New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-03
THE GRIP AND THE DRUGS.
MORPHINE, QUININE AND CALOMEL AR
RAIGNED FOR THEIR MISDEEDS.
VIGOROUS PRIcKINGs FROM FREE LANCE
AMONG THE HOBBIES OF THE MEDI-
CAL PROFESSION.

a
countries have been sick, and that many have had
their last sickness Such sickness has been called in
fuenza, la grippe and grip.
When the common reader goes to a common diction-
airy for the definition of influenza, no reads that IL Is
" a violent form of catarrh'; and when ne turns 10
the word caarrh that is claimed TO be discharge OF
fluid from the mucous membrane, especially OF the
nose, fauces and bronchial passages caused by cold
In the head The prevailing sickness as represented
by different cases. could he called catarrh bronchts
neuralgia remttent fever, diarrhoea and pneumonia
To concentrate all Of suoh names into the word IN
nuenza is about like claiming that SIX persons who
from different constitutional conditions, manifest az
feTent symptoms, all one individual. \ certain
influence starts epidemic Of measles scarlet FEVER
and smallpOx,-one person not being susceptible 10
what another is,-yet would 1t be SOUND or saie 10
claim that there is no disease but measles large
portion Of Of the present epidemic exhibits no
catarrhal symptoms; and, 20 say the least, science
must be in imperfect condition which has not sehs
bic names for conditions and things.
There has been some speculation about the causes
Of the epidemic. Because the clerks of bank, having
some Russian money, became sick, the nasty con-
clusion that the money brought the germs OF inc
disease from Russia and such conclusion was exploded
when the convcts Of state prison, without any such
money, became sick. That the cause is parasite or
animalcule from without within the patient, or
neither has not yet been clearly demonstrated 10
everybody, as that two and two are four That IL
is miasma, when people sick upon the miltop as
well as In the valley, needs little more proof lhc
cause may be in atmospheric and electric chalse
which wiser generation may discover. Surely, the
effect and the treatment demand the greatest at
tcntion The present duty is more about the known
than theunknown.
The symptoms as observed among patients in
nelghborhood tone individual being weak and sus-
cepble in way and another in different way arc
those present with catarrl bronchitis, neuralgia, re
mitf fpvp Uleur1Sy
Of which have been earth many times before.
Sneezng hoarsencss, difficult breathing, general anu
local pains, soreness nausea, vomiting codness heat'
thirst deirum, want of appetite, weakness, cough
more less expectOraton and variable yet usually
sluggish pulse are the signs Of the sickness
Now let us pass from names and causes to an APP
picaton OF treatment to symptoms, and first con-
slider the popular yet injurious or fatal, KIND Inc
most Of the medical profession III IS admitted WIN d
blush for science) employ in the treatment OF tie
dseases-which cannot be reasonably put In the SIN
gular sense-their standard prescriptions Tor every All
ment, namely, morphine, calomel, Quinlne ana WINS,
key with some recently discovered drugs Of doubtful
utility.
When morphine was discovered, the best and most
concentrated anOdyne which has ever been found was
put into use. Choral and IFS followers are no better
only to have something new ana different 10 give !"
people who object to morphine. 1t Is with morphine
and the more recently discovered anodynes' as IL :
n matter of taste aud speculation. Where Is inc
sound person who dares claim that the new cigarette
is an improvement upon the old cigarl Morphine Is
a stopper or hindercr Of all healthy acuoh oi u'7
human system, and therefore has not the least curF
tive property Its is justified In incuFaDe casts
where there Is great suffering. Give 1t IN an acute
form of suffering as is found in the present epidemic
and what will be the consequence! IL thc pdtien'
cannot endure both the drug and the disease, there
will he lockingup of much morbid or bilious matter
in the system, death will follow, and the report VIII
probably 60 out that the patient had the grip when
developed into pneumonia such report Is as laiso
as 10 say that certain act or process VIII de'eiop
potatoes into pumpkins
The sick people who have lived under stnFeiylhe
and Intoxicating treatment are alive because they have
had mower of endurance and those who have dch
a painless death" could not have done o'her"i9o'
after being made stupid or drunk; being sometiuhs
as General Washington was, who was Obliged 10 uie
" without a struggle" just after he had had lour
copous bleedings," taken two doses Of caomei ana
then ten grains more. and five grains OF antlmohy
OF course, the quoting treatment gives nurses DuV
LITTLE IN do and friends assurance that the patient Is
not suffering. How pleased many OF "arheld'S al
mirers were when they frequently read tlaI TIC vas
either sleeping had just walked up, or was goihs
10 sleep when the awful facts were that the frequent
hypodermic injections of morphine and other Dau
things employed were killing the President, and ala
organ injured by his assassins bullet, and only needed
q nbvsician whose theory and practice Of medicine
yeas 10 aid nature. Natures laws are always anu
everywhere superior to the foolish prayers Vi oiso'
or the nonscnscal science Of doctors.
Under the head of the present epidemic IL co1io'
from medical authority that calomel' as "Aa'Ne
has the confidence of the majority yet 1t comes III
the face of the strong probability that mercury has
caused more rotten teeth diseased bones, rheumatism
a,d cIandular diseases than any other article Cor
rosive sublimate which is one OF the most acuNe
nelson's known, contains one more eqmValcnV Vi
chlorine than calomel does; and there Is gcod eV'
dences for the belief that such equivalent Is sometimes
added 10 calome from milk, in the laboratories oil 'c
stomaclls of children. and consequently has cauSeu
tbe sudden deaths Of many infants The DohcS OIL
a growing child have great attraction Tor chorlne
a,d therefore NAV draw calomel into them, and the
child is TINS made thermometer or something worse
sucb Is not visionary speculation, as human Dohcs
have been found infltrated with mercury when hau
he4n prescribed by doctors. Think OF the Hlii"
ogectpal and harmless movers OF the bowels ana the
tbnl ~ men who claim to be educated in the science
~ medicines choosing dangerous drugs for laAauNe'
such latter thinking is about like thinking Oh SeecV
ING fish hooks and iacknves FOR physic.
drip like oulnine, which is liable TO cause ana
eo,oo+mes does cause, blindness, deafness ana III
sanity should not have a place among medicines IL
&c given when malaria Is supposed to be causihs us
ease and does 1t ever cause the ehhlIiduon Vi any
no,son from the body II is not claimed to be
,tber cothartic emetic dluretic diaphoretic The
49,. that can he said about quinne is that its action
is nrob,bly mysterious. 1t is no better To remove
tbo cause of disease than neutralizng element
or compound thrown into dirty well Is to clean IL
ord u such cause and dirt are removed other means
have 10 he employed, II nature alone Is not sufficient
,or tbe work. 1t cannot he a safe to ncutralize
poison as to have it removed. As certain as that
usee contribute TO effects, certain II Is that there
is far better and safer treatment for intermittent
fovor or chill and fever, than TO employ qulnlhe.
such treatment has been tested for years and Is not
patented. al, No.
The reader must he satisfied, at present with not
half of the objections to morphine mercury anu