St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-01-24


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by Dr.. Lewis A. Sayre, Of this city. His
method is one of those admirable attain
ments Of the highest class of inventive ge:
MUS which, from. their extreme simplicity
and obviousnsss, awaken in every, mind
the remark-''Why, I might have thought
Of that myselfV Yet nobody ever docs
think, Of it till the inventive genius hap
pens to show him the way; ,,,,: !,:.s.,
The method of DR.. Sayre was the result
of the following observation. He noticed
that, if the discharge of Dipthcriiai was was, ex-
tpectorated upon any dry and warm sub
stance-7-such as the side Of a stove, for in
stance-it. immediately became, a, tough
pelliclo, like a shred Of goldbeater's skin.
But if:the expectoration fell into a vessel,
containing warm water it remained liquid
and limpid; like ordinary thin lymph or
| mucus. 49, , ,,.. r
1t now occurred to Dr. Sayrc, that, if
from the first stages Of the formation Of the
false membrane hot and limpid atmos-
phere could be kept in contact with it, it
would remain as soluble IS in this last
mentioned case, and be easily elected thro'
the nose and mouth like common mucus.
T. Several means Of procuring this contact
suggest Themselves: The we'll known plan
of inhalation from tEespout Of tea-kettle,
and the ordinary ,vapor bath, are among
these. But the former. is evidently i'm.
practicable with those young children who
are the most frequent suffer ers from Dip
liberia! They cannot. be made to keep
their mouths in position over the narrow
steam surface Of kettle The Hapor-bath
is relaxing to the general system-ana
cannot be thought Of in case which, like
Diptheria, requires every tonic and stimu-
lant that can be made available Moreo-
yer, it would be manifestly impossible to
continue the. patient in vapor-bath :thro'
a;period as long as the membrane is accu-
mulating. =: II "> .,'
Dr.. Sayre finally adopted this method:
Having put the patient in a tightly shut
ROOM he had a fat iron heated to as near
the white heat as possible. He suspended
it over pail in the sick-room, and kept
the attendants pouring water on it till. it
ceased to ;evaporate every drop that came
in contact with it. AS soon as the iron
was cooled down to such degree that any
surplus Of water remained 'unevaporized,
he replaced it with one freshly heated
He thus kept the room as full of; steam as
was consistent with comfortable breathing
and at temperature Of 800 F. This
process was continued for several hours
during which, not only the freshly sloug gh-
ed membrane was constantly being expell-
ed in liquid form through the nose and
mouth, but membrane previously indurated
in the trachea became soluble and was
elected in like manner. Meanwhile he
kept up the strength of the patient by the
above referred to means of beef and brandy.
The result Of this treatment was an en-
tire expulsion of the slough-and eventu-
ally, the complete cure Of a case which had
previously been abandoned as too desper-
ate for even the dernier operation Of ira
chetomy. ,.......,.. .:
Undoubtedly tie means Of evaporation
for this purpose will hereafter be sinlpl-
fed by the discoverer of the method. He
has plans at present under consideration
by which the process may go on lndepend
emily of the laborious and sometimes unre-
liable cooperation Of attendants. Still, it
is now fixed fact, that we have made the
great and conclusive step toward a certain
cure of Diptheria. H..
The utmost care of the patient for weeks
after the Immediately dangerous symptoms
have disappeared, is necessary to prevent
a subsidenae. into the diptheric statc..
Even where there is no return of the
sloug Ching tendency, the general prostra-
ton of the system is usually so extreme,
that the most nourishing tonics, and stim-
ulant treatment are called for, to ward off
a naturally supervening attack Of typhoid
or low nervous fever-rapid dechne-or
chronic debility. There is perhaps no
form of disease known to the children's
practitioner, in which skillful hygenie
and home-treatment are more Imperative
ly demanded to follow up and pcrpctuate
the results of medical effort. If possible,
the greatest care must also be taken du-
ring tho period of fetid discharges to sep
arate the, remaining children of family
from the diseased one, for, as we have
above observed, this stage Of the disease
is quite infectious.
We notice that Dipthcria is again be-
ginning to manifest itself as an epidemic
in some of. the rural 8 districts of New
York and the neighboring states. The
words we have said, may be of still more
use in city like ours, where life is so
closely packed-infection and death so
easy. But Of these latter evils there is
no need. Cure is measureably simpli6ed
-drevention simpler still: .....,,.
Terrible Encounter With a Grizzly.
From the San Francisco Herald Nov 81 ]
We find the following account Of ter
rible encounter with grizzly bear in the