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A CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA IN PALESTINE.
1121
’law, light, and the
tones were of which our buildings used for recruiting purposes are likely dark, and the deepest black. to have on would-be recruits and especially on those intelli.She disliked some tunes because of unpleasant colour sensa- gent and self-respecting young men whom all desire to tions. The senses of touch, temperature, and pain were see attracted to the army and to become fit and eligible .also involved. Thus, hard objects were of dark colour, for its non-commissioned ranks ? While we think that, soft objects of light colour. Though the literature of if only on the score of the soldier’s health and effi.synaesthesia is abundant few contributions have been made ciency and in order to attach him to the service to which he belongs, everything that is necessary should be provided to it by the medical profession.
light colour,
the
like.
The
deeper
ones
LIFE
higher musical
IN THE ARMY.
I
for his comfort and well-being in barracks and in his barrack surroundings, it seems to us only reasonable that at the beginning of his army career nothing should be neglected to attract him to it, which is not by any means the case at the present time so far as our army recruiting arrangements are concerned.
Mr. Arnold-Forster spoke at the laying of the foundationnew barracks at Norwich the other day in his I accustomed enthusiastic tone of what has been already done, or is being done, for the army and in the interest of the soldier. He was able to point with satisfaction to the QUEEN’S COLLEGE, BELFAST. increased amount of pay that the private soldier received and to draw a very favourable comparison between the conSOME weeks since Sir Donald Currie, Bart., G.C.M.G., dition of the soldier of the present day in this and other an old Belfast man, made amunificent offer to the respects and that of the labourer of similar age and in the President of Queen’s College, Belfast: it was to subscribe same class of life. That these changes had been recognised f:20,OOO to the equipment fund of the institution provided and had proved attractive he declared was shown by the that before Christmas a similar sum was subscribed by the number of recruits who presented themselves for medical friends of the College. A great effort was at once put .-examination. With regard to his army scheme as a whole forth and in the Belfast papers on Oct. 7th the first list we may say that we must wait until the next army of subscribers appeared, indicating that .612,554 15s. have estimates are laid before Parliament, when it will be been raised. Of this sum it is interesting to note that put forward in its entirety. Meanwhile, the War Minister members of the medical profession have given over E1700. spoke with assurance as to the beneficial effect which recent It is hoped that the additional amount will soon be raised changes had apparently had on army recruiting, although and as an effort in this direction a meeting of medical he was not altogether satisfied with the quality of the men, old students of the College, was held in the The President ,recruits attracted to the service. There are several points Medical Institute, Belfast, on Oct. 5th. in Mr. Arnold-Forster’s speech of medical and sanitary of the Ulster Medical Society (Dr. W. Calwell) occupied interest, some of which invite brief comment. During the the chair and urged the pressing necessity of subscribing past year, he says, " we have actually taken no less than to a fund which was so needed for the better equipment ,21,638 infantry recruits, of whom over 19,000, or the equiva- of the College. Dr. J. R. Davison, in very happy terms, lent of some 24 battalions, have been enlisted for long proposed the following motion which was carried unaniservice. The long-service enlistment did not commence till mously : "That this meeting of the medical alumni of the end of October of last year. If it had begun with the Queen’s College, Belfast, expresses its appreciation of Sir month the total of long-service men would already have Donald Currie’s munificent offer and that it declares its in- exceeded 21,000. Not only is this satisfactory in itself but tention to assist the committee of the Better Equipment it becomes much more satisfactory when we find that this Fund in its efforts to secure the full benefits of the proposed large number of recruits was taken concurrently with a great gift." An executive committee, with secretaries, was apincrease in the rate of rejection. In some cases 70 per pointed to carry out the objects of the meeting. It is intended oent., and even 80 per cent., of those applying have to appeal to all former medical students of Queen’s College, been rejected. Those who know, as I do, how great Belfast, asking them to subscribe to the scheme. has been the waste in the first two years, owing to the acceptance of unfit men, will realise what an A CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA IN PALESTINE. immense advantage this high rate of rejection must There is universal testimony WE have received from a medical man an account of a prove to the