The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1881-02-11
WHAT DIPHTHERIA Is.

DR.. James NJ. Kerr. OF FittsburE, has
published an article on the cause and
cure of diphtheria which is attracting
wide attention. lie declares that the
disease is not a result of sewer-gas. He
says it is local in its first stage, and con-
stitutional in the next, as result of
blood poisoning, and recommends treat
ment of a simple and effective kind. So
effective is this treatment that out of
forty cases he has lost but one, and that
one through the negligence of the pa
TENTS attendants in regard to diet.
The false membrane TO the throat at
tendant upon the disease can be removed
by local applications. For This rather
powerful lotion OF hydrochloric acid
and glycerine is recommended. But
the moment the membrane forms the pa
tient is threatened with another and far
more dangerous malady. While this
process is going on in the tOnSils q viru-
lent poison is distilled in the neighbor-
hood, very small portion of which, if
it passes into the stomach, produces
acute gastritis and thus poisons the
blood. The system becomes much de-
pressed, the action OF the heart and
brain is lowered, ordinarily to the verge
and sometimes to the worst condition of
paralysis, and the patient dies, not, as
is supposed, from asphyXia, but from the
presence of Yirulent poison in the blood.
After removing the false membrane Dr.
Kerr puts into the stomach a simple
chemical preparation, containing mag
nesia, to combine and neutraliZe the
diphtheretic pOisons and gently remove
them through the proper channels.
Meantime he supports the patient with
nutricious, nOn-iTTitant food until the
Crisis arrives, when wine, or, if neces-
saTy, whisky and brandy are cOpiouslv
used to aid in throwing off the clutch
that threatens to choke the life cut of
the heart and brain. This OF the dis
ease il its commOnest form. Malignant
diphtheTia is incuTable.
A reporter of the Eagle has interview
ed a number of eminent Brooklyn physi-
clans, and is glad to learn that some
thing like uuanimity has at length be-
gun to prevail as 10 the main character
lstics CT the disorder. He finds that
the sewer-gas theory has been abandon
ed. The dangerous pneumonia attend
ing the disease is attributed TO blood
poisoning. The system is iuOculaled by
some specific virus, whether bacteria or
something else, whose tendency Is 10
promote putrefactiOn of the tissues,
they do not profess to know. The mode
of treatment, therefore, has become
more nearly uniform. The parts first
and most tangible affected, namely, the
throat, fauces and nares, are locally
treated, either by external application
or by washes laid on with a brush, to
destroy the false membrane. How the
poison is introduced fl ON the throat in
to the system, if, indeed, it is, there is
4 difference Of opinion but one OF the
best authorities interviewed. Dr. Chiids.
who had great experience in the matter
gives it as lis opinion that DIR. Kerr
has hit upon an accurate solution of the
process, and that the course OF treat
ment recommended by him seems very
plausible. 1t differs in essentials in no
way from shat suggested by the Brook
lyn doctors, namely, to check the men,
bTaneOus growth with strong antisep-
ties, to administer antidoteS to the
poison in the stomach and remove iC
naturally, and by tOuics and stimulants
to fOrtify the system and assist il to
throw of the poison that has already
found its way into the circulation.