Singular Case of Hydrophobia.

Evening Star, Issue 7226, 31 May 1887, Page 3

Singular Case of Hydrophobia.

There was quite a panic (the Paris correspondent of thie ' Daily Telegraph' says) in a house in the Avenue Montaigne. A man in his nightshirt was seed writhing and rolling about in th'd courtyard, uttering the most appalling cries, and calling on the neighbors to give him a wide berth, as he was mad. The servants and hangers-on of tho establishment had taken the hint and fled for their lives. But there had been some method in this general sauve qui peiU, for Dr Guenn, the well-known physician, and the nearest police inspector had been communicated with, and were promptly on the scene. A strait-waistcoat was placed on the unfortunate man, who was earned off on a stretcher to the Beaujon Hospital, while Mdme. Charles de Lessepg herself drove off in search of M. Pasteur. This is, to all appearance, a very strange case. The patient, Louis Teste, twenty-seven years of age, and formerly in the fire brigade, was in the service' of the Lesseps family. One Monday he took a dog of his to a veterinary surgeon, who said that he would keep it for a short time. On the following day;' when Teste called to ask how the animal was getting on, the surgeon replied that the dog was mad. Teste "was horrified at' the statement, as he remembered that only a few days before the dog'had'licked a solemn his fa.ee, and when he *eturaed u to the Avenue Montaigne 1 he spoke of the shock which the news had causfed to him. He was extremely depressed throughout the day, cbuhi not sleep at night, and, going from bad to worse, fell into the state which necessitated, his r'emoval to the hospital. The question is whether this is a genuine case of rabies produced by the licking of Teste's face by his dog, or whether the symptoms are the result of the Bhock of which the man complained, working' on a very imaginative nature. The affair is exciting a great deal 01 interest; butM. Pdste'urwillta a short time'be able to throw some light on this, strange case.