Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-03-27
Diphtheria.

| uessrs. Editors:-A Pennsylvania correspondent
OF the VERMONT CHRONICLE "E. c. S." seems
disposed to arraigr physicians because they do not
undertake to teach people through the public press
now To cure themselves Of all diseases, even the
most malignant It may be briefly said, in reply,
that the thing demanded is impossible The
now and the " when Of medical treatment
are 80 involved with the what" that the latter
Is useless (often much worse than useless) with.
out the other two; and these other two are too
personal to the physician to be communicated in
the manner desired In other words. the efficacy
OF remedies depends upon the skill and Judgment
OF him who administers them. It il, however,
the duty Of the humane physician to teach. by
both pel and word of mouth the plain facts Of
the origin and cause Of diseases so far as these
are discovered And we have had lately in Yer
mont some striking and affective proofs that the
so-called filth diseases" may originate in and
devastate the most intelligent communities. The
epidemic Of enteric fever from the "poison well "
Of Richford no less than the dphthera Of Burling-
ton, shows how the simplest rules of public health
may he neglected. No one who reads at all has
failed 10 read some Of the many warnings, from
the pens Of medical writer's, of the risk of allow
ing collections Of filth in the vicinity Of the sources
Of water supply. Yet our largest city discharges
| its drainage into the same basin from which its
drinking water is drawn, and the most used well
in Ricord stands by the side of the gutter Of her
main street The fact is that as yet our people
are not sufficiently relieved from ancient super
stitions 10 believe in what is called rational
medicine" They think disease is mysterious
dispcnsaton Of Providence" and not the result Of
their own disregard Of the lars of Providence 10
the same spirit they look for means Of cure to
some equally mysterious medical "hocus-pocus,"
rather than to the removal from the patient of the
source or cause Of disease. This, followed by an
intelligent eliminative palliative and restorative
treatment, which aims simply to sustain nature
and aid her in her efforts to throw out the poison
is rational medicine but it has little strength
with the people alongside of the specifics and cure
alls and blood purifiers which even the religi-
Gus press yet sees evil in advertising It is far
easier to keep the blood pure by healthy living
pure water, pure air and simple, well-cooked
food-than to purify" it with unknown drugs,
while still absorbing the poison from one or all Of
| these sources
In regard to this particular filth disease, dph-
theria while the formation of that membrane
which obstructs respiration may be measuraby
hndered or prevented by the use Of certain rem
edies, and thus death from suffocation often OBJ
viated n il " tho ,,er,, orro, ,s ,b moor, 3, ., s,
noso tho, tho disoosa i,soif co,, lao ,ros,od ga H.,
| copsao,o,ces In a hr,J,on constitution rar,ia,
naralvsis mr. otber soore,co o,.,idod h, on t,oai
ann,icatio, uh.tevor IL I, common .onso 10
think that a disease produced by a poison intro
| duced into opr hodies In mir ,vater mr. food and
narnea,irg nil tho tiss,os ca, bo o,rod h, ,,o,,
mon, directed 70 a singIo 1,cai ,,,,ifos,o,io, Q
| The dinhtberetic membrape farms in the tbr,a,
| Int IL will also anneor unon any raw snot ev.
ternalIv II il "A svmrto,r az tho disoosa and also
| a canse of its very preot fatality nm account of
the locality in which il is most commonlv mani
| tested Rut when we have discovered a means
Of nreventiug it, formation wbile We have larcay
| essened the nercentaoe of deaths and have inns
made the disease less fearfullv destructive and
more manageable We have mot found =, cnre IA,
diphtheria lis intensity and dapger will still no
in nronortion tn its factorsthe strength and onan
tity of the poiso, imbibed and the reactive vicor
NJ the individual svs,er in which II IA nonifested
MANY cases will die that do not die Of obstruction
| of the mir MESSAGES
Your readers NAV see from the above statement
nf facts known To every inteigent nh vsici,n that
| Treatment nv nevsnaner " no more than " trial
nv newspaner il infallibIe mr. even reliable yet
IL il well IN know what Ia do after tho mr., samoa ~
the disease IL discovered ar suspected and hefore