regiments. to the good quality of the long-service recruits." How- case of hydrophobia written by a lay correspondent in the ever much the The patient was an Arab woman who army may be congratulated on having Lebanon district. saved itself from a big wastage owing to the rejection of a had been bitten in the foot by a dog three months before the large number of men as medically unfit for army life and onset of her symptoms. The bite was, however, of so trifling duties the nation cannot view the matter in the same light. a character that th9re were only slight bruising and swelling It either shows that the classes seeking employment in the for two or three days and the skin was apparently unbroken, army are not to be taken as representative of the ordinary so that its occurrence was entirely forgotten until after the type of the young manhood of this country, which is most convulsive symptoms of hydrophobia had appeared. A day probably the case, or that some general physical decadence or two before this, however, the same foot was slightly is at work. Speaking of his desire to see an end put to the injured by being trodden on by a sick sheep which the use of the old standard plans for barracks the Secretary woman was tending. She then developed symptoms, for War declared his belief that " the effect of good barracks first refusing all water, when the diagnosis of hydroupon recruiting and the type of recruits is very great. The phobia was suggested by an English medical man forlorn appearance of some of our depots and barracks goes who saw her, although the bite had been forgotten. far towards deterring men from entering the service and Next day the convulsive seizures developed, which may be does something to prevent the people of this country from described in the words of our correspondent : "She rolled understanding how genuine and how great are the advantages from end to end of the room, running at times on all fours, which the career of the soldier at the present day actually foaming at the mouth, tearing everything with her teeth and offers." That such may be the case we do not doubt. hands, and making dreadful sounds like a dog." A point of It is certain, however, that some of the older barrack some interest was that the patient frequently talked in type of buildings are radically bad and unfit for occupa- English as well as in Arabic, her native language, although tion ; but why, when he is about it, does not Mr. she had only learnt a little English at school some 16 Arnold-Forster also turn his attention to the deterrent effect years previously and had not spoken it since that time. Both -stone of the
____
1122 1 these doctrines appeal to a large number of foolish sight of water and the sound of its being poured that brought on convulsive attacks and the patient was quite people does not in the least make their silliness more respectunable to drink although she was very thirsty. Theseable, nor does their semblance of remote relationship to attacks continued for some hours when she died fromsome commonplaces of medicine or theology afford the The account given is a graphic description smallest reason for imagining that they can teach us any exhaustion. of a typical case of severe hydrophobia which is lessons of profit. Moreover, since the assumption of a fortunately now so rare in this country since the ex- religious colour makes this creed more pernicious than the cellent muzzling and quarantine orders of the Board of fictions of the common charlatan it is doubly incumbent on Agriculture that probably few of the younger generation of those who in any degree exercise the function of religious medical practitioners have ever seen a case. There are few guides to be outspoken and vigorous in their condemnation maladies of so distressing a character and no one who has of a sham which must be no less obnoxious to sane religious witnessed the sufferings of a patient affected by it is likely feeling than it is to the scientific mind. For this reason we to forget them. The disease is not uncommon in Russia and regret that as these doctrines were chosen for discussion at in the E 1st and it varies considerably in its incidence in the Weymouth meeting they were not treated with the different countries. The last outbreak in this country was in decision and severity that their intrinsic absurdity and their 1895 and 1896. The most detailed descriptions of the disease dangerous influence demand. are given in some of the older text-books of medicine. Thus Sir Thomas Watson in his well-known work gives an account RAILWAY TRAVELLING IN ITALY. extending to 38 pages with records of five cases. Before the "YEARS have passed," writes an Italian correspondent, introductien of the antirabic inoculation by Pasteur the "since Mr. disease was invariably fatal, indeed, even now the disease, Augustus Hare appealed, through the Times, to the Italian railway companies for some better treatment of once fully established, is hopeless, so that to insure recovery after a bite from a rabid dog the treatment should be com- the travelling public, drawing attention not only to the menced as early as possible without waiting for the results incessant