American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-08-14
Gasoline Recommended as a Remedy
For the SMALLPOX.


DR.. THOMAS NICHOLSON, of St. Louis,
writes to the Republican lof that citv) re,
garding the use of gasoline as a cure for
the smallpox:
The importance of this article is world
wide, and if my discovery be successful
in its general application It will be hailed
as beneficial to humanity as the discovery
of the protective power of vaccination by
the immortal Jenner. ....-
My special study of this most 1oathsome
disease began in New Orleans in 1870. l
knew there was no specific remedy to cure
it. There are many palliatives, it is true,
but upon the whole, in the language of
an eminent author, DIR. T. II. Tanner, F.
X. s., of London, " the less drugs are used
in the treatment of smallpox the better /;
since they will neither shorten the disease
nor exert any favorable influence upon
the eruption" The horrid disease occurs
now and then, as by cycles, malignant or
mild, as the conditions of the mysterious
cause are more OF. less poisonous, and in
spite of the best sanitary prophylatics-
not excluding vaccination even.
1t occurred to me as sound philosophy
that the uis medicatrtr nature would 90
on much better if there were no skin
trouble-no pimples and pustules to in
terfere with and wholly or partially de-
stroy the natural excretory function of the
skin which is so essential to life. l then
began to ask myself whether the eruption
was necessary? What causes it? How
does the unsightly shield of scab over
spread the body? Is heat the cause of this
local trouble? And is it not pretty certain
that the crop of eruptions is the seed by
means of which the foul disease propa-
gates itselfs The poison is not contained
in the blood nor in the ordinary secretions
OF smallpox patient, since persons vac
cinated with either remain unaffected. 1t
Is contained in the contents of the pus-
tuless and in the perspiration. This is
proved on the one hand by successful vac
cination with the contents of the pustules
and on the other by the contagion, which,
in most cases, results without immediate
contact with smallpox patients"
Were it not for the severe inflammation
of the skin there would not be any erup-
ton at all. This led to the conviction
that heat was the primary cause of the de
struction of the skin Indeed, the inflam-
nation of the skin is i'll exaRt proportion
to the intensity or height of the fever;
and the severity of the disease always
bears direct proportion to the crop of
eruption There is no danger at all when
the fever is to,o and the quantity of erup-
ton little.
Now the destroying heat of the skin is
not the disease, nor is it a cause - it is an
effect. Immense friction or molecular ac-
ton is going on TO produce this heat and
consequent skin destruction. But can this
fire. be put out or controlled? If this
raging fire be not checked or quenched
there is imminent danger of the patient
losing bis life, or be hidcously marked for
life. We know that if the whole skin be
1drntsted it will cause the extinction of
life; how much greater, therefore, the de-
structive effect of the parching fire of the
intiamed skin surface!
The constitutional heat or fever obstructs
natures benign process of regulating the
temperature of the skin and body, name
ly: the process of exhalation and evapora-
ton. Man can endure temperature of
300 degrees, or 600 even, with perfect i'm
punity for time, provided the skin acts
freely, and the perspiration that exhales
from the surface is freely evaporated, but
not otherwise. DIR. Erasmus Wilson tes-
titles that he sat without the slightest in
convenience in a hot-air- bath at 24O de-
grees, that is, twenty-eight degrees dboUe
the boiling point And he says; "If l
had had bread or meat or eggs with me
they must necessarily have been cooked
at that heat"
Now, nhy is beefsteak or mutton-chop
cooked in hOt-air bath. the high temper
allure of which the human body can en-
dure with perfect impunity, nay, with