Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-01-25
ATTACK ON ANTI.TOXINE.
SEW DIPHTHERIA CURE DECLARED ny
REGULARS TO DE A FAD.
Members OF the jackson County Medical
Society Pronounce the Remedy Home
opathy Pure aud simple What
viii Dr. Wariug sayc

At the Jackson County Medical Society
meeting last night n paper read by Or. l..
II. Dibble, entitled Medical Fads and
Faddists," gave rice to considerable dis
cusslon on the subject of the ant-toxlne
cure for dlphthoria. Some Of the talk was
I quite earnest and some full OF rood nat
ured railery. Or. Dibble opened his paper
/ by saying:
! There seems to be an innate tendency
| In the minds of certain individuals to run
after fads. This mania is not confined to
| medicine by any mcans. trhapplly, the
i medical man. like the thcologlan, is very
| prone to such course. He. like the
theoogian. deals in kind of hidden mys-
terry largely founded on faith. 1t is not
so long ago. in fact. that medical science.
so-called, was made up largely of charms
nnd superstitious ncnntatlons. as witness
/ the savage tribes OF our own day and gem
Grafton" The doctor then proceeded to
enumerate the fads which" he said.
have shot nthwart the medical skies In
meteofic showers only to be distinguished
IN nothngness." These were Cunlurnugo,
which had n brief but inslorious career
rs sure cure for cancer" The next was
chloral hydrate which was to relieve all
tho pain that flesh s heir TO. "'rhen the
laity had Its turn at the liver pnd. All you
had to do in tho morning was to adjust
your liver pad and aches aud pains van
shed as by magic. Then II copper wire
worn around the waist. mincling with the
ncid Precipitation and eXcreta of the body.
was to act as perpetual battery and
Eve you perfect Observation-Disclosures
that mems Soon after came the electric
disk worn as charm around the neck
tn In savapcD. Price only 80 cents. Then
dear old General pleasnnton solved the
problem Of life by evolving that marvel
Gus theory of blue glass. Brown Sequard's
elixir next had It's innings. koch's lymph
that was to destroy the fell destroyer OF
large part of the human race. next shot
like comet with a long tail into the
medical horizon"
Finally the doctor read: "And now
finally, brethren. we come to the last and
therefore the greatest fad-anti-toxine.
am aware that am trendinE on dangerous
ground. so many enthusiasts are swearing
by this new discovery. I hope they will
not have occasion to swear at It. How
many of these cases that are reported as
diphtheria really are such? OF thirty
-four cases recently reported In Berlin. but
five gave the cultures and three out of
the five died. | was somewhat startled
when / read upon the label Use your
usual remedies And If YOU do, then
what? Are we to infer no cases of diph-
iberia have been cured by the usual RENE
dies? This is shotgun practice with a VEN
goance."
This was followed by an amusing account
of typical medical faddsts. riames such as
"B. Hard Buncombe." "N. Frank Plainliar''
and the like being used TO heighten the
absurdity of the subject. 1t was the al
lusion to anti-toxine which caused the most
discussion. DR.. wainwright led In the dis
cussion. He said that he thought the
whole paper applied to him. which raised
n laugh. He was followed by DIR. +. r.
Porter and DR.. T.. Won Quasi. The latter
said that he believed that to avoid the
ridicule which might come upon the pro-
fession in the matter OF antl-toxine. a COM
rIittee of physicians should make a very
critical examination of the efficacy of the
cure and keep their opinions to themselves
until the cure had been fully tested. Dr.
A. II. Corder inclined to stand by the
cure saying that In their time, Harvey
Jenner and the great lights in the medical
sky were faddists, He defended Brown
sequard from the charge of seniity which
appeared in Dr. Dibhle's paper. Then Or
Mamie Stephens SPOKE. DIR. John Punton
was inclined TO side with DIR. Cordier. IT
was left for Or. W. T.. Kuhn to make the
most direct attack upon the new cure. lie
said:
DIR. Cordier talks OF vaccination and
anti-toXine in the same breath. Why vac
cination has proved eflcacious. 1t is the
Introduction of m opposing element into
the system while what is anti-toSine but
the introduction Of diphtheria to cure diph-
therla-homoopathy pure and simple, gen
tlemen. Why l can go out and Use hot
water as a cure, and II / accomplish any
thing that way. ] nm as much at liberty
to proclaim have discovered great cure
do not condemn anti-toxino-far from It
but do sny are running after n fad.
and II we don't quit our profession will be
held up to rdicule. There is too much eX-
plotting OF this new cure In the papers
Let's do what DR. Won Quasi suggests and
not talk until we have made an investiga-
ton"
Dr. Dibble was given an opportunity to
speak last. He said:
Gentlemen, there was one remark DR.
Kuhn made which I think was we'll timed.
He said that this nnti-toxne Is too much
exploited in the newspapers. / believe him
ana ! have been newspaper man myself.
Now l practced homeopathy once and /
know whereof am speaking. This cure is
homeopathy"
The first OF the meeting was given UP to
the presentation Of n patient suffering
with acromalgia, n very rare disease, by
DR. Truehart, and n paper, by Or. a. A.
Freyman, Report OF a Case of Cerebral
EmbOl!Sm"