The semi-weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1890-1891, 1890-12-13
kOCH'S new CONSUMPTION DISCOVERY.
JAY Gould's Railroad TniOn-COnf-
dence Reappearing in Finan-
cial Circles at Home and
Abroad.
Another Big Enterprise FOR Montana
Which Will not be Located at
Great Falls - But we
Can't Have Every
thing. .
Especial Correspondence of the TRIBUNE.

Especial Correspondence of the TRIBUNE.
New YORK, Dec. Cit is probable that
a bill for the free coinage of silver will
be passed at the present session of con
gress. The senate which passed such a
bill last summer may be expected to act
with like liberality again, especially as it
has been reinforced by men from Idaho
and Wyoming who are friendly to the
silver interests. In the house there has
been gains from the same quarter and
many members havesseen new light since
they went among the people. o! course
of American production since it would
not do to let foreign nations send us their
surplus silver and receive therefore dol
lars that would circulate at par with gold.
The net result of free coinage should be
to make silver worth 81 80 per ounce for
the profit which now goes to the treasury
would then remain in the hands of the
miner. The United States minis now eX-
change gold dollars for bar gold of the
proper %fineness without any deduction.
III like manner the minis would pay for
silver IN dollars corresponding in weight
with the bullion. Attempts might be made
to hoard gold and discredit silver, but as
the influx of silver could not exceed the
actual production, all fears on that score
would soon subside.
From silver to consumption is a big
jump, but it can be made mentally. The
public at large and the medical world are
now considerably concerned regarding
DR.. koch's discovery Of a remedy for
lung diseases, such as consumption or
phitisis. In the first place it should be
borne in mind that the doctor is a scien-
fist of great merit, who went fearlessly
to India to find the bacillus which created
cholera. He found it and was rewarded
with a generous gift from the State. His
reputation in Europe and America is
high. Even Pasteur to his credit, sent
him recently, a congratulatory message.
DR.. Koch said recently in explanation of
his great discovery, that he found the
tubercular bacillus eight years ago. 1t
was at first warmly disputed but is now
generally admitted, he added:
l have ever since then been engaged in
the study of the deadly parasite, and in
endeavoring to obtain the ~inocculating
fluid which would kill the bacilli and
bring about sufficiently strong aud healthy
reaction to dispel them from the body
without at the same time destroying
healthy organs. Of course, this latter
has been the difficulty. I believe l have
it here" and Prof. Koch held up to view
a vial of the inocculating fluid. 1t is of
dark brown color and easily decomposed,
as the papers have it. "'There is very lit,
tie use my saying just now what the in
occulating fluid is or how | have obtained
it. 1t is has cost me years of my life and
l propose to retain the secret a few weeks
longer from publicity, though it is al
ready known to my assistants and to
many of my professional friends. Its
preparation demands infinite pains and
e%Xactness, aud it being prepared by my
assistant, DIR. Libbertz, to whom | have
confined this important part Of my work,
and | / believe | am discreet on this sub
ject with good and sufficient reasons.
Experience of premature disclosures has
made me wise. | calculate that | have
wasted one year of my life in combating
some captious and not very perfectly
conscientious critics of my original work.
Were | to publish now in the first stage
of the discovery, the exact ingredients
and the method of preparation of the
fluid, thousands Of medical men from
Moscow to Buenos Ayres, would tomor-
row be engaged in connecting it, and in
jectingi it for that matter. Is it far-fetched,
then, for Inc to suppose as | do, that more
than half of these gentlemen are incom-
petent to prepare the fluid which, with
special study and with special opportun-
tiles, it has taken me years to prepare?
linen, these experiments might cause in
~calcuable harm to thousands of innocent
patients, and at the same time bring into
discredit a system of treatment which |
believe will prove a boon to mankind.
But the people as well as the profess
sion will ask what success has been at
tanned? Has the the lymph been injected
into patients and what has been the re-
suit. On these points the doctor is quite
clear.
"Now," said he at the same interview,
"we will sum up the results of the treat
ment so far. In cases where the physical
condition of the patient was good, lupus
has yielded easily to the inoculating
treatment, even when the cases have been
OF many years standing. The bacilli have
beer destroyed completely after a number
OF injections, of course varying with each
case, and the web of lupus knots has in
some cases been sloughed off, but in the
majority it has been easily removed sur
glcally. The marble, or star, which marks
the spot is not so large, or the dis
figurement anything like so great as in
the case with the spoon treatment, and
consequently the danger of lessening the
usefulness of the affected limb is much
less; also | think the danger of reoccur-
ence lessened. Now as to the effect upon
lung tuberculosis, though the disclosure
IS Premature, will state first how we
stand. | have twenty patients with whom
l personally follow the treatment minute
~, ana they repesent-and i have, of
course, chosen them on this accountable
graduated stages of the disease. In fifteen
OF these patients the bacilli have COM
pletely disappeared from the sputa, they
have gained much weight, and have also
gained i'll general appearance and in
spirits, which is a not to be neglected
symptom.
In the remaining five cases we regret
to say there that there is no the slightest
indication that the ordinary coure Of the
disease has been stopped. These are
cases where found already large cavities
in the lungs. In these the cough, the
rattle IN the throat, and the almost un-
diminished number of the bacilli IN the
spnta continue, all of which symptoms,
| repeat, have disappeared in other cases.
Of course, no thing can be considered
final yet, the first injection to a human
being having been only made seventy
days ago. I hope for good results in all
cases where the vital organs are intact"
1t may be seen by DR.. Koch's state
ment that the lymph is not expected to
cure people who are in the very last sta !
ges Of consumption, and that it ought
De used as soon as the early stsges appear.
But if no i'll effects follow in these ex-
IRENE case, doctors will doubtless ap-
ply 1t in sub cutaneous injections, on the |