Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-08-08
THE MAGIC ELIXIR.
Some Philadelphia Physicians on DIR.
BrOwn.Sequard's Discovery.
[From the Philadelphia Record. ]

FROM the Philadelphia Record.l
DIR. Brown-Sequard, the great French
physician, in his reported discovery of an
elixir of life, thinks that he has found what
Juan Ponce de Leon sought for when he
found Florida, the Land of Flowers. An
eminent physician of this city said yester-
day: "Dr. Brown-Sequard's experiments
may be valuable and lend new lease of
life to old age, but he is not the first man
who has started out to find an elixir Of
life which would stay the hand of death.
Ponce de Leon, who discovered Florida,
was melted TO that adventure because in
his old age he heard of fountain that
would restore youth and beauty, and
started out from Porto Rico, but although
he lived six years after discovering the
land of flowers he never found the magic
pool which would restore his lost vigor,
and died, like all other old men, in 1921.
If DR.. Brown. Sequard has found new
life giver he will be the greatest man that
has ever seen the light"
81 never place much reliance in life
elixirs nor fountains of youth" said Dr. FL.
c. Shines yesterday in discussing the recent
experiments of DR.. Brown-Sequard, of
Paris, as described in the Record of last
Sunday. "They have been discovered and
rediscovered through long series of years,
by Esculapius and the Indian medicine
men and DR.. Faustus and scores of modern
bigheads, vet men continue tc he gathered
to their fathers in the good, old fashioned
style, and NO satisfactory death-killer has
yet loomed up. The discovery of DR..
Browns Sequard, however, has one virtue
that entities it to much greater respect than
the bulk of its predecessors: it comes from
a very eminent practitioner, who has al
ready contributed materially to the medi-
cal progress of the century. 1t is idle for
any one to condemn his method at this
early stage before the case has had thor
ough test.
"The Frenchman's testimony as to the
remarkable effects of his experiment upon
himself are to be accepted for what they
are worth, but, of course, prove nothing.
His own imagination may easily have led
to supposed renewal of youth, and the
wish may have been readily converted into
the thought A single analogous instance
was the discovery of blood infusion. The
medical world was nightly aroused at
this discovery, which, it was believed, con-
tained the seeds of immortal youth. Now,
however, blood infusion wanders forlorn in
the back woods of medical science"
"Dr. Brown-Sequards discovery must
vindicate its worthiness before it can be &C.
cepted as rational by the medical world"
said Jefferson hospital professor. "The
worthy doctors allegation that he felt
thirty years younger after his process of
injection by no means establishes that pro-
cess as advantageous, or even free from
grave danger. His mere recent expert
ments, however, are of considerable inter
est Two men past so and another near
threescore were submitted to the process,
themselves entirely unconscious of the
nature of the injected fluid. They were
much run down, and their vitality was al
a low ebb. The injection was followed by
general nervous excitement, an increase of
muscular power and a well regulated diges-
tion. These facts are valuable, and if they
can be substantiated by future develop
ments the discovery may assume q practi-
cal scientific worth. But the fact that ex-
periments of this nature are without prece-
dent renders prediction futile and absurd"