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 126 HYDROPHOBIA brace the practice, the first two early lecturing before the new society, and all soon establish- ing institutions of their own. The writings of Drs. Gnlly and Johnson contributed much to spread the system in England, and at a later day they were ably seconded by Bulwer's " Confessions of a Water Patient," detailing incidents of his restoration to health at the Malvern establishment. The earliest popular information concerning water treatment in the United States was through a letter published about 1843, from H. 0. Wright, himself at the time a patient under Priessnitz ; and this was soon followed by the earnest statements and appeals, through a like channel, of J. H. Gray of Boston and A. J. Colvin of Albany. Drs. Schieferdecker, Wesselhoeft, and Shew seem to have been the first to enter upon the new practice in the United States ; while the first establishment appears to have been that opened in 1844 at No. 63 Barclay street, New York. Of this, David Cambell, also the originator of the " Water-Cure Journal," was proprietor, and Joel Shew physician. In May, 1845, an establishment was opened at New Lebanon Springs, N. Y., under the management of Dr. Shew, and another at Brattleboro, Vt., under the management of Dr. Wesselhoeft, who, hav- ing explored the country from Florida to Maine, selected Brattleboro on account of the supe- rior purity of the water of a spring there. At the present time there are in this country and Europe several hundred establishments in which the application of water in one form or another is the chief remedial agent relied upon in the treatment of diseases, but medicines in many cases are used to a greater or less ex- tent. The name hydropathy is not in general use among its practitioners, that of " hygienic medicine " being adopted instead. Of books upon the subject may be mentioned, besides those above referred to, " Hydropathic En- cyclopedia," by R. T. Trail, M. D. (New York, 1852); "The Bath," by S. R. Wells (New York) ; and " Water Cure in Chronic Diseases," by J. M. Gully, M. D. (London). HYDROPHOBIA (Gr. vSup, water, and 0<5/3of, fear ; Lat. rabies canina, canine madness), a rare but well marked disease in the human subject, characterized by excessive nervous excitement, the secretion of an unusually viscid saliva, a difficulty and sometimes a dread of swallowing liquids, and a rapidly fatal termi- nation. It is caused by inoculation from the bite of a dog, already in a similar rabid condi- tion. Although hydrophobia in the human subject is so infrequent that many practition- ers of considerable experience have never met with a case, it is still of sufficient importance to merit serious attention, and to demand every possible precaution for its prevention ; particu- larly since, when once developed, it is inva- riably fatal, no single well authenticated case of recovery having yet been recorded, and be- cause the affection itself is so terrible in the distress suffered by the patient, and the horror which it excites in the minds of the spectators. In France, with a population of 86,000,000, during the six years from 1853 to 1858 inclu- sive, there were 107 cases of hydrophobia, or one case annually for every 2,000,000 inhabi- tants. In the department of the Seine, with an average population of upward of 1,000,000, du- ring the 40 years from 1822 to 1862, there were 94 cases, or a little more than 2J per annum. The greater proportional frequency of the dis- ease in the metropolis and its immediate vicin- ity is no doubt due to the greater concentration of the population, both human and canine, which would of course be favorable to its com- munication from one animal to another and from animals to man. In the city of New York, with a population of 1,000,000, during the six years from 1866 to 1871 inclusive, there were 22 cases, or an average of 3f per annum. When a man is bitten by a rabid dog, the wound does not differ in any visible character from that inflicted by a healthy animal. It is seldom severe and often slight, the animal fre- quently making only a single momentary at- tack. The wound thus made heals without difficulty, and is not especially painful or other- wise troublesome. In a majority of instances no further trouble comes of it. The danger from the bite of a rabid dog consists in the inoculation of the animal's saliva, which, owing to the disease under which he is suffering, contains a subtle hut communicable organic poison. But there are various circumstances which may interfere with the poison's taking effect. First, the individual may be, habitually or at the time, insusceptible to its action. There is reason to believe that the human species as a whole are decidedly less susceptible to the poison of hydrophobia than dogs ; and accord- ing to the experiments of M. Renault, at the veterinary school of Alfort, the proportion of dogs themselves, bitten by a rabid animal, who afterward become rabid, is not more than 33 per cent. Secondly, when the bite is inflicted upon parts of the body covered with clothing, the saliva, which is the only vehicle of the poison, may have been arrested by the gar- ments and may not have come in contact with the wound at all. Thirdly, the poison may have been extracted from the wound imme- diately afterward by the free discharge of blood, or by the instinctive manipulations of the wounded person, or may have been neutralized by surgical appliances. At all events, statis- tics seem to show conclusively that the bite of a rabid animal by no means invariably causes hydrophobia. M. Bouley, professor in the vet- erinary school at Alfort, estimates that in the department of the Seine no fewer than 100 dogs annually become rabid. In 25 cases of hydrophobia recorded at Alfort in the year 1861, 10 of these animals were known to have bitten 15 persons; that is, 15 bites had been inflicted by 25 rabid dogs. This would give, for 100 dogs annually affected by hydrophobia, 60 persons bitten during the same time. But