Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-28
DIPHTHERIA.
BY ALFRED HUGHES, N. D


Some one has said t.the agitation of
thought is the beginning of Truth"
4 Facts, fully and clearly demonstrated,
become self-eYident truths. To reason
from false position, and believing it to be
true, even clearly demonstrable facts may
appear rs ahsurdities.
What are now known to be the greatest
absurdities, for centuries were received as
infallible truths.
And if it is supposed the seeking or in-
vestigating new things, will lead us from
the possession of presumed truths, or al
lure us into heresies, then there is at once
la full stop put to the advancement and
progress of all sciences.
Now it has been said by the greatest
medical men, that there is no science so
utterly imperfect as that of medicines and
yet we know there is mono that SO init
mately concerns the health, and thereby
the welfare of the whole human race, and
/ that the finest intellects have spent their
existence in the effort to bring into being
an incontestable law of cure.
It is claimed by the disciples of the IL
Ilustrious Hahnemann, the founder of Ho-
meopathy-sEntilia sin'iIttus eurdnteT-that
such law is now given.
Take that law and test it, try it as you
will, and as you should, and By every law
of nature, and it will ever prove trium"
phantIy true.
Take any of tho terrible scourges that
have from time to time swept over this and
the Eastern Continent, and wherever this
system is practiced, you will always find
since Homeopathy has been fairly in ex-
istence-that It has ever and does still
meet them as an all potent aud conquering
power.
Cholera, as the amplest of experience
Twill attest, succumbed and yielded to the
treatment in very heavy per centum,
statistically, over the dominant school OF
practice. And the same has been most
abuudantly proven to be true, in that fear
full disease, Yellow Fever
And now most triumphantly the coun-
| try over, is that same superiority made ln-
contcstably manifest in this new throat
! disease. called Diphtheria, which has been,
| for sometime, and is still, so prevalent
throughout certain parts of our country
will here, however, t0ke,occasion to re-
mark that my object in introducing tins
Esubjcct is not at all to institute an inytdi-
Gus comparison between the two systems
| of medicine but to make known n few
facts, and offer some sincere and caFnest
lsuggestions, and then let the matter pass
| for what it may be worth.
Although this is a new disease to this
country, it is not, as is generally supposed.
l
vailed at times in various parts of Europe,
since the year 1851, aud in North America,
since the year 1865.
Bretonneau, physician of Tours, IN
France, gives n very complete account OF
such an epidemic having prevailed in
that city, aud some other towns, forty
! years ago, for over three years, where 1t
has occasionally appeared since his time.
| The past two or three years it has pre-
vailed in parts of England, and. especially,
in the coast counties, opposite to France,
and for still longer period, about the the
neighborhood of Bologne, on the other
| side. To Brctonneau we are indebted for
the name Diphtherite or Dphthe'7tls, by
| which name this disease is generally
known.
The formation of concrete membran
GUS emulation he considered, under the
| circumstances, to be so remarkable as to
deserve a special designation, and accord
ingly he gave the disease the above name.
But to that name objection has been rails
ed on account of the incorrect pathology
implied in its formation,
The Register General of England, al
luding to the presence of the disease in
that country, has adopted the term Diph-
theria as the most correct form of express
sion; for, as he very properly remarks,
"The termination tits, as in gastritls, is
used in medical language to designate pure
inflammation of the organ which the root of
the word expresses; hence ia has been sub
stituted for lite, (thc French form of itts,l
as it cannot with any propriety be placed
after Diphtheria, designating product of
disease, and not an organ of the body"
In this country Diphtheria first made its
appearance in Albany, NJ And there,
and in the surrounding neighborhood,
prevailed as an epidemic from September,
1853, to February, 1859, and was for some
time known rs the "Albany sore throat"
During the time of it's prevalence in AL
bany, there occurred between $50 and 300
deaths from it, almost exclusively chill
dren and young persons; nor, from recent
accounts, has it yet entirely disappeared
from that city and the surrounding locali-
ties.
Az with Scarlet Fever, SO with this dis
lease, it seldom attacks adults.
For the information of the general read
Ter, will here endeavor TO give, simply,
some of the most prominent symptoms
that usher in and accompany an attack of
this disease, although an invasion of the
disease may present greater variety of
symptoms in its manner of attack, course
and treatment.
Inflammatory, or intense redness of
fauces, tonsils and ulYula, is first OBJ
served, accompanied by more or less
extensive formation of false membrane, of
dull white, or ashy color, which may
either appear in little patches, or small
white specks, on one or both sides, pre-
senting the appearance, at first sight, of
small white ulcers: But in attempting to
remove these albuminous pellicles, the
membrane beneath is discovered unaf-
fected, and scarce perceptibly changed
in color.
The persons affected may be attacked inr
1.-THE full vigor Of health, though, mostly,
there is preceding something of rigors, in
deed, amounting almost to a positive chill;