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The knowledge that a man can use is the only real knowledge; the only knowledge that has life and growth in it and converts itself into practical power. The rest hangs like dust about the brain, or dries like raindrops off the stones.-FROUDE.

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The subject is one of such importance that he hopes that this information, in some form, may be published in every county paper in the United States, for the further instruction of the laity, who seem to have some very erroneous views regarding it.

There is a genuine disease, known as rabies or hydrophobia. It is as distinct from mental influence as locomotor ataxia or any other recognized disease. It is a disease affecting especially the central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord. It is an infectious disease, always arising from inoculation of animals or man suffering from the disease. This being true, intel

ligent and determined efforts, extending over the entire country, would result in its final total extirpation. For this purpose, all unnecessary dogs or cats should be humanely put to death. All stray dogs or cats, having no responsible ownership, should also be put to death. All necessary ones should be properly tagged, for ready identification when necessary, and muzzled when required for safety. A high dog-tax is one of the most beneficent forms of taxation ever proposed. It relieves the community to that extent from the necessity of other forms of taxation, and helps to eliminate surplus dogs. The owner will willingly pay the tax on those animals that are really useful, while those that are not worth the tax ought to be put out of the way.

The first symptom of the disease in a dog or other animal is a tendency to roam. Hence every stray dog is a suspicious character, and should be looked after. If he has not bitten any animal or person, and no owner be found for him, he should be killed. However, if he has bitten any person or animal, he should not on any account be killed, even although he is supposed to be mad. By thus killing him you remove the only certain means of diagnosis you have as to whether he was rabid or not, and, consequently, the only element of prognosis you have as to the likelihood of those bitten by him to develop the disease. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. Be not too quick with

the gun or club. Capture the dog and chain or pen him up. If he has rabies he will soon distinctly show it, and will be dead within ten days. This will end the uncertainty, and all the animals hitten by him should be killed, and the persons bitten should be at once put under the specific treatment. If he proves not to be rabid, a great anxiety is relieved, and the wounds may be regarded as ordinary lacerated and punctured wounds.

Two points must especially be borne in mind:

A rabid dog seldom fears water, and he never has fits. A rabid man cannot drink because of a severe spasm of the throat, and after a few painful attempts he acquires a fear or dread of water. A rabid animal, on the other hand, seldom has these laryngeal spasms, and he loves water, as it helps to cool his intense thirst. As to the fits, dogs have many nervous disorders characterized by them, but they do not occur in rabies. They have occasional slight convulsive tremors, which cannot be called "fits," as ordinarily understood. A little courage, coolness and presence of mind will go a long way towards helping to determine any doubtful case.

The other well-known symptoms of madness will be observed: The animal shows a change of disposition, a tendency to eat strange things; tearing up clothing and wood; there is the peculiar hoarse "rabid" bark or howl, with extreme restlessness and irritability. Very soon after this follows the period of mania, when he will rush with the fury of a demon at any animal or man he meets, with occasional momentary periods of abstraction, glaring into vacancy, then suddenly becoming furious again, even tearing at parts of his own body, a sticky saliva dripping from his mouth. This is followed shortly by the stage of paralysis, observed first in the hind legs and the lower jaw. This gradually progresses until it ends in death. The entire period, from the first signs of taking the disease, is usually about eight days, although it may be a much shorter time, the stage of paralysis coming on almost at once.

The poison may be conveyed by a lacerated bite, by a simple punctured bite, by forcible licking with the hard, rasping tongue, or by the saliva coming into direct contact with any raw surface of the skin or mucous membrane of the mouth, that would be sufficient to allow a vaccination to take.

The period of incubation in dogs may be as short as fifteen days, or as long as two hundred and forty days, but is usually from thirty to fifty days. During this entire period the animal may communicate the disease by its saliva. This is a very important fact, that is not very generally known. In man the period of incubation is usually from six to eight weeks, but it may

(rarely) be as short as twenty days, or as long as one, or even two years. The period is likely to be shorter in cases bitten about the face and neck, and in children.

The wound should be treated by abstracting the poison, and by cauterization. If on a limb, a ligature should be applied above the wound. The wound, if not too extensive, should be cut out. The abstraction of the poison should be by thorough cupping, or by sucking it out with the mouth (preferably by the patient himself), rinsing the mouth each time with a strong solution of carbolic acid, or with strong vinegar, alcohol or other antiseptic fluid. The cauterization should be by nitrate of silver, by caustic potash or soda, or by a hot iron.

When the animal by which a person has been bitten is demonstrated to be actually rabid, the specific treatment elaborated by Pasteur should be entered upon at once.* The delay should be as short as possible, but never more than ten days.

This treatment consists of a series of injections of a preparation of rabic virus, beginning with a weak preparation and using a stronger and stronger one each day, until, at last, pure rabic virus is used. This treatment requires fifteen days. It is very successful, the percentage of mortality being about nil when the treatment is resorted to without delay.

*The Pasteur treatment is administered in this country at the Pasteur Institute, 97th street and 8th avenue, New York City.