robberies of luggage but also to the extremely of inoculation experiments. Hydrophobia is much less defective arrangements provided at the central and intermediate stations for the exit and entrance of passengers. At common in women than in men owing to the greater protection from bites afforded by the nature of their dress. In such an enirepôt as Florence, for example, the few minutes the present instance the bite presumably occurred on the between the arrival and departure of an express train bare foot of the Arab woman. The foaming at the mouth is are generally the occasion of afree fight’ between to be explained by the frothy saliva and mucus which remain the passengers alighting, or trying to alight, and the in the mouth owing to the inability to swallow, while the passengers taking, or trying to take, their places. The supposed barking like a dog is due to the accumulation of opportunity is a golden one for pickpockets or for the this mucus about the pharynx and the peculiar cough induced internationalhotel rat’ on his way to the scene of his further operations, Mr. Hare himself having been relieved by it. of .6100 in bank-notes in the struggle to secure a seat RELIGION AND QUACKERY. between Florence and Rome. His letter to the Times, while AMONG the subjects which engaged the attention of the it had the effect of diminishing robberies of luggage, not so Church Congress at its recent meeting at Weymouth much by increasing the surveillance along the line as by Christian Science found a prominent place. This singular warning the traveller to put nothing of extra value aberration formed, indeed, the matter of two fairly lengthy in his trunk, had little or no effect in improving the papers, the writers of which, though sound in their general comfort or convenience of the passenger. On the contrary, conclusions, seem to have suffered in some degree from an with the augmentation of the train-frequenting public, the infirmity which often befalls the students of irrational discomfort and inconvenience due, mainly, to overcrowding, beliefs : they became unwittingly prone to justify have proportionally increased till Mr. Edmund Gosse-as
the
-
the matter of their discourse true and tried a friend of Italy as Mr. Hare-has had, in his its by exaggerating importance and according to it turn, to appeal once more to the Times and to warn the a measure of serious and respectful attention to which traveller, particularly the invalid, of the scandalous it has no sort of claim. Under this influence the unpunctuality of the arriving or departing train, involving writers who discussed Mrs. Eddy’s vapourings seem to longwaits’ in well-namedwaiting-rooms ’ or risky have dealt with them in a spirit of charity which, however exposure to wind and weather on ill-protected platforms. admirable in the abstract, is not without its dangers when This letter has so impressed the Italian public-reproduced applied to the examination of a doctrine the ascendancy of as it has been and sympathisingly commented on by the which over the minds of the unintelligent may be materially press of all parties, from the Conservative Nazione of Florence strengthened by such an appearance of concession. Thus to the ultra-Radical Seeolo of Milan-that there is some hope the Rev. W. S. Swayne was concerned lest, in hastily dis- that its remonstrances will have gone ’home’-will have gone, missing Christian Science as the creed of fools and char- in fact, to the place where all reform, like all charity, should latans, we should miss some lessons of value for the physical begin. Now (as he justly remarks) that the control of the or spiritual sides of our nature, such as the value of suggesrailway network is in the hands of the Government, tion or the importance of a vivid sense of the Divine power. transferred from companies which, in the words of Sydney And Miss Sturge, while admitting the absurdity of certain Smith, have neither a head to be punched nor a conscience Christian scientific excesses, was disposed to look on the to be pricked, there is some chance of the necessary movement as an expression of healthy spiritual energy which improvement being effected, the Member of Parliament,’ only needed better direction to be of service to religion. particularly in Opposition, having it in his power to Now this attitude, we venture to think, is in many respects extract explanations from the supreme authority and The said’Member,’ undesirable. We do not want violent tirades where mild to exact the raforms demanded. arguments will suffice, but if the doctrines of Mrs. moreover, is now in many cases a committee man in the Eddy are, as no rational person doubts them to be, ’Association for Promoting the Influx of the Outside World inane and blasphemous, and if, moreover, they are into Italy,’ and he can remind the Government that the utilised for the ends of dangerous quackery, they have! ’foreign import ’ is one of the country’s most valuable assets, no right to the affable treatment that is properly metedwhose advent is to be encouraged by every means, not least out to the trivial errors of excessive zeal. The factj by that of convenient and comfortable railway travelling.
