The morning call., 1891-02-07
PROGRESS OF THE KOCH CURE.

lhOOhtlSS OE IRE hOSh *
The public show signs of Impotence at
the slowness with which cOnsumptives are
being cured by the Koch lymph. People
seem to have imagined that miracles were
going to be performed, and that patients
with one foot in the grave were going TO be
told to take up their bed and walk. The
time is appropriate for the exercise of pa
thence. 1t is good not to expect maryels to
be accomplished out Of hand; it is meet that
We should wait and watch in hopefulneSs.
People do not estimate at its true value
the tremendous victory which science will
win over disease if the lymph only accom-
pllsheS 1.-THE of what has been expected of
IT, Consumption, except in the earlier
stages, has always been regarded as incura-
bic. Sufferers have derived temporary bene-
ut by change Of climate; in some an I'M
usually robust constitution has protracted
lie IN spite of the presence of the destroyer
But when tubercular deposit was clearly
identified as present in the lung, physicians
have rarely INDUCED hopes of recovery.
Nnole families have persisted one by one in
spite OF the utmost medical skill and the
tendereSt care. One quack remedy has been
tried after another without success. Not
all the drugs of the phnrmac0peia have
ayaIled to arrest the march of disease: tenn
porary gains OF strength have only encour-
aged hopes which proved delusiye. Ever
since the beginning of medicine, the true
consumptive has been doomed man from
the hour the secondary symptoms set in.
Now comes scientist who says modestly
and tentatively that after study of ten
years he thinks he has discovered a remedy
which may. in certain favorable cases, save
few lives, and we all fly at him, because,
al the end Of fortnight, every patient who
has been inoculated is not radically cured.
The world is Witnessing one Of the most
amazing evolutions in medical science that
has ever been known. Half a century ago
the most learned physicians were ignorant
of the causes of the diseases which decimate
humanity; and, of course, being so ignorant,
they could not treat their patents logically
They CROPPED in the dark in quest Of drugs
to mitigate symptoms. and gave pathology
the go-by. Now, it is almost universally ad-
mitted that smallpox, diphthera, scarlet
fever, typhoid fever, consumption, pneu-
mia, yellow fever. and a score of other
fatal diseases, are of parasitic origin and
are caused by the pres ence Of microbes or
bacilli, which engender blood poisons and so
cause death. II this is fact, an undoubtel
otleutiHc IaCL we nave got D2lI way on the
journey toward cure. In one way or an
otter, the leaders of medical science will dis
cover a plan for destroying the destroyer.
They may not discover it all at once; there
are sure to be delays, dsappointments,
biunders ana failures. Neither Koch nor
Pasteur is endowed with supernatural
skill. They are men like ourselves; but
men who by long study have acquired vast
knowledge. which they are deyotng to the
service of their fellow-creatures When they
fail in their experiments they are entitled
to encouragement and sympathy, not con-
domination and carping.
To persons familiar with science the
Koch theory-that the bacillus of tuber-
culOsis can be driven from the seat of his
ravages by inducing necrosis in the parts af-
fected-seems difficult TO understand. 1t Is
not easily discerned how the necrosis can
be induced, nor how patient can be helped
by making that darker which was dark
enough before But these are themes which
all are not qualified to discuss and certainly
not competent to form opinions on in oppo-
sitiOn to masters of the science. 1t must be
remembered that Koch's failure would be
step in advance-shat it would teach him
and his fellow-students what errors to avoid
In his future experiments, and that out of a
series of such errors the true discovery would
probably be eventually effected.