Some Proposed Remedies for Rabies.

Dr. Goss, of Marietta, Ga., confirms the claims of Dr. Meyer, of Pawnee City, Neb., that echinacea augustifolia, a plant found in sandy, rocky regions of the west and southwest, will, if administered in the form of a tincture, prevent the development of hydrophobia in one inoculated with it. The accurate directions for its administration are not given.

Other remedies recommended for this disease, to be administered early during the incubative period, are datura stramonium, inula helenium (elecampane), xanthium spinosum, pilocarpine, etc. The usual directions are, to administer the drug in hot solution, until a course of mild dia

phoresis is produced, lasting two or three days. The patient is then considered immune from the disease. As there is considerable testimony sustaining the claim for each of these remedies, it is quite possible that the claims may be true, and that this slow acting poison may prove to be one quite easily eliminated from the system during the period of its incubation

When once the disease has reached the nerve centres, however, and its symptoms begin to be manifest, there has, thus far, been no cure discovered for it.

As this disease is very rare, it requires the testimony of many accurate observers to establish any reliable facts concerning it. For that reason we should be especially pleased if our readers would communicate to us, briefly, any personal experiences they may have had with it.

Agents Recently Mentioned for Surgical Dressings. The ideal surgical dressing must be an efficient germicide, non toxic to the individual and to the local tissues, non-irritating, and as convenient for application as possible. The agent which most fully combines the essential first three of these requirements with as great a degree as possible of the last one, will finally be adopted as the favorite dressing by the profession.

In the Railway Surgeon, Dr. Brumbaugh, of Huntingdon, Pa., gives his successful experience with the use of pure unrectified rye whiskey as a moist dressing.

"The application of pure rye whiskey as a dressing for injuries when the tissues have been crushed or lacerated, has been a favorite with me for over fifteen years, and the results have been so satisfactory that I have adopted it as a dressing for all operations, when its use is at all practicable. I have found that parts so contused or lacerated that they would otherwise slough away, regain their tone and assume the functions of healthy tissue under its use. In injuries such as are met in railroad work, all the parts involved, muscles, fascia and tendons are stretched, torn triturated or contused from the point of injury to the next joint or division of limb above, and the application of the moist dressing, and that kept so by whiskey, sug. gested itself as one eminently proper and promising good results My experience with a large number of serious cases in which I applied this

dressing has been very satisfactory. In no instance, when the application has been made faithfully, has there been a drop of suppuration or a particle of irritation or swelling or any sloughing, and no offensive odors whatever."

He cites cases of the worst forms of injuries, and of stumps after amputation, most successfully treated with rye whiskey dressing. He keeps the part moist with whiskey for fourteen days then substitutes a dry dressing. He also warns against too frequent dressings, as the less the part is exposed to the air, the better.

At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, Dr. O. H. Allis, recommended the appli ation of full strength carbolic acid in all varieties of burns, and also urged this use of the drug in deep sinuses of all kinds. He also uses a strong solution of the same drug as a lotion for recent wounds.

In certain phases of surgery, sulphur has been used with great success. This is particu larly emphasized in diseases of bones and joints, especially of tuberculous character, by W. Arbuthnot Lane, F.R C S., in the Medical Week. He removes the diseased bone and synovial membrane and rubs in sterilized sulphur. He summarizes the points as follows =

1. It appears to exert no deleterious influence upon the individual's health.

2. It gives rise to products which are powerfully caustic in their action, and must consequently be used in small quantities, and with

discretion.

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5. Its action is rendered more uniform and general, and less violent, by mixing it with glycerine.

6. If it be necessary to use a considerable quantity of the drug it must be removed within a few days. Irrigation with dilute perchloride of mercury lotion has proved very useful in the removal of small sloughs, etc., after the sulphur has been evacuated and the structures scraped.

And now the various coal tar antipyretics, especially acatanilid, have been given a new and most important use. They are found to be very efficient antiseptic and soothing powders for dressings in general surgical work.

man.

Monuments.

Propositions are frequently made to the pub lic to subscribe for a monument to some eminent member of the medical profession. Members Members of the profession are also asked to contribute to the monument fund of some eminent public On that account we wish to suggest that the true monument is not a useless, expensive shaft or pile of masonry, but the foundation of a school of learning, a library or other public institution for the advancement of science, the uplifting of the race or the amelioration of suffering, or the endowment of a department, chair of research in certain branches, a scholarship, ward or bed in some already existing in stitution. This kind of a monument is constantly alive, warm and reproductive.

Private monuments may well, also, be adapted to the same principle. Instead of an expensive stone, there may be a very modest one to your loved one, saying, if you wish, "For her enduring monument see the public park for children," or other benificent institution. The father of a little boy who was fond of animals could not more beautifully perpetuate his memory than by erecting a small fountain and drinking trough where most needed, with the inscription of his name and the sentence, "He loved animals."

