The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-12-08

From GALIGANANI's MESSENGER (PAR-
Is) july, lS55.-An in interesting pa
per on the successful treatment of this
dreadful affection, and the allied discas-
es of s~crofula, tabes mesenterica, etc.
by the hypcphosphites of lime and soda,
has Just been presented to the Academy
of Sciences by DIR. j. +. Churchill. 1t
has long been known that, among the
inorganic or mineral substances which
enter into the composition of the body,
phosphorus is to be met with IN consid-
able quantities, but chemists and phys
iologisrs are, as yet, unable to decide
whether it is found only IS ~phosphoric
acic; that is, in a state of complete OK
dation, and, as SUCH, NO longer liable to
be burnt by the oxygen of the atmos
pbere, las, for instance, in The mineral
matter of bones1 or whether it also ex
lists in a lower state of ~oxycation, and
as such, capable of keeping up the slow
CONFUSION which constitutes one of the
principal phenomena ct life. Opinions
upon this point are very nearly balanced,
the celebrated Liebig, for instance, STA
ting that it is impossible to decide TIE
question in the present state of chemical
analysis, while bis chief disciple in En-
gland, the late DR.. Gregory, Professor
of Chemistry at Edinburgh, declares
that it is absurd to supTos that phos
phorus can exist III the animal frame Iii
any other condition than as phosphoric
acid.
DIR. Churchill, by a series of seien-
tifc deductions, which it would be for
eigu 10 our purpose to examine, came,
in 1865, to the conclusion, that not only
was it necessary to admit that phosphor
us existed in the body, in a oxydizable
or com ustible conditions, bu: likewise,
that the prcximate cause, or at least, an
Indispensable condition, to the existence
Of consumption or tubercu :osis, was the
undue waste, oT the deficient supply OF
the principle. Hence, lie drew the OBJ
vious inference, that the meaus u cur
.ug the disease, consisted In the restor-
ing of the deficient elements.
For this purpose it was necessary to
some compound of phosphorus,
would be at the same time oXydi-
aud assimilable, that is, capable of
into and forming a part of the
These conditions were found
. exist in the hyposphosphites above
mentioned. DIR. Churchill's views were
irst made known last July, in a paper
presented to the Academy of Medicine,
ind subsequently, embodied in a work
IN Consumption, which appeared III De-
.ober. Since then, the author has co
inued and extended his researches, and
lis recent communication to the Aeade-
Of Sciences is I founded on the obsCT-
alton of forty-oDe cases.
The sure of Consumption, in the Sc
.ond aud third stages (ata period, con-
Iequently, when there can be no u%ncer-
aiuty as to the nature of the disease,)
be obtained in ali cases, by the
treatment, except when the existing les
on of the lungs is of itself sufficient to
death. Contrary to the opinion
generally received, the third stage of
Consumption is, all other circumstances
icing equal, more amenable to treatment
han the second Hereditary predispo-
ition seems in 10 way to counterfeit the
fleet of the hypobhosphites; patients
u whom it was strongly marked I%ecov-
ring as rapidly as others.
The paper has been referred by the c
academy to a committee consisting of :
)rs. Series, Andral, and Claude Der
ard, and it is highly desirable that
bese gentlemen should losse as little
inc as possible in verifying whether and !
ow far DIR. Chu. chill's views are found :
d in truth ; more particularly as the /
athor states that the remedy discover ! !
d by him has not only a curative eject, !
will, if used wherever there exists a {
Of the disease, prevent its de- t
elopment, and thus act as a preserva-
We with regard to Consumption just as