The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-01 00:00:00

A REMEDY FOR DIPHTHERIA.

-
This affection, which comprises those known
under the various names of bad sore throat, agina,
croup, and the French engine couenneuse, has
hitherto been considered one of the most difficult to
cure. We some time back gave an account of Dr.
Trideau's method, which consists in administering
storax under the form of a sprup ; but we now find
in the Revue Therapeutique a paper by I)" A. De
Grand, Boulogne, late French Vice-Consul at
Havannab, in which he mentions ice as an infallible
specific. As this, from its extreme simplicity,
would,
teffreeZne' be far superior to any yet tried,
we from quoting the cases mentioned
by
r the eaac k
if
llsauthor, who had published this remedy as
f
as February, 1860, and consequently com-
plains (not without reason, if its efficacy is such as
he describes it) of the inexcusable
negligence of
practitioners in not taking notice of it, and
thereby allowing many valuable
lost. The following cases lives to be
observation after that d came under his
ate. In March
April, 1861, the disease in and
question
under a epidemic form, and broke out
chiefly attacked
adults, with such virulence that in
young women died in a single one week three
house.
Grand's patients fir One of Dr.
a ieted with
with it, and as he blephacite was seized
could not immediately
owing to the severity attend,
of the case
another physician
was called in, who ordered emetics d
gargles, which produc d an aluminous
e no effect. At length Dr.
Grand
came, and found the
tonsils greatly swollen,
and a false membrane
imme-
diately adm• • cov-ring them. He
unstered small pi • eces of ice, and by the
following morning the tumefaction of the tonsils
had diminished by half, and the false membrane had
nearly disappeared. That very evening she was
enabled to take food. A. few days after her brother
was seized with sore throat, •
presenting the same
preliminary symptoms as those of his
he, profiting by this
example, without waiting for
the doctor, took ice,
and
was rid of his sore throat
in a few hours. Some
days later Dr. Grand was sum-
moned to a youn g lady who had been labouring under
the disease for 48 hours; all remedies had failed,
and the parents, relations, and friends of the family
were plunged in the deepest sorrow. When Dr.
De Grand ordered ice a general cry of astonish-
ment was uttered by all present. Ice for a sore
throat ! Impossible! it was sheer murder ! Dr. De
Grand maintained his ground, and after much ex-
postulation, during which much time was lust, he
obtained his end. Before 24 hours were over the
patient was in tall convalescence. Being at Vera
Cruz on a mission, he was requested to see a young
• man who waaattackcd with a malignant sore throat,
and had been treated without effcct by
cauterisa-
tions with hydr,,chlorie acid and astringent gargles.
lie again had to battle with the prejudices of the
family, but was at length allowed to administer ice.
The young man recovered in the course of the fol-
lowing day. Pr. Da Grand has now been using
this remedy for the last 12 years without having
met with a single failure. This is what he says, but
even if only half what he says were true, the
method should be tried by others. Cold gargles
have been employed with success by Dr. Blanc, of
Strasburg; why not ice ?—Galignani's Messenger.