The National tribune., 1891-01-01
For TIE NArIoSN TEInuSE.
BEALTH BINTS
For Old and Young
BY FELIX L. OSWALD. VI. n,
Author Of Physical Education; Household
Remedies The Bible Of Nature" etc.
CHAPTER XCvI.
TIE IyocULAr1nN CRAZE.

he sold about 80 pair the first week
A similar experience Is apt to reward the
enterprise Ofany medicine -vender who can con-
triye 10 advertise his drugs under a new name.
Magic Bitters" for fusel brandy and Malt
Extract p for bottled swill beer will make the
fortune Of the patentee; but long headed candi-
dates for the custom Of the educated classes
have gone still further and changed the form,
we'll as the name Of their prescriptions.
Among large class Of intelligent pIticnt Is faith
in drugs Of all sorts has gradually declined
the conviction has gained ground that disease
itself is a reconstructive process aud that the
suppression Of its symptoms can only postpone
the crisis Of that process and cOmplcate the
chance OF complete recovery. The mere sight
Of pills and extracts has come 10 qualify the
confidence Of experienced heaIth-seekcrs; but
only radical change Ofdeep rooted conceptions
can save our fellOw-men from the Gelusion Of
their belief in the possibility Of making medi-
cal prescription asubstitute for the troublesome
alternative Of earning health by a change Of
habit. The pleasant notion Of being able to
keep SHINING and getting miracle doctor TO
postpone the day OF retrbutiOu will not be
readily renowned, and welcomes any pretext
for recOnciliEg its hopes with the too well
proved delusiveness Of conventional drugs.
Health cannot be pumped into the stomach,
70 Judge from the outcome Of my experience"
reasons the patient, "but who knows If it
cannot be inhaled in the form Of medicated
vapOr or injected into the veins as an elixir of
Iife?"
That latter notion, especially, took mar
vellous hold upon the mind Of the public and
was put in practice in all possible forms, from
the sheep-extraet elixir to the hypOdermic in
jeetions of morphine by which the opium-eate
tries to eyade the well-knowu penalties of his
vice.
The latest form Of the delusiOn comes in an
appeal TO the credulity Of c0nsumptives. Lung
diseases are associated with the symptom Of
sanguine hOpefulHess almost az regularly as
with the symptom Of cough and Inflammation
of the mucous membrane, but 80 Of 100 con-
sumptiyes will DO anything sooner than justify
that hope by removing the cause Of their az
Fiction by exchanging the hot impure air Of
ill-ventiated sick rooms for the cold pure air of
the forests and mountains. They viii travel
thousands of miles to reach winterless zone
tstill sticking to the idea that their aiment has
been caused by the influence Of a low temper
ature); they will swallow bitter tOnics" and
nauseous cod liver oil, and now welcome the an
nOuneement that a new specific can be injected
into their veins.
The worshiper5 Of the Koch dogma, indeed,
claim that the microbe-killing Lymph" Of
their prophet cures consumption by a direct
removal Of the cause in far more expeditions
way than any other remedy. But in the first
place. the tubercle bacillus is not the cause Of
the trouble, but merely proximate symptom,
the suppression Of which cannot be hoped to
modify the law making the breathing Of i'm
pure air incompatible with the health Of the
respiratory organs. In the second place, the
possibility OF thus Graduating the microbes Of
the deeper seated tubereles has by no means
been proved yet TO the satisfaction Of any in
telligent physician. The cases treated in Berlin
ircuded faith. cure dupes, Of course, but their
hosannas are Offset by the testimony Of others
4 hn.f afTnd 70 ha houaH -a1faf
or were even afflicted with the additional
trouble of remittent fevers.
But even granting the possibility Of killing
the tuberele microbes by means Of fluid in-
ected into the system Of the patient (at the
imminent risk of injuring the patient by the
ater-efect5 Of the pOisOn) 10 is clear that only
| the constant repetition of that risky expert
ment could guard the eOnValescent against the
peril of reinfectiOn by the original canse Of
| his disease. The evidence of the dissecting-
! table proves that in a considerable proportion
| OF cases the vomice, as doctors call the cavi-
| ties caused by the development of tuberces,
| were actually healed, but that those anteee-
dents Of recovery did not prevent the formation
| Of new tubercles and the consequent death Of
/ the patient. After protracted period of in
door life, such individuals probably adopted an
occupation involving abundant opportunities
/ for outdoor exercise and thus recovered their
\ health in way that encouraged them 10 re-
/ sumo their indoor work with fatal results.
| In the same way the lungs Of a consumptive
/ treated to a microbe-killing dose Of the Koch
/ specific would always be liable to reinfeetiOn
and possibly participate besides in the general
| debility which the use of the virus could hardly
/ fail to entail on the system of the patient.
/ Besides the vitality Of disease germs is apt
/ to be considerably moderated. Two years ago
| a Spanish physician announced the discovery
| Of method for preventing yellow fever by in
| 6cuatiOn, and his process really seemed to
/ break the incpient stage of the dreaded dis
ease by producing counter fever which now
| and then helped the patient to tide over a few
/ days till he could reach less malariOus climate
or till the return Of cooler weather lessened the
/ risk of infection. But in other cases yellow
| fever of most malignant type undoubtedly
/ broke out like an ill-5mOthered fire after the
artificial disease had run its course; and people
| could not be blamed for suspecting that he
cured patients to other circumstances in
| Guiding possibly the effect Of Imagination.
/ 1t was Just the same with the PaSteur hydro
| phobia cure. In at least II well-attested cases
/ the terrible malady was developed after the
| patients had been treated after the most ap-
| proved methods of the Paris Institute, and a
| British Medical Journal pointed out that the
proportion Of so called cures was not fraction
| larger than the usual average of spontaneous
/ recoyeTies.
! For it would be great mistake to suppose
that all persons bitten by q rabid dog must
i necessarily die of hydrOphObia. The victims
/ Of such attacks have always two fair chances Of
| escape, even in cases where circumstances hap
pened to prevent the direct application of an
\ antidOte.
In tho first place, the tooth of mad dog is
not an injection apparatus like the hollow
| tube OF the fang by which a veROmous serpent
nearly always succeeds in lodging her virus in
| the veins of her victims. Only a small portion
/ of the enVenOmed saliva incidentally adheres
| to the teeth of the dog. and may fail to pene-
/ trate the clothing. In the second place, the poi
| son is often removed spontaneously by direct
| flow of blood. II the patient has the presence of
/ mind not to stop the bleeding, even a deep
wound may prove comparatively harmless and
/ heal like any other laceratiOn of the tissues.
| And not all dogs suspected of rabies are really
mad. There are variety of disorders that
| simulate the symptoms of hydrophobia, and to
| the considerable number of persons who would
/ have recovered by favor of the abOve-named
| circumstances ought TO be added the large per
| centage Of those who had been bitten merely
/ nv a viciOuS dog which had been killed before