Even very small sums could be beautifully used in many ways, as, for example, in a perpetual subscription to some library or institution for a paper or magazine, devoted to some noble purpose, as the promotion of kindness to animals, or a year's subscription to such a peri

odical to each one of the circle of relatives or friends. Many a noble and progressive cause could be very rapidly advanced by constantly putting this principle into practice. How much better for humanity this would be than a memorial window that shuts out the pure light of heaven from the worshipers.

The planting of useful fruit, nut or shade trees where badly needed to redeem some waste place or refresh the wayfarer, would be an inexpensive way of providing a living monument to a departed loved one. The habit of preserving every fruit seed and carrying it until a suitable spot is found for planting it even

by the wayside-would soon give us all the fruit that could possibly be needed.

This is only suggestive as to the infinite ways that may be found for making beneficent monuments, whose power for good would be constantly growing and widening. Having the principle in mind, each loving heart can best work it out for individual cases, according to circumstances and personal taste. The question, "In what way can we most appropriately invest this money to perpetuate and consecrate the memory of our loved one to the benefit of mankind?" will not long remain without an answer. For struggling humanity's sake let the display of wealth and the ostentation of this world stop at the cemetery gate. Within those sacred precincts let all be on a common plane. Let the appropriate cultivation of flowers show the love and replace the towering monument.

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Original Communications.

Short articles on the treatment of diseases, and experience with new remedies, are solicited from the profession fo this department; also difficult cases for diagnosis and treatment.

Articles accepted must be contributed to this journal only The editors are not responsible for views expressed by contributors.

Copy must be received on or before the twelfth of the month for publication in the next month. Unused Manuscript cannot be returned.

Certainly it is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more thas ything else.—RUSKIN.

READ. REFLECT. COMPARE. RECORD.

Alcoholism.-Replies.-Comments.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-The number of letters that come to me, asking for further information concerning the treatment of alcoholism, shows that I was not explicit enough in my last letter, and that a good many are interested in the subject. In Dr. Chapman's formula, as given in August WORLD, I substitute grain of corrosive sublimate for the 12 grains of double chloride of gold. That gives grain of the sublimate every two hours, or grain per day -enough, surely. But when you give grain of the gold salt at each dose, or 2 grains per diem, I think it is pretty heavy dosing. Dr. Chapman's solution for hypodermic use must be also criticized. Permanganate of potassium does not color the strychnine solution, but precipitates it. Since strychnine is present in the "dope," in doses of gr. eight times daily, there does not seem to be any good reason for its presence also in the solution. At any rate, I have had better results from caffeine--the al kaloid, not the citrate-dissolved in distilled water by the addition of sodium salicylate. Of this I give from 1 to 6 grains hypodermically, four times daily. If the patient's means permit the use of mandragorine, I employ it also hypodermically, instead of atropine, when the dose of that alkaloid in the "dope" is insufficient. Decidedly, mandragorine excels atropine-the former being less unpleasant and more efficient. If in a few days the patient does not begin to weaken on his appetite for alcohol, I add apomorphine to his liquor, or give it in the "shot, giving about grain at each dose, gradually increasing to grain if necessary. When the desire for liquor is dead, I employ physostigmine instead of atropine, and brucine instead of strychnine, giving the latter in doses of gr. every two hours, increasing if necessary to gr.

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The quantity of water depends on his capa city, but the free flushing of the emunctories is of great value. The diet should be non-stimu-lating, with plenty of fruit juices, vegetable acids and milk, but no rich foods or condiments. The one thing that will interfere more than any other with success is absinthe.

I feel strongly like taking issue with Dr. Spohn (page 273) on the use of alcohol in diph-theria. As I look back at my years of practice since I thoroughly comprehended the importance of antiseptic treatment in this disease, I fail to recall a case in which alcohol did not do more harm than good. Recently I have not given it to any case of diphtheria proper. In laryngeal diphtheria or membranous croup, alcohol may act as a sedative, restraining the tendency to such exertion as will bring on paroxysms of strangling, but I prefer opium. However, the necessity for operation comes so soon, and is so urgent, that the space for sedatives is but slight.

Of what use is alcohol in medicine? As a heart tonic we have a better, in digitalin; as a lung tonic we have a vastly better in strychnine; as a food, we have a dozen better. Nitrate of amyl acts quicker, atropine warms one up better, capsicum is a better remedy for collapse. What use is there for alcohol in which we cannot do better? To tide over a dangerous time, I would prefer to take my chances with iron, quinine, strychnine, concentrated food and attention to hygiene.

A word in regard to the use of dosimetric granules: Dr. Washburn (page 286) had been. accustomed to using Lloyd's specific tinctures.. He knew them, and could apportion the doses to each particular-case with the nicety a man gets who dispenses his own drugs. When he began to use the granules, he had to learn his doses all over-how much alkaloid equalled any dose of the tincture, etc. His first trials did not strike the nail directly on the head, and he went back to the drugs he knew and could use most skillfully. This difficulty is experienced by every one in beginning the use of a new line of preparations. By a vast deal of experimenting, some failures and disappointments, we gradually learn to know our granules as we did the tinctures; and we can then appreciate the improvement. It is troublesome at

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