their
own
interest in
’law, light, and the
tones were of which our buildings used for recruiting purposes are likely dark, and the deepest black. to have on would-be recruits and especially on those intelli.She disliked some tunes because of unpleasant colour sensa- gent and self-respecting young men whom all desire to tions. The senses of touch, temperature, and pain were see attracted to the army and to become fit and eligible .also involved. Thus, hard objects were of dark colour, for its non-commissioned ranks ? While we think that, soft objects of light colour. Though the literature of if only on the score of the soldier’s health and effi.synaesthesia is abundant few contributions have been made ciency and in order to attach him to the service to which he belongs, everything that is necessary should be provided to it by the medical profession.
light colour,
the
like.
The
deeper
ones
LIFE
higher musical
IN THE ARMY.
I
for his comfort and well-being in barracks and in his barrack surroundings, it seems to us only reasonable that at the beginning of his army career nothing should be neglected to attract him to it, which is not by any means the case at the present time so far as our army recruiting arrangements are concerned.
Mr. Arnold-Forster spoke at the laying of the foundationnew barracks at Norwich the other day in his I accustomed enthusiastic tone of what has been already done, or is being done, for the army and in the interest of the soldier. He was able to point with satisfaction to the QUEEN’S COLLEGE, BELFAST. increased amount of pay that the private soldier received and to draw a very favourable comparison between the conSOME weeks since Sir Donald Currie, Bart., G.C.M.G., dition of the soldier of the present day in this and other an old Belfast man, made amunificent offer to the respects and that of the labourer of similar age and in the President of Queen’s College, Belfast: it was to subscribe same class of life. That these changes had been recognised f:20,OOO to the equipment fund of the institution provided and had proved attractive he declared was shown by the that before Christmas a similar sum was subscribed by the number of recruits who presented themselves for medical friends of the College. A great effort was at once put .-examination. With regard to his army scheme as a whole forth and in the Belfast papers on Oct. 7th the first list we may say that we must wait until the next army of subscribers appeared, indicating that .612,554 15s. have estimates are laid before Parliament, when it will be been raised. Of this sum it is interesting to note that put forward in its entirety. Meanwhile, the War Minister members of the medical profession have given over E1700. spoke with assurance as to the beneficial effect which recent It is hoped that the additional amount will soon be raised changes had apparently had on army recruiting, although and as an effort in this direction a meeting of medical he was not altogether satisfied with the quality of the men, old students of the College, was held in the The President ,recruits attracted to the service. There are several points Medical Institute, Belfast, on Oct. 5th. in Mr. Arnold-Forster’s speech of medical and sanitary of the Ulster Medical Society (Dr. W. Calwell) occupied interest, some of which invite brief comment. During the the chair and urged the pressing necessity of subscribing past year, he says, " we have actually taken no less than to a fund which was so needed for the better equipment ,21,638 infantry recruits, of whom over 19,000, or the equiva- of the College. Dr. J. R. Davison, in very happy terms, lent of some 24 battalions, have been enlisted for long proposed the following motion which was carried unaniservice. The long-service enlistment did not commence till mously : "That this meeting of the medical alumni of the end of October of last year. If it had begun with the Queen’s College, Belfast, expresses its appreciation of Sir month the total of long-service men would already have Donald Currie’s munificent offer and that it declares its in- exceeded 21,000. Not only is this satisfactory in itself but tention to assist the committee of the Better Equipment it becomes much more satisfactory when we find that this Fund in its efforts to secure the full benefits of the proposed large number of recruits was taken concurrently with a great gift." An executive committee, with secretaries, was apincrease in the rate of rejection. In some cases 70 per pointed to carry out the objects of the meeting. It is intended oent., and even 80 per cent., of those applying have to appeal to all former medical students of Queen’s College, been rejected. Those who know, as I do, how great Belfast, asking them to subscribe to the scheme. has been the waste in the first two years, owing to the acceptance of unfit men, will realise what an A CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA IN PALESTINE. immense advantage this high rate of rejection must There is universal testimony WE have received from a medical man an account of a prove to the regiments. to the good quality of the long-service recruits." How- case of