Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1894-12-05
THE TURNING TIDE.
SUCCESS IN THE GREAT BAT
TIE WITH DlPHTHERIA:
French DOctor's Success in TteatIn.
the Dread disease With Equine Blood
How the Serum Is Obtained and Used
The Lives Saved.

In A comfortable laboratory, flooded
with sunshine, in the Pasteur institute
the New York World eerrespondes,t
found DR.. Ruux, who is the hero o.
the hour from the fact that he has dis.
covered cure for diphtberia.
His dark, serious face lighted ur
with winning smile as the CORE,
spondent saluted him as 1.-The man who
Is saving $4,000 lives a year in
France alOne.n
Pardon" he said quickly, ..you
exaggerate. 1t is true that diphtheria
and Group claim more than 10000
every year in this country. 1t is also
true that out of 113 children whom |
have recently treated for one or the
other OF those terrible maladies | have
saved 1l6. This is, we think, a very
pretty reduction of the mortality from
the old rates.
1T is 80 wonderful that the mothers
Of France ought to build you a monu-
ment of gold"
The smile swept over the dark face
again. "1et we are only on the
Threshold of success. At the Trous-
seau hospital, where the mortality
among the children used to be- sixty
three per eent-think of it. monsieur.
siSty-thre1 pei cent--it has been re-
duced since the introduction of our
treatment OF diphther;a AMI croup to
twenty-four per cent
81 Will repeat substantially what
said at the medical college at Buda-
pesth the ether day: My ce-wsrkers.
MN. Martin and Chaiiion, and t
maintain after series of careful ex-
periments extending through three
years, that by the use IF the serum
separated from the blood of the horses
which have been previously vaccin
ated against diphtheria we have sue
ceeded in lowering in such large pro-
portions the mortality of children at
tackled by diphtheria or Group, that
the malady may be considered as con-
quered. We are beyond peradventure
now, But what we wish specially tn
do is to impress upon the minds of
mothers everywhere the heed Of fiy
ing at once to the remedy the moment
the diphtheria declares itself.
''This is what should be DONE" he
went on. when child complains
OF a sore throat.an examination should
be instantly made. If the mucous
surface shows little white spots scat
tered over it, a physician should be
called without delay. The white
spots may be indications of a simple
quincy, or they may be the first symp-
toms of Group.
'In either case, the physician
should at once give the child a sub
cutaneous injection of the anti-diph-
theritic serum. If the attack is one
OF quinzy simply, the remedy will do
no harm. If it is diphtheria, the
serum will infallibly effect a cure.
The statistics at the hospital of En-
fants Malades show that since the use
OF the serum in diphtheria cases
where there is no complication with
other maladies the average mortality
has been lowered from eleven to one
per cent. Contrast this with nearly
seventy per cent of mortality where
the Old-fashioned treatment alone is
used. Nine times out of ten diph-
iberia does not kill, as is generally
supposed, by suffocation. The false
membranes which develop at the back
Of the throat rarely cause total OBJ
struction Of the respiratory canal, and
even If they did, tracheotomy could
save the patient.
"But the diphtheritic microbe,
which swarms on these false mem
branes, secretes poison that sooner
or later, according to the virulence
OF the attack, must contaminate the
blood. My pupil Yersin and l claim
to have been the first to discover this
'toxine,' and to have proved that
diphtheria patients die from poisoning.
"Now, the simultaneous injection
OF the anti-diphtheritic serum confers
immediate immunity, but acts as an
antidote only at the end of several
hours, so that if the ravages of the
'toxine' are too far advanced land that
is pretty generally the case among
poor children here when the family
doctor says that the attack has he
come too serious for him, and that
the patient must go to the hospitan
the remedy is given in vain. Neither
must it be supposed that the serum has
any power to cure other diseases which
the sufferer may have concurrently
with diphtheris.
And how do you obtain the
serum"
'Well, we viii now return TO our
friend the horse. The great number
Of experiments made in our laboratory
showed that Of all animals canable of
furnishing anti-diphtheritic serum in
large quantities the horse was. the
easiest to vaccinate. He supports the
'soxine' much better than the dog or
than Illuminating animals. Nothing is
easier than to draw from the jupular
vein of horse, as often as one wishes.
great quantities of pure blood, from
which perfectly hmpid serum sep
arates."
The drawback of expense is the
only one. was about to say-.But
If We are to be expected to cure al
the cases of diphtheria and Group IL
Paris. we shall need q smart cavalr1
brigade. You see, it requires nearly
seven-eights of pint of serum to cure
the Group. The preparation of serum
Is costly, and our hospitals for chill
dren would find the new cure q tire
mendous drain upon their resource.
were it not for the public subscription
which the Figaro has started, AM
which has already yielded nearl,
$4,000 francs.
| The Figaro subscription list has Oh
II the name of nearly every celebrit,