The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-12-13
DIR. eIRlER,s THEORY.
Treating Diseases According to the Ten
peramont of tho Patient.

| Treating Diseases According to tho Tom.
| peramont OF tho Patient.
During the sessions Of the Inter.
national Medical Congress at Berlin 70.
Gently, DR.. Paul Gibier, French physi.
clan residing at New York, who has at.
tanned to prominence rs head OF the
Pasteur Institute in that city for the
treatment Of hydrophobia, advanced a
novel theory for the treatment OF dis.
eases according to the temperament Of
the patient Gibier divides the human
temperament, according to chemical
standard, into three classes-the acid,
the alkaline and the normal. He holds
that our temperaments are composed of
series of humors, and Tia IL it were
possible to bring about only a slight
kditference in the composition OF these
humors the development of certain dis
eases could be checked. He thinks a
person more frequently inherits sus-
ceptibility to disease than the disease
itself, and that it would be possible, If
PERSONS temperament were known, to
prevent or ward off such maladies as
cancer, consumption, nervous disease
and the various forms of rheumatism.
DIR. j. Mount Bleyer, in n description of
the Gibier theory, says: "To prove this
che doctor quoted the recent investiga-
tion of germ life, all of which
tended to support his position. We
all know that an infinitesimally
small quantity of any of the silver salts
for instance, is sufficient to arrest and
destroy the development of many of the
inferior orders of germ life; and, on the
other hand, if we add glycerine. that
time-honored household remedy, to any
culture fluid, it will nourish and aid in
propagating the germs of consumption.
This fact has been confirmed by numer-
GUS observers. If such trifling condi-
tions are able to produce such important
results with an inert medium, then we
are certainly entitled to expect great
deal from the cells of our tissues. DIR.
Gibier offers this, not so much by
the way of proof, but rather as an hy-
pothesis upon which he rests the ground
work of his researches" Continuing,
DIR. Bleyer remarks: 'Those of us who
have given the study Of the human body
scarcely more than superficial consider
alton are aware that it's component
parts are acid, alkaline or neutral. All
bodies observe this law. 1t is absolute.
1t looks as If Gibier, after most thor
ough explanation of the various stages
of his experience, is justified in main
tanning that the alkaline temperaments
are free from such ailments as heart
disease, eczema, affections of the
veins, and arteries, and cancer in
all its varieties. The secretions in
this condition are but little acid, and
there is never any acidity of the stomach
in young life. Women of this tempera-
ment bear children better and are hardly
ever prone to rheumatism and gout, but
when living in cities they are suscepti-
BILE to consumption. The acid tempera-
ment is an unfavorable ground to the
development of tuberculosis or scrofu-
lous diseases; it, however, subjects it's
possessor to neuralgia, Kigraine, rheu-
matism, gout, and diseases of the nerv-
Gus system, asthma, aneurisms, cancers
and malignant tumors, particularly |
those of the stomach. The neutral |
is the normal one, and ac-
cording to DIR. Gibier, happy are they |
who possess such q position, for they |
may pass from the acid to the alkaline |
with safety. Should they |
contract any of the diseases to which |
these temperaments are prone, they are
readily restored to health. The ideas
Of DR.. Gibier were so new and unfamili- |
lar to the majority Of physicians present |
that very little discussion followed.
Few considered themselves competent |
to attack the doctors propositions, and |
with the rest prefer to hear from other
observers before I venture an opinion
upon the value of Gibier's so-called dis |
covery. ."-Baitimor Sun.