SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
663 
the parts by the passage of foeces r Both cases required to be operated upon two 
or three times before success was attained, and then it was only partial on account 
of the torn sphincters. The essayist thought that in cases of recto-vaginal fistula 
where the perineum or sphincter was not injured, treatment would be successful. 
The ensuing discussion followed the reading of Dr. Becket’s paper. 
Dr. Winchester said that he had seen a few cases of recto-vaginal fistula, 
but all were in mares worth from $2.50 to $10. 00, generally in the hands of cheap 
traders. Ha had tried operating, but with very little success. He spoke of Becket 
in his paper writing that the wall of the fistula was treated as one tissue, while 
anatomically it was two; why would it not be better to try and separate the 
two walls and sew each one by itself ? Dr. Winchester appreciated the difficulty 
of doing this, but why would it not be doing the work more correctly to sew the 
rectal and vaginal walls separately ? 
Dr. Howard thought that in an old lesion it would be almost impossible to 
separate the walls of the intestine and vagina. 
Dr. Marshall moved that the essayist be accorded a vote of thanks for his 
paper; seconded; carried. 
Moved by Dr. Winchester and seconded by Dr.Hadcock that the Secretary 
cast one ballot for Dr. Becket’s admission as a member of the Association. 
Carried. Dr. Becket was accordingly elected. 
Dr. Ferguson spoke of a case of deafness in a horse caused by firing a carbine 
close to his head. Blistering around the base of the ears was first resorted to 
without success, then treatment by electricity was tried, with successful results 
in the course of a week. 
Dr. Hadcock reported a case of rabies in a horse belonging to the West End 
Street Railway Co. In August last a dog ran into a blacksmith’s shop at Mt. 
Auburn arid bit a dog and the horse. Both dogs were killed at the time and the 
horse worked as usual until within a few days, when he began to show symptoms 
of rabies, soon becoming very violent and dying in less than twenty-four hours 
of the time when the first symptoms were noticed. The horse died in just three 
months and sixteen days from the time he was bitten. The brain and a part 
of the spinal cord were removed and sent to Dr. Jackson, at the Harvard Medical 
School for the purpose of inoculating some rabbits, in order to confirm the 
diagnosis of rabies. 
A general discussion of rabies followed, in which Drs. Marshall, Stickney, 
Winchester, Ferguson and Billings took part. 
Dr. Billings said that he was very skeptical about many cases we call rabies 
being rabies, and said that he did not believe in the rabies of Pasteur. He said 
that he had no faith in Pasteur after he persisted in keeping the ‘‘Newark 
children” among his statistics of patients treated after being bitten by a rabid 
animal, when he had been informed that the dog which bit them never had 
rabies. He then spoke of his rabies among cattle in the West, in which he 
separated a germ that would again produce the disease, but it was not altogether 
like rabies after all. Dr. Billings will not believe in the work done on rabies 
until the disease is produced by inoculation in dogs, and the dogs produce the 
disease in other dogs by biting them. He is also very skeptical as to the value 
of inoculation against a disease which has always been fatal, with no history of 
recovery and non-occurrence. 
