The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-31


diseases, all diseases which can bt
! transmitted from one person to an.
otner person, or from inanimate beings
TO human beings. This classification
covers large proportion of mankind
! worst enemies. Some disorders. such
as paralysis and rheumatism, heart
! olsease, neuralgia, etc., will not yield
10 TINS kind of treatment. but I am
! conndenr that science will find
other ways to battle them
1he diseases which will most read
lily yield to anti-toxine treatment
and for which am certain a means OF
developing the anti-toxine may be dis
| covered. are typhoid. yellow, scarlet
ana typhus fevers, cholera. and per-
maps even pneumonia.
Cure For CONSUMPTION.
1t will, am sure, amaze you. when
! tell you that something after the
FASHION of an anti-toxine for consump-
tlon already exists. and is being effect
!Feiy used throughout Europe. Koch S
lymph, is, III a sense. an anti-toxine.
should explain that it is q toxfne,
also-that is, that while it combats the
poison Of tuberculosis. it is itself a
poison OF deadly power. It's introduce
ton into any system wherein the pres
ence of tuberculosis did not Offset it.,
would be fatal. In this it differs from
the diphtheria cure, which. should it
not cure, still could not kill l wish to
state here, that the stories OF III ef-
fects resulting from the use of prop
erly prepared diphtheria anti-toxine,
are without foundation in fact
1T seems to be the general impress
sion in the public mind. that Kochs
lymph for the cure Of consumption
was only a nine days wonder; that
1t was investigated by physicians and
found wanting. and that it has now
been dropped. Nothing could be far
Their from the truth koch's lymph is
a genuine remedy. It viii not do all
that Koch thought it would, but it
viii do much. In simple eases of tu-
berculosis-that is. in cases where the
lungs are infected by the tubercle
bacillus alone-koch's lymph cures.
Most consumption cases. however. are
compound. and in such the lymph is
not effective. In Europe. it has been
found, however, that many compound
cases can be reduced TO simple cases
through climatic treatment-that is,
through change of air-and that then
they become amenable to the lymph.
Not scores. but hundreds Of cures have
been brought about by this method in
Europe.
"Anti-toxines already exist for hy-
drophobia, and for tetanus or lock-
law. Hydrophobia, as OF course every
one knows. is the result of infection
through the bite of a rabid animal
PaSte1r's great discovery was nothing
more nor less than that of an anti
toXine for this infection. He cures his
patients by inoculating them with the
serum developed in the blood of ami
mails by hydrophobia itself. Tetanus
or lockjaw is one of the most eXtraOr-
binary diseases to which flesh is heir.
As many people do not know. lockjaw
can come only through infection with
a germ which can be bred nowhere
except in the earth. 1t is peculiar, too.
in certain localities. There are parts
of the world in which it is not known
at all, and there are other parts in
which it IS a very common thing.
There are probably more cases of lock
jaw on the extreme eastern end of
Long Island, than there are in any
other equal area on earth, and there
is a portion of the New Jersey coast
where the disease is amazingly fire.
Quent. This is probably due to the use
Of q peculiar kind of fish fertilizer.
The tetanus ant-toxine works abso- |
lutte cures"
Can you tell me, DR.. Edison. what
are now being made look |
ing toward the development of new
I asked.
Not with any degree Of accuracy"
he replied. "Experimenters are so |
IDEAS and rewards. that they are very |
ehary about giving hints Of what they |
are at work on. Investigations are,
however, going on in hundreds of Ia
boratories in Europe and America. l |
expect the announcement of four or |
i've important discoveries within the |
year, and [ believe this ratio will be
kept UP for many years to come. SO
much faith have 1 in the future of
that [ do not hesitate to
state that in my opinion the hypoder
mic syringe will be the most important
instrument Of medicine in the years to
,ome."
other Important Remedies.
II do not wish to slur the import
lnce of other lines of medical investi-
gaticn and discovery, however. Rank
ng not far behind the anti-toxines in
come the new synthetic
emedies. Of these anti-pyrine. fen
Lcatine, and a dozen others might be
mentioned. Science has discovered
hat organic substances can be decom-
,osed and their different elements en-
irely separated from each other.
These synthetic remedies consist of
lew combinations of these separated
dement's. For instance quinine. The
rst of the important remedies was
drawn wholly from the
ark Of the cinchona tree. The supply
hus obtained was small and expen-
i've. Quinine, when analysed was
ound to contain twenty parts of car
'onic acid gas. twenty-four parts of
hydrogen, twenty parts of nitrogen, ,
wenty parts of oxygen, and three ,
arts of water. These various ele-
1ents had been found in many organic !
odies, but of course they were without
Medicinal value until they mad been !
eparalted from all other elements and
combined with themselves. Some :
rilliant mind saw that this could be +
one by using coal tar as the deriva- '
i've, and since then quinine has be- l
ONE cheap but not less effective. The
Sc OF the bark of the cinchona has :
cen abandoned. Had we been forced /
} depend entirely upon the natural {
ource for our supply OF quinine we {
hould have been unable 10 have met :
ne demand. The same is true of many Q
ther remedies. Salacyllic acid once Z
erived wholly from the willow tree,
an now be manufactured in uniinit- I
/ quantities and very inexpensively =
ON coal tar. Winter green. the i
ctiye principle OF the wintergreen t
liant, Is now made artiicially from +
lethol alcohol. It is probable that in Il
le course Of time all the alkaloids
i'll be obtained by similar artificial h
eans. This will greatly reduce their II
,st without reducing their usefulness, +
nd will ibe another great advance for :,
edicine," t
What other recent discoveries s
ould you class among those which a
e likely to be of great Importance in I
lie future?" I asked. !,
he VitaIizing Power of Animal Ex- g
tracts. Il
NO discovery has been made which \
not of Importance, and which is not :
%, !