The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-05-06
Select Nlistellanp.
General Grants Case.

UtutIHl UThubS tHSts
The patient is said to be suffering
from epithelioma of the throat, and
brief description of what is meant by
this term is needed to make clear the
dangers which threaten this distin-
guished man. The healthy throat is
lined by delicate, smooth membrane
of pearly red color, whose purpose it
is to line the important passages for the
entrance of air and food; in healthy
condition this membrane is constantly
moistened by small amount of mucus
furnished by small glands in the sub
stance of the membrane. The surface
of this lining is composed of layer of
delicate cells, flat discs, which re-
semble the blocks of a marble pave
ment. These cells are laid upon the
tissues beneath as pavement blocks
rest upon substratum of boards and
composition, and hence the name cpl
thelial," which means laid upon"
In health there is always a certain wear
and tear of the surfaces of the body,
and the cells of this membrane are cast
off and renewed as needed; they may
be scraped off by the tongue, and
easily subjected to microscopic study
1t is observed that the continual pres
sure and irritation of anything held
constantly in the mouth and rubbing
against the lips or irritating the sides
of the throat, as a broken tooth or pipe,
will cause these cells to increase in num-
Der greatly. 1t is law of production
that excessive production furnishes
product of low grade of vitality and re-
&c -, e. 4,,1
trated in cancers of various kinds. Epi-
thelioma, or epithelial cancer, is an
excessive formation of the cells natu-
rally lining the cavities of the body.
These cells, by their increase, iniure
by pressure neighboring tissues and or
gans, causing them to die, or become
partly destroyed. The abnormally pro-
duced cells have not the vitality of
healthy tissues; they die and decom-
pose, and the results of their decompo-
sition, absorbed by the patient, occa-
sion slow poisoning. The ac-
emulation of these masses of cells and
their death and absorption result in
patches of thickened tissue and in I'LL
GERS. 1t will have been noticed that
these conditions exist in General Grants
case. In several places the lining
membrane of the throat is thickened,
and partly liberated; there has been
some pain at times, for the throat is
richly supplied with delicate nerves,
and this pain, the papers report, has
been relieved by local applications of
cocaine. This agent is of compare
lively recent use, and merits brief no
tice. HydrochlOrate of cocaine is OBJ
tanned from coca leaves, furnished by a
South American plant. These leaves
have been used by the natives of the
country for nervine and stimulant.
Various experimenters had known of
the peculiar properties of cocaine, but
it remained for DIR. Carl Roller of vi
emma to announce, at meeting of a So
ciety of German oculists, held at Heidel.
berg in September, 1884, that the
drug was of marked practical value as g
local anesthetic. Since that time it has
come into common use to relieve loca
pain in mucus surfaces. This result
the drug accomplishes by paralyzing
temporarily the small nerves which lie
in the mucus membranes and by rem
dering the membranes partly or wholly
devoid of blood. This result is, o.
course, temporary, and cannot be in
definitely prolonged without injury. A
few drops of a solution of cocaine
dropped into the eye, and repeated
several times, will so suspend the natu
raj sensitiveness of the outer coating
that it may be pinched or cut through
without feeling. A solution may bt
applied by spray or brush to the throat
and thus the pain occasioned by injury
done to the nerves lying just beneath
the surface in the mucus membran,
may be quite allayed. While we car
readily see how the patients suffering
may be lessened, the idea natural,
suggests itself, How can the disease b.
cured? When easily reached, and a
soon as discovered, it should be Gu
anything but increased irritation ant
increased growth of the noXious de
post. If it cannot safely be eX
cised, local anesthetics and disinfectant
should be used to allay pain and pre-
vent, if possible, blood-poisoning. Will
infrequent exceptions, such growths re
suit fatally by exhausting the patient
strength and by their continual dealt
giving rise to prolonged blood-poison
ing. 1t is the middle-aged who are mos
susceptible to such disease. Smokin!
cannot be recognized as an importan
cause. Why the cells of one person
throat or lips should take upon them
selves such abnormal action, we do no
know. The cause of cancer is one o
the mysteries connected with Twin,
matter which we cannot eXplain.-E
p. Darts, M. d., IN the Interior.