PROFESSOR MACLEOD ON HYDROPHOBIA IN GLASGOW.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2561, 22 March 1877, Page 2

PROFESSOR MACLEOD ON HYDROPHOBIA IN GLASGOW.

Prof. G. H. B. Macleod recently delivered ia OaqjpbiU-U.P.j,Church the sixth of the course of lectures being "given "under the auspices'oFthe Crossbill Young Men's? Christian rAsspciattqp. He said that he wished.,tp-make a fe^'^emarks J*bout hydrophobia. He had never "seen Tt in" any "of "the* "countries Tie "Had vyijrited.,on the Mediterranean, ,j*ndrhe.h»d also been informed that the' disease^h^i never,<bee.n known ther^. A Jtwaaa^urious fact that the disease, nQV.er;ooourre"din'the Arctic regions, KqV wjaj most prevalent in temperate countries^ and' particularly", in iEngJandt V The first ewe he;was caUjiui to in the Glasgow InfiirnHLrj&did coMmprcfs hini:very much. He was more impressed with? the' secohd case, :«od:.th« thi#d.*me made him recognise a disease he nid'nttf er seen before.—The -extraordinary- thing about hydrophobia was that it was extremely rare. At a large meeting of the medical profession, ,be. w,as the only one present who had^e'f se'en-a case—if the case he had visited in Goran with Dr Ca'driel,Teairjr;^as^e>pf Jwr;ai£pkpbia. He thought it a remarkable fact that all of a sudden ihere -shoiuhlvhave arisen in Glasgow a disease which none of the members of the medical,profession had erer seen before. His reason for speaking r about this was thafrhe wauie&to.aUayJear. He might say the disease was one very difficult tou propagate. iOnaHjf the poor fellows who died in the hospital during his struggles bit one..of the nurses,.who became greatly alarmed lest she should .bejaffe&tedjwitht the, disease^r-.ThjrJ5W^M, however, impossible, \ fop- it nad^rigfer been propagated from one^human Deing to another.;; Hg would not care a dog bit him through his clothes, because the teeth a Qf- : t her animal cutting through his clothes would be cleaned, and there wouldjUOjiibe thfrfjeast .f€^c t 2of hydrophobia resulting. There had been -many; persona -bitten in ..this .\-.wjay .by dogs that were known to be mad, and not Jone' of them;had stakenrQiydrdphobia, but supposing a mad dog was to go into a room afad-bite'a'dotWtßNft-sons, it was perfectly.pos9ible that the'first one or rt;wo"' who"' were bitten might take the disease, but the others would not v It was'curious, too, that after a timoHme dog's jaws became paralysed and he became incapable of biting; but'the most extraordinary thing was the great effect the mind had upon the disease. If a person was bitten by'a.dog it was foolish to destroy the animal, for miny men had been brought/ as 'from; a-bed of death by being shown'the dpg»]tha]t. bit them. The first patient in'^ the' Western Infirmary had told him that he.was perfectly, well till one day he took up a newspaper and read of a man that -had died from hydrophobia, and he was nerer of any uae-frpm that moment. The second told > him exactly.the same thing; and^ofifc Sergeant M'Gilvary informed him- that "his mind, was Haunted night and day by the bite he receired, knowing-as he -did, that people had died from hydrophobia, till- at last he had those extraordinary symptoms which seemed really ta*'"muteh"ixfenial£aV-fcadilg. Professor Macleod condemned iheburaing of the partbitten. Thewaylto manage a wound was to stop the circulation at the paVt, suck the wound, rush cold water upon it, and dress it in the 'simplest way. There was a huge lot^of'ihonsense talked about hydrophobia, and they need not,be in the least afraid of it.!? If.jt"iey livjed for twenty-five years the chances were that ttaylwonld not se'eahy.jhbre of it in that city. Hundreds of persons had been bitten in Glasgow-, within the last few months, and, as showing how rare the disease was,: ; there werer.tmly: three—if these were as he thought they were— cases of! hydrophobia, - : None, pf the M*h who died had any fear of water. They took hold of the cup containing water, but ..the moment the cup touched their lips it produced a spasm which sometimes made them throw it from them, not from horror of thel-water,'but from fear ol the «p%sm.