636 PROTOZOA 



of which is more active and the lesions made more severe than that of 

 the rabid dog of the streets. In these latter cases the injections which, 

 in the simple treatment, are spread over five days are made in three 

 days; then, on the fourteenth day, a fresh series of injections, or, rather 

 repetitions, is begun, which lasts until the twenty-first day. This is 

 the " intensive method." In the technique of the treatment, which is the 

 same in both methods, a small portion (about 1 cm.) of the desiccated 

 cord is rubbed up thoroughly with about four or five times its bulk of 

 bouillon until a complete emulsion is made; this is then injected by 

 means of a syringe holding several cubic centimetres, first on one side 

 of the hypochondriac region and then, the following day, on the other, 

 and so on alternately, to avoid irritation. With the observance of 

 thorough asepsis no local reaction to speak of takes place, nor are 

 abscesses ever formed. The results of Pasteur's .method of protective 

 inoculation, as recorded in the reports issued in the Annales de I'lnstitut 

 Pasteur and those of other antirabic institutes in Italy, Russia, Rou- 

 mania, etc., are very favorable. Since 1886, when the treatment was 

 first commenced at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, upward of 20,000 

 persons bitten by rabid, or presumably rabid, animals have received 

 preventive inoculations, with a mortality of only 0.5 of 1 per cent. 

 The mortality of those bitten on the face or head was 1.25 per cent, of 

 those bitten on the hand; it was 0.75 of 1 percent, of those bitten on 

 other parts of the body, a little over 0.25 of 1 per cent. As a rule, only 

 those persons are treated who have been bitten on the face or hand 

 or whose clothes have been lacerated so that the virus has passed into 

 the wounds. Ordinarily, a certificate from a physician or a veterinarian 

 that the animal was rabid is required before vaccination; but if the 

 animal cannot be found or the wounds are severe, vaccination is per- 

 formed without it. Taking only the cases in which rabies has been 

 confirmed in the animal by a veterinary surgeon, the mortality of the 

 cases treated at the Pasteur Institute in Paris is only 0.6 per cent. a 

 proof, it would seem, of the trustworthiness of the statistics. In view 

 of this fact there can no longer be any doubt of the value of Pasteur's 

 antirabic treatment. It has been stated by some that the percentage 

 of persons killed by the bites of rabid animals is inconsiderable; but 

 according to the reliable statistics of Leblanc, from 1878 to 1883, out 

 of 515 persons bitten in Paris, 83 died of hydrophobia, a mortality of 

 16 per cent.; most authorities place the mortality at a much higher 

 figure. Extensive bites on the face and head are considered to be par- 

 ticularly dangerous; the mortality of these is said to be at least 80 

 per cent. The bites of wolves seem to be more fatal than the bites 

 of dogs or other animals; the mortality of these, in spite of the most 

 intensive treatment, is stated to be still 10 per cent., as against a 

 previous mortality, without specific treatment, of 40 to 60 per cent. 

 But even Pasteur's antirabic treatment appears to be unavailable 

 when symptoms of the disease have manifested themselves. Our 

 results in the New York Department of Health have been very en- 

 couraging. 