hydrophobia written by a lay correspondent in the ever much the The patient was an Arab woman who army may be congratulated on having Lebanon district. saved itself from a big wastage owing to the rejection of a had been bitten in the foot by a dog three months before the large number of men as medically unfit for army life and onset of her symptoms. The bite was, however, of so trifling duties the nation cannot view the matter in the same light. a character that th9re were only slight bruising and swelling It either shows that the classes seeking employment in the for two or three days and the skin was apparently unbroken, army are not to be taken as representative of the ordinary so that its occurrence was entirely forgotten until after the type of the young manhood of this country, which is most convulsive symptoms of hydrophobia had appeared. A day probably the case, or that some general physical decadence or two before this, however, the same foot was slightly is at work. Speaking of his desire to see an end put to the injured by being trodden on by a sick sheep which the use of the old standard plans for barracks the Secretary woman was tending. She then developed symptoms, for War declared his belief that " the effect of good barracks first refusing all water, when the diagnosis of hydroupon recruiting and the type of recruits is very great. The phobia was suggested by an English medical man forlorn appearance of some of our depots and barracks goes who saw her, although the bite had been forgotten. far towards deterring men from entering the service and Next day the convulsive seizures developed, which may be does something to prevent the people of this country from described in the words of our correspondent : "She rolled understanding how genuine and how great are the advantages from end to end of the room, running at times on all fours, which the career of the soldier at the present day actually foaming at the mouth, tearing everything with her teeth and offers." That such may be the case we do not doubt. hands, and making dreadful sounds like a dog." A point of It is certain, however, that some of the older barrack some interest was that the patient frequently talked in type of buildings are radically bad and unfit for occupa- English as well as in Arabic, her native language, although tion ; but why, when he is about it, does not Mr. she had only learnt a little English at school some 16 Arnold-Forster also turn his attention to the deterrent effect years previously and had not spoken it since that time. Both -stone of the
____
1122 1 these doctrines appeal to a large number of foolish sight of water and the sound of its being poured that brought on convulsive attacks and the patient was quite people does not in the least make their silliness more respectunable to drink although she was very thirsty. Theseable, nor does their semblance of remote relationship to attacks continued for some hours when she died fromsome commonplaces of medicine or theology afford the The account given is a graphic description smallest reason for imagining that they can teach us any exhaustion. of a typical case of severe hydrophobia which is lessons of profit. Moreover, since the assumption of a fortunately now so rare in this country since the ex- religious colour makes this creed more pernicious than the cellent muzzling and quarantine orders of the Board of fictions of the common charlatan it is doubly incumbent on Agriculture that probably few of the younger generation of those who in any degree exercise the function of religious medical practitioners have ever seen a case. There are few guides to be outspoken and vigorous in their condemnation maladies of so distressing a character and no one who has of a sham which must be no less obnoxious to sane religious witnessed the sufferings of a patient affected by it is likely feeling than it is to the scientific mind. For this reason we to forget them. The disease is not uncommon in Russia and regret that as these doctrines were chosen for discussion at in the E 1st and it varies considerably in its incidence in the Weymouth meeting they were not treated with the different countries. The last outbreak in this country was in decision and severity that their intrinsic absurdity and their 1895 and 1896. The most detailed descriptions of the disease dangerous influence demand. are given in some of the older text-books of medicine. Thus Sir Thomas Watson in his well-known work gives an account RAILWAY TRAVELLING IN ITALY. extending to 38 pages with records of five cases. Before the "YEARS have passed," writes an Italian correspondent, introductien of the antirabic inoculation by Pasteur the "since Mr. disease was invariably fatal, indeed, even now the disease, Augustus Hare appealed, through the Times, to the Italian railway companies for some better treatment of once fully established, is hopeless, so that to insure recovery after a bite from a rabid dog the treatment should be com- the travelling public, drawing attention not only to the menced as early as possible without waiting for the results incessant robberies of luggage but also to the extremely of