The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-06-03

mittee: but he improves the opportun
ity to disabuse the professional anC
public mind of the prevalent delusior
that the chlorides of lime and soda arr
in any sense disinfectants-thou they
may be in some degree useful In dissi
pating foul smelling odors. We know
however, that they have no effect t
mitigate the dangers OF disease,
In September 1889, Or. Bronson pub.
lished in the Boston Medical and Sur,
gical Journal" a very remarkable arti.
ek "On the Chlorides and Chlorine as
'Disinfecting Agents and as Proven.
tives of Cholera, too long to use in this
place. But it should be reprinted in a
widely circulating journal
have room only for the following ex-
tract from a letter from DR.. Usher Par
sons of Providence, to a gentleman in
Boston. The letter was designed to
show the ineflciency Of the 'disinfec-
tants, and states that, THE sloop Hero
sailed from New York on the nth of
July qS32) with thirty passengers on
board, and was quarantined at New
port eight days from her time Of leav-
ing that city On the day of landing
the passengers, four of them were im-
mediately attacked with Asiatic chol-
era, and died in a few hours,
This vessel had five tons of best
Scotch chloride of lime on board, ship
ped on the 14th OF said month; any
cask of which, the owner informs me,
would give out through the slaves suf-
flclent gas to saturate the atmosphere
of the vessel as effectually as would
be done if the floors and decks were
sprinkled with powder. Yet, with thir-
ty such casks between her decks, this
happens to be the only vessel out of
the great number arriving with pas
sengers from New York that has
brought any person infected with the
diseased" This statement, DR.. Bron-
son continues, must, methinks, prove
of difficult digestion to the advocates
of 'preventives. 1t contains an argue
ment which may serve any purpose but
theirs, 1t seems to prove that chlor
inc is not the specific after all--that
science is not always triumphant. 1t
reveals fact which may be justly re-
garded as an outrage on rational chem
istry
/ do not forget, Mr. President, that l
am not addressing a strictly profession
al audience; nor do 1 cease to remem-
Der with pleasure, that the people of
culture who are accustomed to assem-
BILE in these halls are always interested
in whatever pertains to scientific know
ledge, particularly such as relates to
discoveries in medical science, or con
Germs our bodily health, or the person
atty of those whose lives have been de-
voted to the work of mlnistering to the
health of others.
may assume, therefore, that in the
endeavor to set before you some of the
great qualities of our distinguished
friend neither the events of his pro-
fessional life in their historical rela-
lions to the physical welfare of the
world, nor some illusions to the OBJ
scure medical theories Of the past could
we'll be omitted.
DIR. Bronson loved with all the force
Of his moral nature the profession of
his choice, and while standing ever
ready to break a lance in its defense
against the assaults Of presumng ig-
or the unblushing chicanery
IF the crafty, he was, ever ready to in
struct the one and ehlighten or expose
the other. He had a remarkable in
sight into the hidden mysteries of ma
.ure, which to many others was a seal
I'd book, and beyond their comprehen-
sion. He had also very definite ideas
Is to the limitations of science and art
n the treatment and cure of diseases.
He was eminently successful in tracing
nut the hidden causes of disease and in
their painful or disturbing
Effects, but / should add moreover, that
ne was accustomed to say that he did
rot know that he had ever cured any
body.
While he had an intelligent faith in
he powers of a few medicinal agents
o relieve the sympathetic disturbances
# functions, caused by organic disease
n other agencies, he had, in common
With all the other great physicians of
history little or no rational faith in the
oower of drugs to cure disease. Free
v admitting that recoveries from dis
ase occurred under almost all forms
# treatment in proportions somewhat |
imilar, he could not, with all his can
lor, be an advocate of any exclusive |
ystem of treatment
1t had been said of him that on one
occasion he received from a relative an
rgent letter asking for advice in the |
ase of a child sick with measles, and |
whose case, it was feared, the attend |
ng physician did not understand be- |
ause he was giving the patient great |
ariety of medicines at short intervals. |
nd the child was becoming rapidly |
worse. Without stopping to discuss |
he merits of this or that pathy, for |
,hich he cared nothing, he took large |
beet of paper and wrote in the middle /
f the great page this prescription:
Take white china cup
with nothing in 1t;
Turn the handle toward the
northwest, and give a
teaspoonful every hour.
The little patient will soon be we'll.
This was plain illustration of a great
nth contained in the aphorism seldom
card in those days, that "the majority
diseases are self limited-they come
nd tarry, and disappear according to
atural law-if nobody interferes
Let us pause for a moment and ask
lrselves the question, what would be
lie condition Of the human race to-day,
the rise and progress of diseases were
Of regulated by law, and what would
oubtless happen to the world if every