Friday, May 25, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: May 25

May 25, 1908 – An exciting race with death from the little hamlet of Wawota, Saskatchewan, which lies far away from the railroad in Western Canada, to Minneapolis to reach the Pasteur Institute at the State University was culminated this morning, when little Winifred Randall, 10 years old, was examined by Dr. Orianna McDaniel and pronounced within reach of medical aid for hydrophobia (rabies), with which she is suffering as the result of a dog bite.

Located in the handsome new institute of public health and pathology building at the State University, the Pasteur Institute opened last August. Prior to that, the closest institute was located in Chicago.

Both Dr. Westbrook and Dr. McDaniel of the Minneapolis Pasteur Institute, express great hopes for the little English girl’s complete recovery after she has taken the three weeks’ treatment prescribed by the institute.

Horace Randall, the father, when he heard the doctors’ reassuring news after the examination, was overcome with joy. For the last few days and nights, he and the little one have been traveling towards his daughter’s one salvation as fast as horses, boats and steam could carry them. Night and day he has been fearing that he would arrive too late.

The little girl, in her home on the prairies, was bitten by a dog last week and with the first appearance of the symptoms, was driven by team to the railroad some miles distant, where she bade goodbye to her mother, and with her father, took the train to Winnipeg. At the latter city nothing could be done for the child as there is no Pasteur Institute there, and the father was advised to hurry the child to Minneapolis. Jumping from the train this morning at the Union Depot, the desperate father hurried into a hack and drove to the Institute at the University.



Wawota, Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, Manitoba, then on to Minneapolis1



Winnipeg people have taken widespread interest in the case and are taking up a public subscription to defray the expenses of the treatment. As the case is from out of the state, the fee will be $100. Randall has secured lodging quarters for himself and his daughter on the East Side, near the Institute where the little girl will present herself every morning for treatment.

Winifred will be at the Institute to take her first treatment tomorrow morning, and her father will accompany her.

The Minneapolis Tribune; “Child, Mad Dog Victim, Hurried to Minneapolis. 10-year-old Canadian Girl in Long Race to Save Her Life.”: May 26, 1908; p. 1.

The Northfield News; “Ready to Cure Rabies. State Board of Health Has Equipped Laboratory Authorized by State.”; Aug. 17, 1907; p. 3.

The Minneapolis Tribune; “Hydrophobia Is on the Increase. Disease Grows in State, but Not in the City of Minneapolis. Superintendent of Pasteur Institute Describes Treatment. Fantastic Ideas Held as to Propagation of Rabies Dispelled.”; July 5, 1908; p. 15.

1http://www.canadaab.com/distance/28121347-28007019
_________________________

Winifred Randall survived her ordeal with rabies. From a scientific standpoint, her recovery was very important for the Pasteur methods.

The Minneapolis Tribune; “Treatment Given Girl Will Prevent Rabies”; May 29, 1908; p. 9.

_________________________




Louis Pasteur2

During the mid-to late 19th Century, Louis Pasteur demonstrated that microorganisms cause disease and discovered how to make vaccines from weakened microbes. He developed the earliest vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and rabies.3

2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur#/media/File:Louis_Pasteur,_foto_av_F%C3%A9lix_Nadar_Crisco_edit.jpg

3https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/louis-pasteur

No comments:

Post a Comment