SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 It will be remembered that in the month of 

 May a gentleman in Brooklyn died from hydro- 

 phobia. His medical attendants, competent physi- 

 cians, had no doubt about their diagnosis, and his 

 symptoms were characteristic of that disease. 

 Confirmatory of this opinion, the autopsy re- 

 vealed no lesion to which could be attributed the 

 symptoms from which he suffered, — a condition 

 which is also characteristic of hydrophobia. Por- 

 tions of the brain and the spinal cord were care- 

 fully wrapped in cloth wet with a solution of 

 bichloride of mercury and sent to Dr. Sternberg. 

 Small portions of these were thoroughly mixed 

 with sterilized bouillon ; and this broth was then, 

 by means of a hypodermic syringe, injected under 

 the dura mater covering the brain of a rabbit, a 

 small button of bone having been first removed by a 

 trephine. The wound was then closed by sutures. 

 Three rabbits were thus operated upon. One died 

 at the end of twenty-four hours as the result of 

 the operation ; hydrophobia, of course, having 

 nothing to do with it. Another is now, after 

 eighteen days, apparently well. The third one, 

 on the sixteenth day, commenced to show signs 

 of being ill : he was disinclined to move, and in a 

 few hours evidences of paralysis appeared, at first 

 in the hind-legs, and subsequently in all the ex- 

 tremities. On the 5th of June, the eighteenth 

 day after the operation, he died. The wound had 

 healed, and there were no evidences of inflamma- 

 tion. The brain showed no softening at the point 

 where the inoculation was made, no pus, nor any 

 evidences of inflammation either of the brain sub- 

 stance or of its membranes. The cord also ap- 

 peared normal. Portions of the medulla of this 

 rabbit were immediately mixed with sterilized 

 bouillon, and two rabbits were inoculated in the 

 same manner as has been described. This case is 

 of great interest as being, so far as we know, the 

 first animal in this country to become affected 

 with hydrophobia from inoculation with material 

 taken from a person who died from that disease. 

 If Dr. Sternberg is as successful with these rabbits 

 as with the first, there is no reason why the series 



No. 175. — 1886. 



cannot be continued, and thus the protective virus 

 of Pasteur be obtained in this country, and a trip 

 to Paris by the victims of dog-bites made un- 

 necessary. As we go to press, we learn that the 

 second rabbit, mentioned above as remaining 

 unaffected for eighteen days, shows unmistakable 

 signs of hydrophobia. 



In the great political changes of last De- 

 cember, the Department of public works of Japan 

 was abolished, and the Engineering college hither- 

 to conducted by that department was transferred 

 to the Department of education. Early in the 

 present year, the Engineering college was amalga- 

 mated with the University of Tokyo, and the re- 

 sulting whole was instituted as the Imperial uni- 

 versity by the decree of March 1, as mentioned in 

 our last issue. As at present constituted, the 

 university consists of five colleges ; viz., those of 

 law, of medicine, of engineering, of literature, 

 and of science. Of these, four are located in the 

 Kaga-yashiki (the former ' yashiki ' of the Daimio 

 of Kaga), while the fifth, that of engineering, 

 finds its quarters in the buildings of the former 

 Engineering college. This amalgamation must be 

 looked on as but another stage in the development 

 of that institution which began in the days of the 

 Tokugawa shoguns as the place for teaching, and 

 examining into, western books, and which has been 

 steadily growing, ever since, under various names, 

 such as Kaisei Gakko, Tokyo Daigaku (University 

 of Tokyo), etc. In the imperial decree of March 1, 

 referred to above, the prosecution of original in- 

 vestigation has received recognition hitherto not 

 accorded to it ; for Art. 1 of the decree says, " The 

 Imperial university shall have for its objects the 

 teaching of such arts and sciences as are required 

 for the purposes of the state, and the prosecution 

 of original investigations in such arts and 

 sciences.'''' This must be considered as a decided 

 upward step. In the new institution, different 

 colleges have also more power to act independent- 

 ly according to their own wants than before. The 

 very ponderous official machine through winch 

 the business of the university had to be transacted 

 is somewhat simplified ; and professors, in the 

 science college, for instance, are given more free- 

 dom in the management of their own laboratories. 



