653 



carefully as possible in one piece, immersed in two or three times its 

 volume of pure neutral glycerin, and sent in this manner. In large 

 animals one cerebral hemisphere and the medulla are sufficient. In 

 some cases even with this method the Negri bodies can be demon- 

 strated in the large nerve cells of the hippocampus major, and thus 

 a diagnosis can be made in a few hours without waiting for the rab- 

 bits to develop the disease, which requires from two to three weeks. 

 It must be remembered, however, that to get the best results with 

 the rapid methods of diagnosis it is essential that the animal be al- 

 lowed to die naturally from the disease or that it be destroyed only 

 after symptoms are well advanced. When the animal is killed in 

 the early stages the changes in the nervous system have frequently 

 not developed sufficiently to be recognized. 



THE PASTEUR TREATMENT AND ITS RESULTS. 



The preventive treatment of rabies devised and perfected by 

 Pasteur has done much to strip this dread disease of its mortality 

 among human beings. It was first advocated iby Pasteur in 1885 

 after thorough experimentation on the lower animals. In 1886 the 

 original Pasteur Institute was opened in Paris. The first Pasteur 

 Institute in the United States was opened in New York 'City in 1890, 

 and was followed by a similar institution in Chicago in July of the 

 same year. 



The frequency of the disease throughout the country and the 

 number of people consequently applying for treatment has led to the 

 foundation of a number of Pasteur institutes. Besides those already 

 mentioned there are others at Pittsburg, Ann Arbor, St. Paul, New- 

 Orleans, St. Louis, Houston, Baltimore, Richmond, and Atlanta. 



METHOD OF THE PASTEUR TREATMENT. 



The principle on which the treatment is based consists in the 

 production of an active immunity by means of repeated injections 

 with an emulsion of spinal cords of rabbits dead from inoculation 

 with fixed virus, which cords have 'been attenuated to various degrees 

 by drying. 



Rabbits inoculated with fixed virus die in from six to seven 

 days. Their spinal cords are removed aseptically and dried in bell 

 jars over sodium hydrate. Fifteen days of such drying renders the 

 cord harmless, and such a cord is emulsified with normal salt solu- 

 tion and 2 or 3 c.c. of the emulsion is injected beneath the skin, 

 constituting the first inoculation. Cords dried fourteen, thirteen, 

 twelve, eleven, ten days, etc., are used for the subsequent injections, 

 until finally an emulsion of a cord dried only three days, which con- 

 tains practically all its virulence, is injected. The injections are made 

 daily for a period covering fifteen to twenty-one days. The cost of 

 the treatment is from $100 to $150 including board and room at the 

 institute. The New York board of health has on several occasions 

 prepared the material and sent the requisite dose each day by mail to 

 physicians and veterinarians in other cities at the rate of $25 for each 

 course of treatment. 



The treatment is not harmful except for the slight pain caused 

 by the hypodermic injections. Patients are not required to remain 



