Hydrophobia in relation to M. Pasteur's method and the report of the English committee : a lecture delivered in Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, July 27th, 1887 / by A. Lutaud.

  • Lutaud, A. (Auguste), 1847-
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hydrophobia in relation to M. Pasteur's method and the report of the English committee : a lecture delivered in Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, July 27th, 1887 / by A. Lutaud. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    by the different countries are equally demonstrative. In England and Wales, the annual average of deaths from rabies is 43. In Austria, the annual death rate has amounted to twelve cases only. In Prussia, where muzzling has been strictly enforced, the figures for the last five years have been: ten, six, four, one, and, finally, zero. In fact the statistics of the different nations are much alike and prove that the disease is extremely rare. We have said that, for France, the annual average of deaths from rabies has, for the last twenty years, amounted to 30. Let us see now how many deaths took place in that country during the year 1886, when the method was in its full development. The table of deaths, which I present to you, shows for France a total of 25 deaths from hydrophobia after the celebrated treatment. If we add to that number 17 deaths from rabies, among people who did not undergo M. Pasteur's treatment, we obtain for the whole of the year a total number of 42 deaths. The annual rate being 30, we find that, for the year 1886, during which inoculations have been practised, 12 deaths took place in excess of the preceding years. We might then ask M. Pasteur and the British Commissioners :— Has the death-rate from hydrophobia been lowered in France during the year 1886 by Pasteur's method ? Answer : No. Does the death rate tend to rise on account of the treatment ? Answer: Yes. Now, if you observe the table of deaths,* we remark that, of the 25 persons treated by M. Pasteur, during the last months of the year 1886, nine died with the symptoms of paralytic rabies, which is the usual form of hydrophobia in rabbits. If we consider that the increase of death was coincident with the application of the new treatment, called the intensive method, we arrive at the conclusion that, not only has M. Pasteur not been curing rabies during the year 1886, but that there is the most * See Appendix of the Keport.