Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-03-03
COLD WATER A CURE
THE BATHS ASTONISHING EFFECT IN
TYPHOID FEVER.
German Theory Of Trea!ment-Souss the Patient in a
Tub Every Three Hours and Keep
Him There Fifteen Mn
utss.

ruch, OF the Manhattan General Hospital
OF New York city, has well-nigh succeeded
IN proving the vast superiority of German
methods Of treating typhoid fever over
those employed in this country. The cold
water treatment to which the Kaiser's sol
diers are subjected in the military hospi-
tails appears to be working wonders, and
its success has impelled DR.. Baruch, in
dismay at the enormous mortality among
typhoid patients in New York, to take up
the cold water cry with great ardor. He
hopes to introduce the system in his own
hos pital and by its practical results disarm
the pre- udice of his antagonist.
THE ORIGINATOR OF THE TREATMENT.
The cold water treatment is the idea of
DR.. Ernest Brand, OF S.ettin, who intro
ducsd it into the German hospitals some
years ago. It's practical benefits were soon
apparent, and it WAS adopted into several
leading French hospitals. A physician in
Lyons hospital has recently given the re-
msrkable testimony thaa out of l, 211 cases
treated by him there were bat - deaths,
or less than l per cent. A comparison of
the methods most in voge witt ,.e system
of cold water bathing gives 1t. sstonish-
ing results.
SOME AsTON15HIHG EIGCIEs.
Dr. Brand denounces IoCrdly tae ply
sicians who employ cold water &c limited
extent, but who stop short of his method
of continuous bathing. If the treatment
is begun at the right time and properly
carried out he claims that the mortality
will be almost nothing. He points ont
that of the patients treated by his system
the mortality in family practice has been
per can't, in military practice / per cent.
in hospital practice per cent, and in con-
sultation practice only I per cent. These
ratios, he declares, are absolute. while in
the partial system practiced by other ply
sicians the percentage Of mortality ragged
from 10 to IS, with remarkable oscila-
tons.
He further points to the PIussian army
reports as substantistion Of mis- claim to
the excellence OF ais system. Between the
years 1882 and 1914 the percentage of
deaths of typhoid fever cases was 25.s. In
1875, when the cold water method had
come to be pretty generally employed, the
percentage was reduced to 1919, aud in
1880 to 50 Stree then the ratio hes ma
terially decreased.
sOUCING IN COLD WATER.
Ths leading features of DR.. Brands
method IS the immersion of the patient in
moderately cold water every three hours,
provided his temperature is above 1922
Fahrenheit. The water Is KEEP. at tenn
perature of between 0U AM 40 degrees, and
the patient is allowed &c remain in the
bath for fifteen minutes, unless he is over
taken by heavy chill, wnen he is imme-
dately removed. Colder water is poured
gently and gradually upon his head, and
ne is made to drink glass Of diluted
wine. At the expiration of fifteen min
utes he is rubbed bTiskly and removed to
his bed In three hours, if his tempera-
ture is again above 102 ?, another bath is
administered, and so on through the day
and night
DR.. Brand delares that The faulty anti
pyretic method of treatment has been con-
fused with the true cold-water treatment
which he has practiced and taught, and
that an unfavC.4Die judgment mas beea
pronounced against his method only be-
cause it is not thoroughly understood.
TWO TROUBLESOME OBSTACLES.
DR.. James C. Wilson has recently be-
come deeply interested in the cold water
scheme. and he Joins DR.. Baruch in his cry
for a practical application of 1t IN this
country. 'There are two difficulties that
must be confronted" he said yesler-
day, when public opinion ehall
have given its consent to this innovation.
One is the difficulty Of procuring nurses
properly trained the olher is the fact that
patients are generally brought to the hos
pitsl when the disease has reached an adj
yanced stage These, however, are diff
culties that ought to be surmounted If
this new method is to increase our health
fulness. There is widespread prejudice
against it. Just IS there was for many years
against vaccination. Bat if large hos
pital should adopt the system, statistics at
the end OF a year could not fail to bsiiie
opposition"
PoPULAR PREJUDICE TO DE OVERCOME
DR.. Brand holds lst "thesystem can be
EMPLOYED even in be pcoree. homes; and
40 il can be if Their = trained medical ser
vice. It would b difficult, however, to
find single pat at willing to undergo
this treatment fore il Las been tested.
If a large hospital ahorld take it in hand l
believe the system would soon become
popular. Even yet, however, there ia bit
ter opposition to it among certain doctors
in Germany and France"
DR.. Wilson, like DR.. Brand, emphasizes
the importance Of treating the disease at
an early stage. If weak or more has
been allowed to elarse before the cold
water method is begun the case is almost
hopeless.