The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
GUSTAvE. ECKSTEIN & co.

wounds Sir Kenelm dipped one OF How.
els carriers in a solution of the powder
and, Immediately. 1t Is said, the wounds
which We're very painful, grew easy. al
though the patient who was conversine
In the corner of his chamber had not the
least idea OF what was being done with
his garter.
King James the First, his son Charles,
Prime Minister Buckingham. and all the
principle personages Of the time were cog
infant of this fact. and James himself be-
ing curious 10 know the secret Of this rem
edy, asked II of Sir Kenelm, who revealed
II to him, ana his majesty had the oppor-
tunity of making several trials OF It's efii-
cacy, which all succeeded in "a surprising
manner. The kings physician was like
wise made master of the secret which he
carried to France and communicated TO the
Duke Of Mayerne, who performed many
cures with It,"
Should It seem creditable that Lord
Bacon, the Trismegistus Of Logic and Phil
osophy, became a convert to the belief IN
the efficacy of that prescription He
enumerates men OF great credit who have
testified in It's favor and remarks that
lastly, It Will cure beast. as well as a
man, which l like best OF all, because II
subjecteth the matter 10 an easy trial.'
Wounds, If left alone, viii often heal
spontaneously, but the sanitary abuses
VI tAt liiluit ages ItNulitu III more OD-
stinate complaints. and like Napoleon III.
after the battle OF Gravelotte, the medi-
cine men of the period tried to elevate
their minds to the new level OF the cir
cumstances." They compounded blisters
that would draw like a Norman cart
horse. They hung patients up by the
feet, with their heads IN the steam of a
witch's caldron OF herbs and roots They
administered mineral poisons in bull doses
and they invented alcohol. The vital elixir
Of Paracelsus, /. e., the spirits of wine
distilled to the strength of proof alcohol,
was swallowed by the pint, till the patient
saw the sky fun of snakes, and IL all
other remedies failed the resolute practi-
toner resorted to his dagger. II cannot
be denied but in fevers and similar disor-
ders bleeding often seems to effect tenn
porary change for the better. Even In a
life and death struggle with a desperate
distemper, nature stops 10 rally the scant
reserve forces of the system for a battle
with new enemy. The raging pulse be-
comes faint, the flushed face becomes
pale. For a time the agony Of pneumonia
abates, as If the nerves had lost the power
to carry the sensation Of pain from the
afflicted tissues to the organ OF conscious
ness. As soon as the loss of the vital huid
has TO some degree been retrieved, the
interrupted struggle with the original foe
IS resumed with diminished chances OF
Success, Out Ut. CaHEIduDg tuIOuIdbtu ny
the apparent success Of the first expert
ment, was apt to repeat the venture, and
there is no reason to doubt Francis Bich-
ats assertion that from the beginning Of
the twelfth century the lancet killed more
human beings than the sword.
DR. Holmes (Oliyer W. in one Of his
medicinal lectures treated the Harvard
graduates to an anecdote about a Boston
physician who was summoned to the bed
side Of a man with terribly sore mouth.
Inquiries elected the fact that the man
had picked up a box Of mercurial pills
on Howard street and proceeded to swal-
low them on general principles-"pills be-
ing good for people"
The founders of several monastic or
ders would seem to have held similar
opinion in regard to the benefits of vene-
section. The friars-sick or sound-were
subjected to semi-monthly bleedings, and
many medieval printing houses pub
lished almanacs (Aderlag's Kalender, or
"Blood-letting Calendars') that recon-
mended phlebtomy for all possible emer-
gencies Of daily life. Not fevers only, but
surfeits, headaches, drowsiness, rheuma-
tism, collie. hysteria, melancholy. fits OF
anger, Obstinacy and dullness in chill
dren, inconsistencies, lovesickness and dia-
bolic visions Naturally a frequent result
of mediaeval bill of fare) but also as a
precautionary measure for the possible ef-
fects Of warm weather. storms, exciting