inoculation experiments. Hydrophobia is much less defective arrangements provided at the central and intermediate stations for the exit and entrance of passengers. At common in women than in men owing to the greater protection from bites afforded by the nature of their dress. In such an enirepôt as Florence, for example, the few minutes the present instance the bite presumably occurred on the between the arrival and departure of an express train bare foot of the Arab woman. The foaming at the mouth is are generally the occasion of afree fight’ between to be explained by the frothy saliva and mucus which remain the passengers alighting, or trying to alight, and the in the mouth owing to the inability to swallow, while the passengers taking, or trying to take, their places. The supposed barking like a dog is due to the accumulation of opportunity is a golden one for pickpockets or for the this mucus about the pharynx and the peculiar cough induced internationalhotel rat’ on his way to the scene of his further operations, Mr. Hare himself having been relieved by it. of .6100 in bank-notes in the struggle to secure a seat RELIGION AND QUACKERY. between Florence and Rome. His letter to the Times, while AMONG the subjects which engaged the attention of the it had the effect of diminishing robberies of luggage, not so Church Congress at its recent meeting at Weymouth much by increasing the surveillance along the line as by Christian Science found a prominent place. This singular warning the traveller to put nothing of extra value aberration formed, indeed, the matter of two fairly lengthy in his trunk, had little or no effect in improving the papers, the writers of which, though sound in their general comfort or convenience of the passenger. On the contrary, conclusions, seem to have suffered in some degree from an with the augmentation of the train-frequenting public, the infirmity which often befalls the students of irrational discomfort and inconvenience due, mainly, to overcrowding, beliefs : they became unwittingly prone to justify have proportionally increased till Mr. Edmund Gosse-as
the
-
the matter of their discourse true and tried a friend of Italy as Mr. Hare-has had, in his its by exaggerating importance and according to it turn, to appeal once more to the Times and to warn the a measure of serious and respectful attention to which traveller, particularly the invalid, of the scandalous it has no sort of claim. Under this influence the unpunctuality of the arriving or departing train, involving writers who discussed Mrs. Eddy’s vapourings seem to longwaits’ in well-namedwaiting-rooms ’ or risky have dealt with them in a spirit of charity which, however exposure to wind and weather on ill-protected platforms. admirable in the abstract, is not without its dangers when This letter has so impressed the Italian public-reproduced applied to the examination of a doctrine the ascendancy of as it has been and sympathisingly commented on by the which over the minds of the unintelligent may be materially press of all parties, from the Conservative Nazione of Florence strengthened by such an appearance of concession. Thus to the ultra-Radical Seeolo of Milan-that there is some hope the Rev. W. S. Swayne was concerned lest, in hastily dis- that its remonstrances will have gone ’home’-will have gone, missing Christian Science as the creed of fools and char- in fact, to the place where all reform, like all charity, should latans, we should miss some lessons of value for the physical begin. Now (as he justly remarks) that the control of the or spiritual sides of our nature, such as the value of suggesrailway network is in the hands of the Government, tion or the importance of a vivid sense of the Divine power. transferred from companies which, in the words of Sydney And Miss Sturge, while admitting the absurdity of certain Smith, have neither a head to be punched nor a conscience Christian scientific excesses, was disposed to look on the to be pricked, there is some chance of the necessary movement as an expression of healthy spiritual energy which improvement being effected, the Member of Parliament,’ only needed better direction to be of service to religion. particularly in Opposition, having it in his power to Now this attitude, we venture to think, is in many respects extract explanations from the supreme authority and The said’Member,’ undesirable. We do not want violent tirades where mild to exact the raforms demanded. arguments will suffice, but if the doctrines of Mrs. moreover, is now in many cases a committee man in the Eddy are, as no rational person doubts them to be, ’Association for Promoting the Influx of the Outside World inane and blasphemous, and if, moreover, they are into Italy,’ and he can remind the Government that the utilised for the ends of dangerous quackery, they have! ’foreign import ’ is one of the country’s most valuable assets, no right to the affable treatment that is properly metedwhose advent is to be encouraged by every means, not least out to the trivial errors of excessive zeal. The factj by that of convenient and comfortable railway travelling.
their
own
interest in