms was commencing paralysis of motion of the hind-legs, 

 not accompanied by any loss of sensibility. The paralysis soon 

 extended to the muscles of the fore-legs, and later to those of 

 the head, and the animals died comatose. 



After post- mortem examination, portions of the sjjinal cord of 

 each of these rabbits were crushed, according to M. Pasteur's 

 method, in sterilized broth, an 1 the liquid so obtained was 

 injected beneath the dura mater into four rabbits and the same 

 number of do;^s, all being first rendered insensible with chloro- 

 form or ether. ^ 



Of the four rabbits so inoculated, the first two showed the 

 first symptoms seven days after th-: inoculation ; the third and 

 fourth on the sixth day. The symptoms as well as the incuba- 

 tion period exhibited by these rabbits were exactly the same as 

 were observed in those brought from M. Pasteur's laboratory. 

 Careful notes and photographs were taken in the case of all the 

 animals, in order that the constant and specific nature of the 

 disease might be demonstrated by observations during life and 

 after death. It was also observed that during the incubation 

 period the temperature of the body remained normal, th U is, 



' This expression is adopted from that usual in France, " ra^e des 

 nics " 



^ All the experinent! performeJ in this inquiry were thus made 

 pa'niess. 



about 39° 4 C. With the first definite symptom the tempera- 

 ture rose to about 40° '4 C, which is the temperature usually 

 observed during the first day of the obvious illness. By the next 

 day it began to fall, and on the third day after the appearance 

 of the first symptom it averaged 37°*5 C. On the last day it 

 was always below normal, and on one occasion fell before death 

 to 24° C. The animals did not appear to suffer any pain what- 

 ever in the course of the disease. They were free from the 

 spasms which, in the earlier stages of the malady in man, form 

 so painful a feature of the disease, and indeed the disease in 

 them resembled throughout that rapidly fatal, but painless, 

 disease of man known as acute ascending paralysis. 



The post- mortem appearances in the rabbits were remarkably 

 uniform. As a rule nothing abnormal, save congestion, jiresented 

 itself either in the brain, spinal cord, heart, blood-vessels, or 

 serous membranes. The larynx, pharynx, and, more especially, 

 the epiglottis, and the root of the tongue, were frequently 

 intensely congested. The lungs showed almost invariably capil- 

 lary congestion ; and sometimes small patches resembling 

 broncho-pneumonia were observed. The mucous membrane of 

 the stomach was very markedly congested, and there were at its 

 cardiac extremity numerous haemorrhages.^ The constancy of 

 these appeal ances was most remarkable, and corresponded in 

 every particular with those subsequently observed in rabbits 

 which had died of rabies from the bite of rabid dogs. 



Of the four dogs inoculated, the first showed on the eighth 

 day after inoculation an alteration in the voice and commencing 

 excitement ; on the following day the excitement became ex- 

 cessive, and the bark was quite characteristic ; on the eleventh 

 day the do^ was aggressive, notwithstanding slight paralysis of 

 the legs ; on the twelfth day the paralysis had increased, and on 

 the next day there was complete paralysis and coma, and death 

 occurred on the fifth day after the onset of the symptoms. 



The second dog showed the first symptom on the ninth day 

 after inoculation, when it was very dull and partially paralyzed ; 

 its bark was characteristic. Next day the paralysis was almost 

 complete, and on the twelfth day the animal died. This was 

 I therefore a case of the rapid paralytic form ; whilst in the first 

 dog the disease was of the ordinary furious form of rabies 

 terminating in paralysis. 



The third dog showed the first symptom on the ninth day after 

 inoculation, and from that time became gradually paralyzed, and 

 died on the sixteenth day. 



The fourth dog showed the first symptom in from eight to nine 

 days after inoculation, and during the first day was extremely 

 aggressive ; on the two following days the characteristic bark 

 was observed ; and on the twelfth day there was paralysis of the 

 hind-legs ; it died on the thirteenth day. Thus the furious form 

 and the paralytic or dumb form of r.ibies were represented in 

 equal numbers, whereas, in the usual mode of infection by 

 biting, the former is more prevalent. 



The post-mortem appearances were as follows : — The brain 

 and central nervous system were in some of the dogs the seat of 

 considerable congestion ; in others these organs appeared normal. 

 The serous membranes were perfectly normal ; the larynx 

 especially, and sometimes the phjirynx, were conge-ted ; the 

 lungs always congested, especially in the lower lobes ; the heart 

 normal ; the blood usually fluid, occasionally with post-mortem 

 clots ; the stomach was always found to contain foreign ^^odies, 

 such as straw ; and its mucous membrane was congested, 

 frequently showing numerous hcemorrhages ; the small intestine 

 was always empty, and the large glandular oi^ans shDwed venous 

 congestion. 



For the purpose of exact comparison of the disease just 

 described with that produced when rabies is communicated to 

 the rabbit in the ordinary way, some rabbits previously nar- 

 cotized with ether were caused to be bitten by rabid dogs of the 

 streets, or were inoculated by trephining with material obtained 

 from the spinal cord of dogs or other animals which had died of 

 rabies, and in one instance from that of a man who had died 

 with hydrophobia. 



Four series of experiments of observations in which rabbits 

 were bitten by rabid dogs from the streets were made. In one 

 of them the dog by which the rabbit was bitten exhibited the 

 dumb fo m, in others the furious form, of the disease. In each 

 series excepting the first a large proportion of the rabbits died ;. 

 the symptoms presenting themselves in these cases were identical 

 with those observed in the rabbits inoculated from M. Pasteur's 

 virus, but the duration of the symptoms was usually longer. As 

 ' In some, signs of po".'. -mortem digestijn were found. 



