The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-12-28

A Cure which Has Almost
wholly Removed the Fa-
laaIaGy OF IIhe Disease.
Scientific American.

Scientific AmerlcAEs
DR.. E. N. Chapman, of Brooklyn,
N. Y, has discovered an antidote
to the poison of diptheris, by which
the percentage Of deaths is reduced
to less than one in fifty. Statistics
show that the percentage of recov-
cries in cases treated under the rs.
ual practice is aboHt thirteen, or
eighty-seven out of q hundred suf-
ferers succumb to the fell disease.
Diptheria fret appeared in this
country In 1858. DR.. Chapman, in
1859, lost several cases, and became
disfrustful of the regular methods.
He had been usiDg alcohol in the
cure of ship fever, and he deter
IN ined, though contrary to all rnles,
to try it in diptheria. To his sur
prise, several of his cases recover
ed. He then tried quinia, and fouhd
IL acted well, but not quickly. At
last he settled on q combination of
the two, alcohol and quinia, and
with these two remedies, he claims
that diptheria is more emenable to
treatment than many common dis
eases. In an epidemic such as Dip
iberia, all are affected by the NOR
bific agent; but a'feW only yield to
it. Mature vigorous persons have
vitality enough to resist the disease
Children and adults are its usual
subjects. DR.. Chapman considers
that there is almost always super
added local and direct exciting
cause, such as defective exercise,
improper diet dark rooms, damp
houses imperfect ventilation, and
poisonous emanations from decom.
posing Nth In ipriVies, scesepools,
sewer pipes, etc. To such agencies
the strongest constitution will soon
succumb. The blood being dete-
riOrsted, its crasis is impaired and
its vitality lowered; and then the
sympathetic nerves. falling to re-
ceive due stimulus, Waver In their
efforts Go carry on the animal func-
tions. al
ssAlI local treatment" he says, ais
worse than useless. It exhAusts the
nerve force. and induces greater in
lection of the blood vessels, thus
favoring the exudation."
"Alcohol neutralizes the dip Their
itic poison, sets free the nerves of
animal life, subdnes the fever and
inflammation, destroys the pabulum
that sustains the membrane, cuts |
short the disease, conquers its Sc
quelae, and shields other members |
of the family from an attack. Up.
on the subsidence OF the fever, as is |
usually the case in from "A to SO |
hours, q purulent secretion begins |
TO loosen the membrane, and soon |
thereafter, to detach It in fiaky, rag
ged fragments. This process may
take place and recovery b0pOssible, |
even when-the iarynx and trachea |
are implicated. The membrane is
seldom renewed, when this secre.
ton is maintained by q steady nse
of the remedy. Alcohol Is as an
tagonlstic to diptheria 80 belladon-
na to opium, or quinia to malaria.
Like any other antidote, it must be
given promptly at the outset, or
otherwise its potency will be les
sened, perhaps lost altogether.
"Alcohol does not act as q stimq-
liant, nor induce any of its ordinary
effects. Enough may be given to
cause profound intoxlcation in
health, and yet there exists no signs
Of excitement or odor in the
breath" +
Quinia is an efficient alloy to al
cohoi. It energies the ganglionic
system, and thus enables the organ
ism to right itself and resume its
DR.. Chapman sustains his posi-
Ion by citing numerous cases in
which this treatment was success
ful. He states that, in his long ex-
peFience, he only knew of one case
where q drunkard had diptheria.