The Portland daily press., 1890-12-20
PROFESSOR KOCH HAS CLAIMED LITTLE.
The Lymph a Valuable Ally In Bat
thing with Disease,
But Not the Magic Fluid Which Has
Been Described.
What American Physicians saw and
Learned In Berlin.

NEW YORK, December 19.-Loeal Interest
IL the now celebrated lymph treatment for
tubercular diseases Is intensified by the ar
rival from Berlin Of several prominent ply
sicians who had gone to the German capi-
tai to study the new treatment as practieed
by DR.. Koch In the hospitals of tnat city.
Most of these medical men came back on
the White Star steamer Majestic. Among
them were DIR. FL. p. Loomis, DR.. IL. 5.
Stearns and DR.. j. Fl. Linsey. The two for
mer physicians brought with them small
quantity OF lymph. secured from DR.. Libertz
the chief assistant of Professor Koch. 1t
was obtained after considerable trouble. for
DIR. Koch objected strenuously to supplying
the fluid to any but representatives of hos
pitals, and all credentials were scrutinized
with great care.
The vial Of lymph brought by DIR. LOomis
was In a small package, and was the last CIV
en- out before he sailed. The little bottle
was wrapped in cotton and was packed In a
box about one and one-half inches long by
one inch deep. All of these bottles are Civ
en- out by Professor Liberlz, who has charge
Of the distribution Of the lymph. Only a
nominal charge Of 25 marks, or So In Ameri-
can currency. Is made for the lymph at the
Koch laboratory. DIR. LOOMS said that the
same quantity on the open market would
bring thousands of dollars. He knew. per-
sonally, that English physicians had offered
as much as 500 drop, for the preparation;
DR.. Loomis's small vial, when diluted, will
suffice for about 5000 injections. In speak
ing Of the effect Of the discovery In Berlin,
DR.. Loomis said:
Zine effect ON the people of Berlin and the
surrounding country Is something wonder
ful. Entire communities seem deslrous OF
paying homage TO DR.. Koch. In shop win
dows where pictures Of the Emperor were
formerly displayed are now TO be seen photo
graphs OF the professor, and the decorations
that were seen around the pictures OF the
Emperor now ad0rn those OF DIR. KOCH"
DR.. Loomls said that professional ethics
would not permit him to make his cOnclu-
sions public until after he had conveyed
them to the members Of his profession. He
would probably put his observations into
the form of paper which be would read be-
fore tho Acad my Of Medicine at an early
day. He said that DIR. Libertz had on file
about 6.0O0 applications for lymph. Con-
cerning the practical value Of the lymph, DIR.
Stearns said "We watched operations
mainly In the wards OF Professor Leyden at
the Berlin Charity Hopital, and also In
Professor Won Bergmann's private hospital
The effect Of the lymph npon lupus cases Is
striking. There is generally an apparent
cure. There Is no doubt that the ulcers are
healed over, but 1t Is impossible to see
whether or not the disease Will break out
the full value Of lymph In lupus cases must,
therefore, be deferred.
''In phthisis the results are far from salts
factory. In fact, the experiments have so
far almost invariably resulted In deteriora-
tion of the patients condition. The doses
used range all the way from one miligramme
up. IL one case of lupus 200 milligrammes
were injected at once, but this was after the
patient had been under treatment for three
weeks and was considered cured. The In
f.o h.A off. af oil
was made for the purpose of demonstrating
the effect upon patient freed from disease
The feeling in Berlin Is at present one OF in-
decision as to the merit OF Dr. Koch's
lymph"
DR.. Linsey was at his home in East Twen-
ty-frst street yesterday when re-
porter called to obtain his views. When
asked what composed the precious lymph,
DIR. Linsey said: IL don't know any more
about that than you do. There are. only
three men who do know just how the lymph
is made and of what 1t is composed. One OF
these is Professor Koch himself, another Is
his son-in-law, DIR. Pfuhl, and the
third is Herr LibeItz. the chem;
ist; Il will viii oo,a be ., remembered en.,Ia red
summer he said that cyanide OF gold would
kill baeilli. am convinced that the lymph
itself does not kill the bacilli The lymph
makes line of demarcatiOn between the
healthy and the affected tissue. In cases OF
the diseased tissue Is thrown off and the de-
structlve bacilli come with 1t. SO FAR as l
saw, no complete cures of pulmonary con-
sumption We're effected, but that a wonder
full advance has been made in the treatment
of such cases through the new method must
be admitted. 1t is tho early to be able to tell
all that the lymph will do.
Several cases Ut lupus have been cured
absolutely. One coming under my own Obser.
walton was that OF a Englishman who had
l..s.. NN kkxar. n
fessor Koch and was sent home perfectly
cured"
DR.. George F. Shrady, editor of "The
Medical Record" will say editOrially in the
next issue Of that journal In part as follows:
80 far there appears to be q strange rela-
tl0n of cause and effect between the iDjre-
tiOn Of lymph In tuberculous patients and
reactonary temperature pr0p0rtionate to
the amount of tuberculOuS deposit in the al
fected individual. Quite naturally this con-
dition Of things Is made ayailaole for dag
nOstic purpose. How far the conclusions ln
regard to the latter property are sound re-
mains yet to be proven by more extended ex-
perlence. The same may be said concerning
other phenomena noted In the different va
rieties Of tubercular cases which have
been subjected to treatment. In the
present stage of our study we have a rea-
sonable idea Of our actual position in not
expecting too much. In fact, we were tOld
not TO do so at the start Koch himself,
with becoming modesty, claims very little
as yet. His theory, plausible as 1t may ap.
per, Is still TO be demons trated to the sa It's
faction Of the working clinicIan. In the
meanwhile abundance Of time must be al
lowed for the accumulation of the neces sary
experience upon which to found our ulti-
mate con illusions. The reported cures OF
incipient phthisis are not yet conclusive, a.
sufficient time has not elapsed TO prove tn en-
permanent. Enough has been said and
done, however, TO encourage us In our WORK