HYDROPHOBIA. 179 



Paul Gibier, doubtless is in dispensing the ridiculous treatment," isaid Prof. Spitzka. 

 "I am willing to stake my reputation that there is no tfuch disease as 'hydro- 

 phobia,' or 'rabies,' in existence, and I am further Impressed that the Pasteur iocu- 

 lations are injurious. This is not merely my opinion. I have a practial explana- 

 tion for every statement I make, and have carefully weighed every possible opposi- 

 tion to my conclusions for parallel consideration. 



'I am accordingly prepared to answer any criticism. Of course, the strongest 

 retaliation I shall receive will be the broad charge that I am following in the foot- 

 steps of the narrow-minded opposers of the wonderful Jenner smallpox vaccination 

 discovery, on which the Pasteur treatment hinges its practabllity. As to this most 

 eminent charge there is no connection between the two treatments. For while 

 every one acknowledges the existence of the dreadful smallpox, the existence of 

 hydrophobia, or rabies, has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. I have not my- 

 self nor has any other expert investigator been able to distinctly diagnose a sin- 

 gle case of the so-called malady, to my knowledge. I Tiave often witnessed the 

 symptoms, commonly termed 'rabies/ but in every instance these exciting observa- 

 tions have been plainly nothing more than tetanus symptoms of acute fevers and 

 the many forms of deadly blood poisoning. 



"The water theory is too absurd and ridiculous to have any significance. There 

 is not an authority to be found for its assumption. It is yet to be explained how 

 water could possibly have such an effect, while all the knowledge modern science 

 has amassed goes to provide the belief merely an antiquated superstition, to which 

 some people still din:;. 



"When Pasteur's boom was exploded, and the public went wild with enthusiasm 

 over it, along with the great majority of scientific men, I was also taken in by the 

 contagion. At the time I was impressed that with the increasing knowledge gained 

 in the field of contagious and epidemic diseases generally, much substantial advance 

 has not been recorded in the history of the mysterious rabies, but realizing that this 

 was not due to neglect of the subject, I was not surprised at the birth of the Pas- 

 teur theory. 



"Owing to the terrible nature of the symptoms attributed to this unfounded 

 malady, an attractive field of research has been open to those animated by an ear- 

 nest desire to prevent and relieve human sufferings from the time of the earliest 

 civilization. The symptoms are described in the works of Horace, Aristotle, Virgil 

 and Plutarch, in a manner which shows that while the world has advanced in all 

 other lines of medical science it is pitifully behind the date in clinging to this relic 

 of the queer superstition of ancient times. 



"Pasteur was fascinated or shall I say hypnotized? by the sensationalism and 

 mystery of the belief. It is most likely due to the latter element that the universe 

 ha? not become emancipated from such superstitions as are involved in the 'rabies' 

 or hydrophobia hoax, which really belong to medieval history. 



"Take a practical, up-to-date view of the matter. All epidemic disorders should 

 be accompanied with evidences approaching in exactitude, at least, a degree of 

 mathematical proof. 'Rabies' has not, while all others have. The symptoms ob- 

 served during life, as well as the signs found in the dead body, in such diseases as 

 smallpox, typhus fever and cholera, for instance, are characteristic, decisive and 

 constant. The symptoms in 'rabies' in man are extremely vague, conflicting and 

 inconsistent, and, furthermore, post-mortem study in man, as well as in canine, has 

 yielded no result of other than negative value. 



"Much of the observation made of queer-acting dogs is made through optics 

 disturbed by fear, and by persons who are incompetent to judge what they see, 



