New-York tribune., 1884-11-30

HOW THE DOCTORS Observation-Disclosures
AND FACTS.


HOW The DOCTORS Observation-Disclosures
AND FACTS.
tFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
PARIS, Nov. Ia.
Tho cholera is a great deal less deadly than had
been anticipated, and medical men do not know
what to make of it, Were it as violent here as
| il was at Touon and Marselles earlier in the year.
the number of deaths would I've little under $500
day. Is it caused by tho Koch baclaf Is 1t due
to brusque variations of temperature. or to some
thing III the air, or to an invasion OF microoes
which come just like lOcusts and instead OF devour-
ing green stuff feed on human beingsf Pastcnr in
clines naturally to tho latter theory. fauvc VINO
has Just died of pneumonia said it was CROWN OF
dirty soil Ricord thinks Ii Is in the air and Will
not harm healthy people. unless they happen 10
havo passing illness when they inhae the poison
DIR. Decaisne is of the same opinion. DR.. Ger
main S6e professor of the Paris Faculty
of Medicine inclincs to tho bscila theory.
DIR. Boscho Fontaine has such small faith
in them that the other day ho swallowed
in hospital four cube ccntmetres Of cholera pa
ticnt,s deections, made into pills to disguise the
nastinass of the experiment. He ad nits tn 1t he
was out of sorts for two days after his head
ached his stomach and ntestincs were disturbed
but he was not too i'll to attend to his medical du
ties.
DR.. Boggs. an English practitioner who for
MANY wears practised in India. has favored me
with long conversation about cholera. lie tells mo
that 1t has bsen puzzle to himand is more so
now than evor. He never remembers seeing worse
endemic than ono which swep. lIydera bad in Cen
trai India The proportion of soldiers whom he had
to attend daily came to about eighty OF these about
twonty three died Tho cantonmcnt where he was
was admirably situated on high ground where water
did not lie. The district was hiy and salubrious.
No river was near A largo tank from which
the neighborhood derived ITS water supplies
was about mle away. The troops obtained
theirs from wells at some distance from the oan-
tonment and quite out of the way OF pollution.
"Dld the plague" asked. "visit yOu in the wet
season or In timc when thcro were groat ranges OF
temperature I" at came IN dry, hot. eqnable
weather In fact all lithe conditions were tho just
reverse of those which Koch and men OF his school
hold to be favorable to The sproad of cholera. The
men we're we'll fed. we'll housed and nationally
clothed. Much as they suffered, the disease cid
not cause snch havoc among them as among the
natives English soldiers weatlercd the gale bet
ter than sspoys I}ut all who drank or were at all
snrofuIous were stricken down. scr0fulou man.
woman OF child has no chance Of recovery II seized.
got to know almost at glance VIII 'thef patient
was going 10 die or otherwise as soon ~ no was
brought into tho ibffrD0ty.
II and tho othof doctors tried oTofy
sort Of treatment We even tesoftsd b
ico.baes Oh tho spine which Just then
had been put forward ~ London ~ soyet'
oign fsmsty. Every sort 0f Treatment shes
eseded and every sort failed, believe that tlioss
who had strong vital reaction got well and w0nlh
have done so with very litlle assistance from rs,
and that lhoso who had hot wore swept away
| Patients who pulled through twelve hours time
wcro certain TO recover. Cholera Is a very black
cloud but IL has silver7ning. 1t makes clean
sweeps The families of those whom il soIocts are
not ruined with doctors aud chemists bills.
man has Just time to mako his will before being
hurried out Of this world"
"You tell me that you yourself had bad st..
tackT
al had and was given over, which is the reason
! am now alive The treatment was five grains OF
caomcl and a grain Of opium. was not allowed
to drink anything, which was a great mistake.
was tormented with thirst. and the
rctching would not have been violent had there
been constantly something OH my stomach to throw
off. l had been ten hours i'll when the DOCTOR
thinking il was all over sent the iairnary attend
ant who was at my bed to go and attend to ano,hcr
| patient When l found was alOnc got up aud
drank pitcher full of water 1t brought sense OF
relative well-bclng. The vital reaction SET in very
soon aftcrward, and to the astonshment OF the doc
| tor / was out Of danger next morning. Nature
should always be consulted in attack of cholera
| The retching should with the help OF warm or al
most hot water. lie turned into vomiting. Whatev-
cr poison there may bo in tbs stomach will be thus
| cleared of. The intestnes should also be
| clcansed by mechanical means and with starch
water and O lutte laudanum. Opium should not
be overdone, but it is valuable IN preventing
pain which, by weakening, is a hindrance TO
vital reaction Admitting the comma bacillus
it would if swallowed by % healthy person IN the
water drunk at meal DO Killed bv inc acia
| its normal state. Bat If taken into an
| unhealthy organ, 1t would increase and multiply
gst into the intestincs Wero thcro Lessons, III
would get into tho blood. The coating OF IA drunk
| ards stomach IL always lnhamed and covered with
| thick mucus. | incline 20 think this Is inc ret-
Of them. Old people also are subject TO stomach
| coughs. Tncy ought, in cholera times, to tak6
pepslne and lemon Juice at meal times. The pepsinc
would dissolve the phiegm which isa excel cnt soil
for microbes 10 breed H. and the lemon juice. were
the power 30 secrete gastric juice low, would kill
| tie animalculg In hot countries, instinct drives
| people to suck lemons Children III India IKE them
better than j0O.'
Doctor Kicord stands out against the theory that
| cholera is contagious. In 1882. he SAID, ne was
| six hundred patients. There was no separate
ward FOR these attacked with. ch0icia. which was
far more terrible in its attacks than il now Is. Not
| O single person who was not solzed by the epidemic
before entering the hospital suffered from ii. Neither
did any OF the Students SisersO Charity nor nrm
AIRY attendants. In the course OF the present v,s-
alton moreover there has not been victim among
those whose duty II IL TO face the Asiatc invader
In hospital wards Ricord further told me that he
was charged with the task Of giving anatomical