Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1877 — Hydrophobia In England. [ARTICLE]

Hydrophobia In England.

"Unless our ablest medical men and our most skilled veterinary surgeons are altogether at fault, a malady is raging in the midst of us more terrible than Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, or even the much-dreaded plague of the Middle Ages. Within the last few months deaths from hydrophobia have been t alarmingly frequent. It would seem, indeed, as if the disease had assumed an epidemic form. That this should be so is no matter of surprise. It is notorious that at certain periods hydrophobia has ravaged entire districts with an almost unaccountable virulence. In the year 1866 the Registrar-General for England reported no fewer than .thirty-six deaths from this fatal malady. In 1871 two packs of hounds—the Quorn and Albrighton were decimated by the pestilence. There is a mass of evidence to show that, like cholera, or plague, or any other grave disease, hydrophobia recurs at stated intervals, and at this moment, as ftp as can be made out, we are passing through a period of its recurrence. For some months past hardly a week has gone by without a death from hydrophobia. ; The Registrar-General, in his reports, I has called attention to the prevalence

of the scourge. Inquests have been held in various parts of the country, at which evidence of a most painful and distressing character has been given, indeed, if the" general public is not seriously alarmed, we can only say that it has failed to appreciate the gravity and importance of the situation.—London Daily News.