Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-06-21
THe LYMPH TREATMENT.
A Defence of DR. Koch--Sotes on Con-
sumption.

sumpttous
TO ne Editcr Of he Dispatch;
In late issue you comment upon the |
favorable treatment Of cases Of consump- |
ton by a modified method Of Koch's /
lymph and you seem 10 doubt very much /
Il any doctor, except one. has ever cured /
seven cases
II you will send your man around TO the |
doctors IN Richmond many of them can |
cite you 70 cases, some Of them now enjoy |
ing dust health which were doomed. IL |
was fought, TO die of consumption, and |
tho doctors in tho world generally can |
truthfuliy cite to similar cases.
Fortunately, for the past fifty years the |
treatment of this dread disease has been |
quite hopeful. and If the patient has money |
more especially so.
DR. FLMT's ExPERrESoE.
The late DR.. Flint, of New York, care
fully analysed go cases in thirty-four
years and of these a ended in recovery; in
81 the disease ceased TO progress, and In %
Of the Al cured there was no medicinal
treatment given to which the cure could
be attributed.
This proves that in certain proportion
OF cases consumption is q self-limited dis
ease and also how difficult IL Is to attri-
butte its cure TO any one remedy.
Hundreds of persons who formerly had
undoubted consumption are now we'll and
living in Colorado, New Mexico. Cali
fornia, and many in our own Blue Noun
tains.
THE VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS.
The mountains of Virginia are highly
recommended for the cure OF consumption
by several well-known European authori-
ties.
1t is true that many Of these formerly
consumptive, and now saved by climate,
would suffer a relapse were they to come
within one hundred and fifty miles of the
Atlantic coast.
As to the hopes Of your Richmond doc
tors IN the lymph, it is interesting to note |
one had no faith in II whatever, which |
shows that doctors are human.
The word tUbercultn has been coined for |
the word lymph, but / am informed that
the hoh9paths long since had similar
word to describe a medicine made OF con-
sumptiye sputa.
Poor Koch has received much praise and
much blame; ne mas been denounced for
not giving the process for the manufac-
ture of the lymph so that other nations
might avail themselves of the boon.
NATURAL DESIRE.
But naturally he did not desire others
to manufacture the lymph until he had
proved its virtues, and II cannot be said that
sufficient time has even yet elapsed for that.
His Government may have desired him
and may now desire him TO keep 1T Sc
cret. for it is TO the present time q secret.
Koch has not told any one outside OF Ger
many the intimate process, but doctor in
Eng1ap has succeeded in making some
thing very similar.
But what interest has the German Gov
eminent in the secretS
oEBMANY's OBJECT.
10 A. Ix.,N
that it is less expensive to Germany that
the French die by consumption than by
German bullets, for the medical laws OF
France have long since prohibited the use
of n remedy which cannot be manufactured
in France, which by the way would be q very
good law in our country, where, according
TO your DR.. Wexford, ST., there are thirty
thousand patented remedies gallibly USED.
To return TO Koch, it must be hard on
man who has been quietly working for
years, and who was justly famous long be:
fore he made the lymph, to have phials OF
II metaphorically poured in wrath upon
his devoted head, with the anathema or
quack! .oo -.
dated the probable cause of consumption,
and who In 1894 by his studies IN India
Thought he had put the cause OF cholera
under his microscope. These are only two
of his great contributions to science.
JKNsER AND PAsTEUB.
Jenner and Pasteur had TO go through
the same fires, but, like the Hebrew chill |
dren. Jenner and Pasteur would not bow
down to the golden image. Neither does
Koch and two of these moderns are walk |
inc unhurt in the midst of the fire. Jen- |
ner has long since been promoted, but
punv few of his would-be executloners
still survive undestroyed, sad 20 relaIe. d,,
Koch did not claim that his remedy
would cure all cases of consumption, but |
that it would, conioined with other mea-
sures. cure consumption in its inclplency
nor does he claim that he has left nothing
to be desired but his remedy IN the lnclpl-
ent stage.
far more good than marin, "ouiu say uo-
cidedly more harm. $50,
Rad men have cotton a little of it, or
rather pretended to have 1t, and have
worked" the credulity of the people un-
mercifully.
It is disputed point whether or not the
lymph contains the living germs OF con-
sumption. II 1t does lts use Is counpaia1piie 40
to incubation, as that remedy was USED III
old times against smallpox. IL propo-
gated the disease in its worst form lndeh-
5itelv in those not inoculated, but as Noon
himself administered to himself like
good German physician the largest
amount of lymph that has ever INTENTION,
aiIv been administered and without Dau
effects as vet it is safe to assume that the
remedy will not cause consumption IN one
who previously did not have IL.
DIR. JoNEs's TESTIMONY.
On the other hand, DR.. Joseph Jones, OF
New Orleans, formerly a ConIederate sur,
aeon and who is one of the most able and
conscientious doctors in the United States,
writes 10 President Harrison, who had sent
nr Zones a phial of the lymph: The
notent effects of 'Koch's lymph when IN;
tToduced into the blood of healthy and
diseased human beings may be referred. IN
part at least, to the rapid muitipnGstiton
and action of heterogeneous similar TO-
II not identical with, the bacillus tuoer-
"Tbe results of the chemical and miscro;;
oconical examination OF the contents OF
9S;s vial of Rocks lymph have led me
to exclude this liquid from the list Oh TO
medal agents" A. -,o.o-,,
And then he hits at the proprietary
feature: ,..o5 .o sov that
IN the effort to discharge what appeared to
no INV duty. L have endeaVored 10 serve
tra az and not the trade of medicine, be-
Eeyino that honorable, Legitimate medicine
bas no secrets 10 conceal, and nolos no
remedy which is not the common heritage
If the glorious brotherhood OF the noble
republic of science"
cLAMoRKD FOR IT.
Yet many persons with no symptoms OF
consumption have clamored for dose OF
Il, a notable example beng Mrs. Chanier'
the authoress.
had the pleasure of hearing the papers
on thls treatment read and discussed at
the late meeting of the American Medlcai
Association, and the discussion was not
altocether favorable 40 to the curative To-
nerties of the lymph. but some OF shose
Who gave in an adverse report had hao put
q limited experience. s;,.os
To show how patients may be deceived
NV their sensations, one doctor told now
that falling with the lymph in two cases;
he injected q poison which he extracted
from water into these two patients, and al
though their symptoms were mucn aggrs-
Sated they expressed themselves as feel,
inc mueh better. OF course the doctor mao
no hopes of benefting them with sucn an
In conclusion. the writer would ask you
70 correct typographical mistake made
sone time since in advocating soup-nouses
IN Richmond in order TO diminish the
deaths among negroes from consumption