202 HYDROPHOBIA 



THE LAST GREAT CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA. 



The man who wrote the following, that I found in a magazine called 

 "Everything," and I wish I knew the author's name, so as to credit him 

 properly, (and also to shake his hand, has a great brain, and full of com- 

 mon sense), so here's the article, well worth reading: 



"For one time in six thousand years as far as history records one 

 man suffered death from hydrophobia caused by a dog licking his hand. 

 That is the story sent out and that is the story that has caused the world 

 to talk and inspired newspapers to write terrible head lines about what to 

 expect next. We do not believe that any man ever died from hydrophobia 

 caused by a dog licking his hand. In truth, outside of those who make 

 their money in that way there is grave doubt as to whether there is any 

 such thing as hydrophobia outside the patient's mind. If a man can be 

 hypnotized by another man and made to think that he is a dog; and bark 

 and howl; or be made to think he is a millionaire or a dancing master, as 

 people have been hypnotized, then a man can hypnotize himself, if he has 

 the power of hypnotism, and it is not a far cry to believe that a man who 

 has been bitten or a man who never saw a dog can hypnotize himself and 

 make believe that he has rabies, so-called and so defined; and die in the 

 throes of agony. 



In a recent number of Dumb Animals, that sterling paper published 

 by George T. Angel, a writer in some other newspaper was copied. His 

 name was J. M. Greene, and his article was addressed to The Editor of the 

 Tribune and is worth reading. We do not know anything about the Pasteur 

 Institute he describes, but we do know that hydrophobia is essentially ex- 

 aggerated. Mr. Greene said: 



"Much has been written lately in the press regarding the great dan- 

 ger from the prevalence of 'hydrophobia' in New York city and elsewhere, 

 and much more of the same terror will doubtless be written before the 

 season is far advanced. Will you allow me a brief space for a few ideas 

 on this subject? 



"In the first place, if there be any one point absolutely certain and 

 established, it is that the danger of getting the above disease has been 

 greatly exaggerted, and that the great majority of alleged cases, of not 

 only 'hydrophobia' in man, but also 'rabies' in the dog, have been cases of 

 some other disease. It is also easy to see whence comes the influence 

 causing this dread and delusion. The year following the opening of the 

 first 'Pasteur Institute' in Paris, in 1885, the number of 'hydrophobia' pa- 

 tients treated in that city leaped to three thousand; previous to that, Paris 

 could boast of only about thirty 'cases' a year! True 'hydrophobia' is a 

 disease so rare that it is not considered worth mentioning in mortality re- 

 ports. Well known medical investigators who have been searching for 

 many years for authentic cases have failed to find one. Such are Dr. 

 Lutaud, of Paris; Dr. Bell-Taylor, of England; Dr. Charles W. Dulles, of 

 Philadelphia; Dr. E. C. Spitzke, of New York; Professor J. W. Hearn, 

 of Philadelphia; Dr. Hiram Corson and Dr. Thomas Mayo. It is a notor- 

 ious fact that, all over the world, societies and institutes that have the 

 handling of thousands of vicious dogs, frequently biting their keepers, 

 never hear of the disease. 



"But spurious cases, caused by nervous dread, are common. As in 

 the case of Mme. Chevalier, of Paris, instances have occurred from 'sug- 

 gestion' alone, where the patient has not been bitten at all! Such cases, it is 

 no injustice to say, are the product of the morbid fear disseminated and 

 fostered by 'Pasteur Institutes.' These concerns do a great business 

 throughout the world. But on what basis? I have before me a record, 

 carefully revised from year to year, which shows that up to January 

 1st of the present year 1,857 deaths from 'hydrophobia' have occurred 

 among patients who have undergone the 'Pasteur treatment' according 

 to directions, in many of which cases the animals which did the biting 

 remained alive and well! In this record names, dates, and other particu- 

 lars are given. 



