The Press., 1893-03-09
oval. cells as found under the microscope

SpOFo Ol mlcTO OTBdIllSu5 IOuuu HI pull monafy tubefc1e.
 It would not be logical to assert that bacilli originate de nooo, but rather that they may be produced by @ condition of the body, such as is termed the tubercular diathesis, acquired by heredity, the in- heriting of what will finally result iu this disease, the sooner, if of vicious habits or harmful surroundings. Professor T. Gail lord Thomas well said that higher duty of medicine is recognized to-day in the medical education of mankind; the in- struction of the masses of the world in those means and methods by which dis ease may be prevented: that death from tuberculosis can be diminished by three fourths. He believes in the gospel of cleanliness, and that filth is, as Watson, the Macaulay of medicine, has called it, the handmaid of disease.
 AS to the effect of drugs nothing has yet been discovered by which the disease can be eradicated or poisoned out. It is not a pleasing fact for physicians to admit, that this disease causes one death out of every seven, notwithstanding every conceivable method has been tried from the Shurly Gibbs to the sulphur gas
 enemata. The hot air of Weigert was
 found to be too cool when the lung tissue
 was reached, so both lung and bacilla
 without harm escaped. Ozonized air by Boutems proved useless. On the other
 hand, we have the savage or over-eating treatment, the patient being stuffed with
 food as poultry are fatted for the market.
 Pharmacists have over-crowded the mark
 ct with consumption cures, and the con-
 sumptive dies after having taken all he
 had of time and money to take. Chloride
 of zinc is one of the recent remedies. An other advises the use of chlorine gas an-
 other the chloride of gold, suggestive of
 Keely's cure for drunkenness; Brown
 Sequard's elixir of life; Pasteur's cure
 for rabies. Koch's tuberculin for tuber-
 culosis excited greater hope and greater
 disappointment than any other nostrum,
 the preparation of which was kept a se-
 cret, for the apparent purpose of enrich
 ing Professor Koch, thus making it lquack medicine.
 It went up great rocket, attracting
 the attention and the hope of the wide
 world. It never came back. So great
 was the reaction against it, that the Ba-
 varian government forbade the sale by
 druggists of tuberculin in Bavaria. Even
 physicians could not buy it.
 The French believe that the glory of
 curing tuberculosis will belong to them.
 Dr. Lamielongue has communicated to
 the Academy of Medicine process which
 he is practicing, of which he has great
 hopes. He inoculates tuberculosis sur
 faces with chloride of zinc solution. The
 tissue thus acted on becomes capable of
 being cicatrized and is gradually remov-
 ed. Thus being scientifically surrounded
 by cicatrix the tuberculous enemy of
 course will surrender. Tubercular treat
 ment by GeImain See wrapping the body in cloths wet in solution of creosote, would hardly seem practicable. Professor Lie bruch, of Berlin, has used the canthari- : date of potassium by hypodermic iniec- tion. Serum of goats blood has been tried by some of the French physicians. Aniline hypodermic injections with olive oil has been used by Dr. c. E. Bruce, of
 New York. Dr. White, of New York, has experimented with solution of chloride : of gold. Dr. Tyndale, of New York, has : used pure vaccine lymph simultaneously once @ week. There was no active reac- tion, and in some cases with benefit. He believes that more than one animal virus . or chemical poison would be found to pro- duce the same effect
 have used the mercurc chloride one grain dissolved in four ounces of alcohol, by inhalation. One teaspoonful is added to a little water in the atomizer, to be . used part at a time during the day. It : has been used continuously for months with benefit and without unpleasant ef- fects.
 7 One thing is certain, it is the greatest of germicides. Used in this way it is brought more directly to the seat of the
 tubercular deposit or alteration than by 5 any other method. The venom, ptomaine or putrefactive alkaloid, or whatever it was precisely, of Prof. Koch always pro- ? duced more or less morbid physiological = action according to the quantity injected. ] The intiammatory reaction, the immediate s constitutional effect was source of dan r ger. Tuberculin was not used long a enough to know whether it would confer y prevention to further appearance of the
 disease.
 It was observed by some to have the g characteristic reaction in healthy persons Q and no reaction in persons who had the o disease, showing that it had no certain diagnostic indications which were claimed
 | for it by Professor-Koch.
 - It is the general admission of learned k lexperimentalists that somewhere and
 sometime in this field of research will be Y found remedy for the cure of tubercul- e osis. Though Professor Koch has not @ yet attained the possibly attainable cure, n it ill becomes physicians to censure him
 him for the seeming failure, since it is - only through untiring study and experi- t ment in biological research that even the s least of important facts are proved. l. The first use of Professor Koch's tuber-
 culin in this country was made in this city Il by Dr. Foster and Professor Chittenden g of the Yale Biological Laboratory, De- l. cember 8, 1890, in a case of pulmonary e tuberculosis. The reactions reported by
 Dr. Foster agreed with the description
 given by Professor Koch, followed by in- n crease of appetite and gain in strength 3. but on the other hand he reports that the ,s cause of the disease was not arrested. IL
 seems from their observations in other l. cases treated that the greatest benefit of was obtained from it's use in cases oi 1t lupus Tho results of their experiments I with tuberculin quite correspond with
 most others in this country and Germany y that its action is of greater benefit iT ic cases of lupus and tuberculous diseases oi
 the joints than in the pulmonarY diseases