EDITORIAL. 
713 
Dr. A. Liautard: 
Dear Sir: Allow me to ask your opinion on a subject to which 1 have 
given much thought, since our celebrated Pasteur has made, and for the benefit 
of his race promulgated, his great discovery of the preventive treatment of 
rabies. 
Being very fond of dogs and having owned several, my anxiety is always 
excited by the appearance of any symptoms of illness in them ; and often has 
the fear of hydrophobia on such occasions haunted my mind and kept me awake 
at night. The idea of their contracting rabies and biting, perhaps members of 
my own family, or my relations, or friends or others, is a terrible one. What 
moral and social responsibility have I not assumed? I once knew a wealthy per¬ 
son reduced to ruin by a law suit brought against him in the case of a child who 
had died from rabies caused by the bite of a dog belonging to him. 
All these troubled feelings, I am glad to say, have left me. I now possess 
a beautiful English mastiff which I have placed under a complete course of anti- 
rabic treatment, and as now, after three months, he enjoys the best of health, I 
have no more fear about him or his bites or his being bitten. He is hydrophobia- 
proof. 
How the principal object of this letter is to ask your opinion on the question 
of systematically inoculating dogs against rabies. Would it not be a more 
certain way to suppress the disease than the police regulations now existing and 
which are but partially enforced ? Vaccine virus is preserved perfectly pure 
for a long time, when mixed with sterilized glycerine, and the same condition 
exists for rabic virus. It can be kept for several weeks in that fluid without 
losing the degree of virulence which it possessed at the time the mixture was 
made. 
In one of the last numbers of the Annals de l’lnstitut Pasteur, Dr. Cal¬ 
mette, in an article upon rabic virus, reported that having but few patients, he 
had preserved it in glycerene. The authority of Dr. Calmette cannot be ignored ; 
he is the author of one of the most interesting works on bacteriology, and has 
recently been sent to Cochin China to establish a bacteriological institute for 
that region. 
To resume : Do you believe that if veterinarians were provided with anti- 
rabic virus, as physicians are with that of the Jennerian vaccination, owners of 
dogs would be willing to adopt a measure which, as far as it concerns the pro¬ 
phylaxy, has made its proof ? This virus can be kept in good condition for 
weeks, and consequently can be delivered at any distance to the veterinarian 
who desires to use it. The idea is so simple that I am afraid it will not 
be entertained for that very reason. However, whatever may become of the 
suggestion, I shall be thankful for your professional opinion, etc. 
Very respectfully yours, 
P. Gibier, M.V.D. 
Pasteur Institute. 
Veterinary Department of Harvard University. 
—There have been changes in the faculty of the Veterinary 
Department of Harvard, and among them is the appointment 
