The National tribune., 1891-02-05
WEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX l. OSWALD. ". D.
CHAPTER G.
WINTER coMPLAINTs-fcontinued.l

| there are fashions in suicide, and that statistics
/ prove q steady decrease in the popularity of
the hemp-rope method. Thirty years ago a
| very large percentage of lfmurderers, both
IN England and North America, thought hang
/ ing the best way to suspend the troubles of
earthly existence; now they prefer guupowder
aud laudanum, and the time may come when
/ they will think it inconceivable how anv
rational human being could volunteer strangu-
lation when he had the choice between FIVE or
six effective narcotics.
The methods of medical homicide seem sub
ject 10 similar fashions IL is surprising how
completely certain remedies have gone out
Of use, after having been considered indIspen-
sable for long series Of centuries; how COM
pletely they have vanished before a change in
public opinion which has been well defined as
revival Of Naturalism."
Take bleeding, for instance. Fifty years ago
doctor without lancet or a cupping outfit
would have been considered as strange an
anomaly as blacksmith without hammer
In Spanish the word Saagrqdo," as leech in
English, was used as synonyms Of a medicine
man, and the founder Of representative
British medical journal could think Of no better
plan than to call his paper The Laacet. Bleed
ing was last resort in all serious disorders Of
the human organism and often preceded all
other prescriptions in the treatment of inaam-
matOry diseases. Hospitals reseIubled a slaugh-
ter-hOuse and the state Of affairs i'm the medic
val age OF heroic" medical methods may be
inferred from the following instructions which,
only generation ago, did not prevent Dr.
Buchan's Family Medical Handbook" from
maintaining its rank as n most popular house
hold work.
"In the beginning Of pleurisy." says tho
summary doctor, Z" the only efficient course is
to make the patient stand up on the floor.
while blood is drawn from large orifce until
ne JGtats or as about falling. If, after the first
bleeding, the pain, with the other violent symp-
toms, should still continue, it will be necessary
TO take eight or nine ounces more If the
symptoms do not then abate and the blood
shows strong puffy coat, third or even a
fourth bleeding may be requisite. Topical
bleeding has also good effect in this disease :;
It may DO performed by applying number Of
leeche5 TO the parts affected or by cupping
which Is both more certain and expeditions
method than the other"
Bleeding. in that case. was only prelimi-
nary to a chemical banquet Of horrors for the
popular doctor continues " Nothing is so GER
tain TO give speedy and permanent relief as q
combination OF lpecac, calOmel and opium.
Then take: Solution Of acetated ammonia.
three drachms; strip Of tolu. two drachms !;
antimOnial wine, 30 drops. Ia that form Of
the disease known as bilious pleurisy' emetics
and mercurial cathartics are Of the highest i'm
portance; purgatIves should be continued
through the whole course Of the disease a
blister, moreover, should be applied Insufficient
size to cover the whole breast" ('' Family
Medical Handbook" pages Ia, 1881
Imagine the constitutional vigOr required TO
resist such prescriptions after bleeding had been
repeatedly continued to the verge Of fainting
fit But the idea that Nature could dispense
with the aid OF the fever breaking lancet seems
never to have dawned on the mind Of the old
school medicine men. Even in cases where the
Fes.g1 ka1 81 T.
by accident, the lancet was used 10 lessen the
risk Of an inflammation, though the last
strength Of the wounded man should ebb away
with his life blood. Carlyle in his History
Of Frederick the Great has preserved a Curl
Gus aneedOte Of the Seven Years War which
siTikingy illustrates the universally Of the
dclusiOn. After the disastrous battle Of Ku-
nersdorf the fugitive King ia looking for
nights lodging. entered farmhouse which he
found already filed with wounded and dying
soldiers. :" Is there no Surgeon here2" he in
CURED; can't you find anybody at all to bleed
these poor fellows? "-the first thought Of a we'll
meaning, aud by no means conservative mon
arch, after battle which came near costing
him his throne and his life,
Wounded soldiers now aud then dsprOved
the arguments used i'm support of the Inonstrous
prejudice by recovering in nut-OG-the-way
places without the aid OF a Surgeon, but a fever
stricken invalid in his bed had often to defend
himself against the opportunities Of his own
friends, rs well as against the assaults of the
medical fraternity. Lord Byron according TO
Capt. Trelawney's account Of the last DAYS Of
the great poet, resisted the urgencies of his
Greek quack till his English companions Joined
their persuasives, and 20 hours after suceumbed
70 q fever from which he bad more than once
recovered without any medical assistance what
ever on his former rambles in western Greece
DIR. Isaac Jennings, Of medical reform fame
thus describes his similar trials during an at
tack Of pleurisy, one of the most frequent
Winter complaints: For 10 hours" he SAYS.
" breathing was at best laborious and painful.
combining me to nearly an erect position in bed,
but the distress Occasioned by efforts az cough
ing was Understandable. The confidence Of nv
wife in the let-alone plan, which had been
strengthening for years, and had carried her
unhinchingly through a number of serious in
dispositions, on this occasion faltered and She
begged me to let her send for a physician to
bleed me or do something TO give at least tenn
pOrary relief; for, SAID she, You cannot live So"
In my own mind there was not the least vestige
of misgiying respecting the course pursued.
My mind was perfectly at ease in trusting
Natures work in Natures hands. / felt per-
ieetly satisfied that whatever could be done TO
good purpose would be done by due course of
law There was no danger in the symptoms
let them run as high as they would They
COhstlluleu no part OF the real difficulty, but
grew out Of IL. The general movement which
made them necessary was aiming directly at
the removal of that difficulty. Instead there
fore, Of being troubled with the idea that |
could not live with such symptoms. my con-
victOn was very strong that / could live better |
with them than without them. In the morn /
ing, 10 or IL hours from the beginning of the
cold chill, there was some mitigation Of sufer-
ing, which continued till afternoon when there !
was slight relapse, but the heaviest part of !
the work was accomplished within the first "a |
hours. From that time there was a steady de- |
clension Of painful symptoms till the FIFTH day. |
when expeetOratiOn constituted the bulk of the |
disease"
Bleeding, the doctor thinks would have |
given him temporary relief and delayed the |
crisis Of the disease for a couple Of days, but |
that relief would have been bought at the risk |
Of weakening the general resisting power Of the /
organism and lessening the chance of complete /
"Granting," he says, that my life /
would have been spared, / suffered on the /
whole, much less under the let-alone treatment
than should have done under perturbatiug
one, besides having the curative process con-
Quoted with more regularity and done up more
{" Medical Reform" page 3l2)
Pleurisy is, indeed a crucial test of the pa
tents belief in the remedial powers Of Nature
and it is one of the complaints which is often
aggravated by the silly belief that the sick
person must be made to eat something or other
10 sustain his strength. Lack of appetit e before
The crisis of a disease may always be considered
Is a safe indication that the process of recon-
itructiOn can be finished more easily without
additional food supplies and that, as in many
1ther cases, the temporary inactivity of the
digestive organs will rive Nature n haitian