HYDROPHOBIA. 187 



system as the "inoculating usually wholly uncontaminated human beings with the 

 most terrible virus known to science to-wit, that of hydrophobia." 



"The Pasteur advocates admit that only from 5 to 10 per cent of persons bitten 

 by a rabid animal ever have hydrophobia, with no treatment whatever. The writer 

 of this article has been bitten several times, and would never allow the wound to 

 be cauterized. 



"Even if there be such a disease as hydrophobia in man, which iis probably 

 blood poisoning (a thorn of a rose, the prick of a pin, the scratch of a baby's 

 linger nail, the point of a lead pencil stuck behind the ear, the cut on the neck of a 

 stiff linen collar have all produced blood poisoning), and if there be such a dis- 

 ease as rabies in a dog, which is probably distemper or epilepsy, it does not seem 

 to be found among the homeless or unlicensed dogs, or those that roam the streets, 

 which are the ones killed from the cruel supposition that they especially are dan- 

 gerous. 



"Dr. Matthew Woods, of Philadelphia, says: 'At the Philadelphia dog pound, 

 where, on an average, over 6,000 vagrant dogs are taken up annually, and where 

 the catchers and helpers are frequently bitten, not one case of hydrophobia has 

 occurred during its entire history of 25 years, in which time 150,000 dogs have 

 been handled.' 



"At the dog shelter in New York City the Superintendent told me he had been 

 bitten over a hundred times and paid no attention to it whatever. In killing 50,000 

 unlicensed dogs each year, to the great shame of an indifferent money-getting 

 city, New York has not found one case of rabies. London, Eng., kills nearly the 

 same number, arid has not seen a case among its unlicensed dogs. Among the 

 thousands of dogs killed after the brutal muzzling order in Washington, D. C., last 

 year not one case of rabies was found. Let the poor people keep dogs. They are 

 good companions for their children, and do not lead to the workhouse or the jail. 

 They are the best guard for our houses where there are no police; indeed cheaper 

 than policemen, and usually more easily found when wanted. We spend money to 

 give playgrounds and entertainments for children, and that is well, but their dogs 

 give them more comfort, usually, than almost any other one thing, as boys and 

 girls will universally testify. 



"Let the dogs live. The cars will necessarily kill some. They are not long 

 lived at the best. They give us devotion, companionship, and ought to make us 

 kinder and more gentle, from their helplessness and dependence upon us. They are 

 good friends, to some very unfeeling people. Do not chain them up. Repeal our 

 cruel laws. Let us, a professedly Christian city, be as humane as the unchristian 

 Turk, or the worshipers of Buddha in India. Let us honor ourselves by doing jus- 

 tice to the' speechless. Let the dogs live." 



Here I give a cure for hydrophobia, a clipping from a paper: 



"The time between the biting of an animal by a mad dog and the showing signs 

 of hydrophobia is not less than nine days, but may be nine months. After the 

 animal has become rabid the scratch of a tooth upon a person or .slobber coming 

 in contact with a sore, or raw place, will produce hydrophobia just the same as if 

 bitten by a mad dog. 



"Hydrophobia can be prevented, and I will give what is known to be an infalli- 

 ble remedy for man and beast if properly administered. A dose for a horse or cow 

 should be four times as much as for a person. It is not too late to give the medi- 

 cine any time before the spasms come on. The dose for a person is one and one- 

 half ounces of elecamnane root bruised, put in a pint of new milk, reduced one-half 

 by boiling; take all at once in the morning, fasting until the afternoon, or at least 



