Sharp County record., 1885-02-19
CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE.
A Physician Says 1t VIII Cure Diphther
as Well as Kill Bedbugs.

menting with new cure for diphthe,
ria?" inquired a reporter of Brooklyn
physician yesterday.
do you mean the bed-bug cure?n
asked the doctor, with twinkle in his
eye.
mo news OF the bed-bug cure has
reached me-" was the reply, "but I
heard tnat you had been experimenting
with corrosive sublimate.
Same thing" said the doctor 1T
is no invention or discovery of mine. Ii
has been known to the reading and in.
telligent portion of the medical frater
nifty about year.
'But why do you call it the bed-bug
cure?"
because the use of it for diphtheris
came about in this way: A physician
in Pennsylvania, a country doctor, had
patient child, very i'll with diph.
liberia. The case had advanced very far
before he was called He found the
disease so far advanced that he had lit
tie hopes of the child's recovery. He
gave prescription and told the childs
mother not to send for him unless there
was some marked change. As he was
leaving the house the mother asked him
to tell her what to use for bed-bug poi &
SON. He gave her the form Of a
solution of corrosive sublimate and
went home. The mother came to
him subsequently, and said the child
was doing well. He told her to continue
the treatment. The next day he called
to see the child, and found it much bet.
ter He was a little astOnished, but
concluded that it would be safe to con.
tinue the treatment, and said to the
mother: 4 will give you another pre-
scription.' The mother replied: 'Tha
is not necessary. | have plenty of the
other left Not necessary said The
doctor with surprise. Why, | only LEFT
YOU dose for day We'll, | have
BIG lot left, continued the mother
Let me see it, said the doctor Then
the mother brought out the bed-bug
poison. The doctor looked at the bot
tie first with horror, then with amue
ment, and finally with interest.
"'Are you sure you gave the child
that?' he asked
- am sure, and the child beganb
get better Immediately persisted tht
mother.
.'Well, 90 on with the treatment
said the doctor. The mother did gOG
and the child got well.
The mother had got furried an
had mistaken the one solution for h
other. The doctor was thOughtI
maD. He remembered the circumstana
the next time he got diphtheria Ps
tient, and kept on trying until he cor
cluded he had hit upon an almost Ger
tain cure. He had the manlinesS an
humanity to give his discovery to th
world through paper read before
! PENNSYLVANIA medical society. Ihe
the medical journals took hold OF
anu rOr piru-io 49,. .-.,a'y lahrsiniar
in all parts of the world have been p
inc attention to it. In Germanyt
blood has been photographed in eve
stage of the disease and the inproE
ment under the bed-bug treatment
tually shown by a series of pictures.
But, is not corrosive sublimate
active poison?'
"YeS; so are arsenic, morphine
strychnine, and lots of other mediGH
known to be of inestimable value
medicine and surgery. They are u'
full when they are properly used. y
How do you account for the succF
of the medicine?"
1T is simply germanicide, or
killing of the germs OF the disease
know that in diphtheria there are cou
| less germs called bacteria. They
meate the blood The corrosive SUI
mate begins to kill these germs at Oh
and soon disposes of them altogetH
Now you will recollect that the cor
sive sublimate was intended to hI
very small insect The mothers
take simply gave the bacteria the a3
intended for the bed-bug. When!
come to think of it, it is not so very
prising that medicine that will I'll
bedbug Or a man will also XIII
teria." ]
But is there not danger that +
use of such a medicine will poison !
ple?n |
"Yes, the same danger that theI d
in using any other powerful rene t
agent 1t must be used with care g
intelligence. 1t so happened thal t
mother who first used it did not a. O
harm. Others might not be 50 10
| nate. |
Haze any physicians tried the s.
remedy and abandoned it? C
Yes; out | think that has gent. r.
been the result of timidity. DIpn'D
is terrible disease and requires n
ic remedy. The treatment hele'% fc
has been to brace up the pattern st
tonics. Various investigations N
shown that eighty per cent Oh 81
liberia patients die OF exhaustion 4.
new remedy eradicates the u Sc
| CpooIil,, - ". Y Sum NfEI n