On Rabies. 



75 



Bardach, Director of the Bacteriological Institute at Odessa, where 

 of 15 dogs inoculated intracranially witli lyssic virus from different 

 sources, and immediately afterwards subjected to protective inocula- 

 tion by M. Pasteur's intensive method, 6 developed rabies, 9 surviving. 

 Of 6 control animals, similarly infected, all died. Of the 6 protected 

 animals that died, 3, as is shown, were infected with paralytic rabbit 

 rabies, the result of the subcutaneous inoculations ; again showing the 

 dangers of this method. The proportion, too, of the survivors, 9 out 

 of 15, or 60 per cent, is not favourable. 



IX. The Action of some Drugs upon Infection. 



The various substances and measures that have been tried as 

 remedies for rabies are innumerable, from viper's venom to plain 

 water ; from time to time certain cases of cure have been announced, 

 but a large proportion of these may obviously be accounted for by the 

 absence of infection ; others in which distinct symptoms of the 

 disease are recorded are more difficult to dispose of, though some of 

 them in man probably were not true hydrophobia or lyssa, 

 but a nervous or hysterical affection simulating its symptoms, — 

 lyssophobia. 



In investigating the action of drugs upon animals infected with 

 this virus, it appeared to me that two methods of treatment might be 

 followed, the one to endeavour to destroy the virus, almost certainly 

 a micro-parasite, by the administration of a germicide ; the other, to 

 treat the symptoms developed with appropriate remedies, and by the 

 use of tonics and stimulants to enable the animal to survive the 

 attack, when, as in other cases, the virus would have exhausted itself 

 and died out. The explicit statement of M. Pasteur (vide infra), 

 that spontaneous recovery in dogs does sometimes occur, seemed to 

 offer some prospect of success by this method. 



I naturally commenced with bichloride of mercury, as being not 

 only the most powerful germicide known, but also almost equally 

 active as an antizj^motic, in the combination of these two qualities 

 standing quite alone ; it has, too, lately been stated that Dr. Theodore 

 Cash had found it a prophylactic against infection with anthrax 

 inoculated subsequently to its use. I had thus some hopes of its 

 efficacy in rabies. 



I found that G to 7 tenths of a milligram was about the maximum 

 dose that could be safely giv r en to a medium-sized rabbit ; con- 

 sequently I inoculated one, 26/9/86, intracranially with active 

 virus, and three hours afterwards injected subcutaneously 2 minims of 

 J per cent, solution of bichloride of mercury; this was continued 

 daily, with the interval of one Sunday. The animal was unaffected 

 in any way till the 9th day, when the temperature rose to 41-2° C, 



