[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] do not hope to
convert Dr. Bell Taylor, and those who think with him, from the view that M. Pasteur's treatment is not only inadequate but harmful ; but a case such as I will relate as simply as possible ought to have weight with them. In February, 1888, my dog was bitten by a dog with every appearance of rabies ; immediately afterwards the animal rushed on and bit a boy very severely through the unprotected hand, the wound taking two months to heal ; the dog had previously bitten its mistress and other dogs. All the animals were destroyed, with the exception of mine, at once. I kept -mine, partly from affection for the animal, and partly to prove that the first dog was rabid. I may say that within three minutes after the bite I thoroughly washed the wound in my clog ; but in spite of this, he died of typical rabies on the fourteenth day after being bitten.
Through the kindness of a patient of mine, the two people were at once taken to M. Pasteur, underwent the treatment, and are now (nearly a year and a half afterwards) in perfect health. I went to Paris sceptical as to the results• of M. Pasteur's treatment, but after seeing the scientific principle and the openness of all the great Frenchman's work, I re- turned firmly convinced, as every unbiassed person has done, of its efficacy and its harmlessness.—I am, Sir, &c.,
EDWARD JEBBOP, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Greenhill Road, Hampstead, N.W.
[Surely the cases are very numerous in which the virus of Tables has lain dormant much longer than a year and a half. One eminent surgeon vouches for thirteen years as the maximum known duration of dormancy in the virus.—ED. .Spectator.]
Previous page
