American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-12-13
[For the American Republican. ]
THE ATJONA EMEDV


THE RATIONAL REMEDY.
''An ounce of prevention is worth pound of +"
.MesSrS. Editors, -Consumpto characterize
ed as pulmonary consumption, and other tho
racic diseases, have become alarmingly preva-
lent in our country; and numerous, aud in too
many instances, contradictory remedies have
been obtruded on the public as panaceas and
absolute and infalIble cures in all cases. Com
mon observation, to say nothing Of our annual
bills of mortality is quite sufficient to aid a
thinking mind to form a correct estimate Of pre-
sumption and ignorance, however clamorous
may have been their pretens!ons. Ii is conf
IDENTIFY believed, that correct knowledge of
The relations Of things is Indispensable 10 correct
conclusions; and that the ability of the pretend
er should be measured by his knOlUiedge of these
relations. The relations that exist, and const-
tute the links in the chain of causes, must be
seen in their connexion from effect to cause,--
So much of the minuta of Natures operations
must be discovered, as shall enable the specta-
tor to see clearly, instead Of cropping in the
darkness of ignorance, or specializing with
reckless presumption The health and lives of
our fellow-men should be esteemed to be too
sacred and too valuable to the recipients, to be
sacrificed either to cupidity or obstinacy Of OPT
Mon.
special aim and end to attain, the foregoing re-
marks will satisfy the reader on this head
What that aim and end is, will be apparent as
shall proceed; and the reader being cautioned
TO weigh everything presented for his conside-
ration in the balance of Reason, and to test
everything by sound, common sense, will be
sufficiently on his guard to prevent his being
duped by sophistry, or deceived by wrong
statement of facts.
That consumption can be, and will be cured,
even in its most vrulent and cadaverous stages
do not doubt; for the only nfallible remedy is
the resurrection; the panacea that can cure "all
the ills that flesh is heir to-" This remedy will
not fail, but man cannot use nor apply it. To
arrest consumption in its inSipieat stage, and TO
check; by a rational remedy, its insdous APP
proacAes, by aiding the physical stamina, and
guarding the citadel Of life so closely, that the
enemy shall be prevented from making a lodge
ment, is all that aim at. To raise the dead
to life, or what is not less presumptuous to I'M
dertake, to prevent the dying from dying, and
pluck the dying from the very jaws Of death,
no remedy exists within the pale of Il rational
minds comprehension that man can employ
The discoveries that have been made in mo-
dern times, in tue science of chemistry, have
developed the true causes Of hepatic and pull
primary cause Of disease of the liver; aud Il
deficient quantity of carbon, and hydrogen as
=, consequence, Of disease of the lungs. The
food that sustans the human body answers
two intentions: First, to furnish constant
supply OF hbrinc and albumen to the blood
second, to furnish constant supply Of carbon
and hydrogen, that shall amount to an cQuiva-
lent TO the oxygen of the atmospheric air that
Is inhaled into the lungs with every inspire
ton. The process of oxigenation in the air
vessels of the lungs, by which the blood is pu-
flied Of its cal bonc acid the carbon being con-
verified into carbonc acid, and expelled from
the lungs in respiration, and the hydrogen into
water, is the true source or cause of animal
heat La former times, the effects of the oxi-
genation of the blood IN the lungs by means OF
The oxygen that we inhale by breathing, were
limited TO the simple process OF converting We
mis- into artcrial blood.
An adult man takes into his system from
the atmosphere, in one year, no less than from
700 to 500 pounds weight of oxygen; no part
of which remains in the body, but is given out
again, combined with carbon and hydrogen, in
the forms Of carbonic acid and yapor Of water.
The average quantity of oxygen inhaled per
dem, is estimated at fraction over % o.
Liebig, Ito whom profess myself principally
Indebted for dafa,) says, "The oxygen of the
atmosphere received into the blood Ill the
lungs, and circulated throughout every part Of
the animal body, acting upon the elements Of
food, is the source of animal heat" And that
sail living creatures, whose existence depends
upon the absorption of oxygen, possess within
themselves source of heat, independent of
n surrounding objects" Also, that "The COM
'ination OF combustible substance with oxy-
! en- is, under all circumstances, the only source
animal heat" Again, "The carbon of the
cd being converted into carbonic acid within
,e body, must give out exactly as much heat
if it had been directly burnt in oxygen gas
or in common air; the only difference is the
production of the heat is diffused over unequal
times" From these facts, considered with
their relations, the following corollary is de-
! duced:
- AssIming that magnetism is onlya modified
form of electricity, and that electricity, in its
extensive acceptaton, is the physical Prime
Minister Of Jehovah in governing and control
ing all matter, or the physical universe, the
conclusion is perfectly reasonable, that what
we understand by "the laws of chemical affi-
nity," is, simply, electric Influence, action, or
attraction. The human body is as much mat
ter, as is the oak tree; and both are controlled
by natural laws. All matter, according to the
laws of its organization, when organized, is
subject to supreme law. The laws of man S
physical organization, subject him to the laws
OF electric attraction. His body in certain
sepse, is chemical laboratory; where Nature
operates as the chemist. Now be it remem-
bered, that Nature operates on things as theu
are, and the man who fills his stomach with