The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-06-08
For The Bulletin
DIR. WOLFE'S COMMON SENSE.
LETTER No. XVI.
CONCLUSION.

Mr.. Editor;
In assuming the falacy of the usual treat
ment, and the entire durability Of asthma
by Inhalation, it is not our intention to
claim any wonderful knowledge or miracu
lous skill, but merely to explain the grounds
and results upon which we base this opin-
ion. Experience has abundantly proved
that We can not send remedies through the
stomach and general system that will exert
a bcneticent local influence on the lungs.
Where fact has become 80 individually
established by the trials and testimony of
ages, it isunwise and Improbable to dis
pute it, And this fact is clearly establish.
cd, not only with reference to asthma, but
it applies with equal force to every disease
that can be reached by local medication.
Affections of the eye, of the throat of the
skin, the bowels, and stomach, are all treat
ed with great success by the direct ap-
plications of washes, ointments, injections,
mixtures, etc. Now, analogy is clearly in
favor of applying the same principle to the
treatment of all diseases Of the lungs, and
especially of asthma, an affection we have
shown to be purely local, both in its cause
aud effect If we had no facts, we might
reason from the nature of this disease alone,
with great force in favor of local treat
ment. But is not the analogy placed be-
yond all question by well known facts re,
garding the beneficial action Of medicine
in this diseased Has not the little relief
obtained from the old custom of burning
"saltpeter paper" or smoking strand
mum" and the more recent employment OF
''ether" and "chloroiorm" during the par
oxysm, been illustrative of the power Of in
hailed remedies TO control, if not cure, the
diseaso2 And though these can only be re-
gardcd as partial in their application, and
limited IN their usefulness to afiording re
lief during the fit, the relief they have given
overbaances the benefit obtained from all
other sources. Now, if this be true of the
inhalation of these simple palliativcs, you
can readily understand how prompt and
radical must prove a thorough and judc-
ious treatment by Inhalation under the
care Of n physician practically acquainted
with action of inhaled remedies, and who
directs his efforts not merely to relax the
spasms, but to subdue the morbid sensibility
of the pulmonary nerves,
1t has become the practice Of medical
men to pronounce all alleged cures of con
sumption as cases of chronic bronchitis only,
Though such view is wholly erroneous,
let us accept it, to save argument. What
is asthma in the great majority of cases
but bronchitis, attended by spasms of the
arcells2 The same condition without
paroxysms we call bronchitis dry or
humid, as the case may be-but with par.
oxysms asthma. If inhalation is sufficient
to cure bronchitis when 50 invetcratc as 10
resemble consumption, it must surely be
sufficient to cure asthma in all cases dc.
pending on simple bronchitis. Again, in
asthma arising from morbid sensibility Of
the pulmonary nerves, soothing and tonic
inhalatiohs will cure il entirely.
OF purely spasmodc or nervous asthma,
there are very few cases that do not admit
OF radical cure. This narrows the inoura
BILE cases down to those old and inye,crate
enphysemas which depend on structural
changes The lungs in these cases can be
80 invigorated by proper inhalan,s as to
render them but little susceptible TO those
influences which bring on the fit, thereby
saving the patient from the suffering of re.
peatcd attacks, and rendering life com.
paratively comfortable.
The length Of time needed to change
the condition OF the lungs, on which en-.
physematous asthma depends, is necessarily
greater than to simply arrest o paroxysm,
Some forms Of asthma are often radically
removed in the brief space of few weeks.
But Others that have become nvcterate by
aye require more persistent treatment DO.
| lore the case ia we'll established