Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1896-02-15
Or. Edison Announces a Kennedy
in the Medica Record.
THE RESULTS OF HIS TESTS
MANY Sufferers From tuberculosis Dis
charged az Cured. and All Cases
SHOW Improvements.

New oYrk, Feb. 9-Dr. Cyrus Edison
who was at one time commissioner OF
health of the city and county OF New
York, and who has been for years one
of the we'll known contributors TO the
leading magazines, publishes an aftl-
Gle today in the Medical Record-the
Lancet among the medical journals IN
the United States-under the follow
ing title: A Rational Treatment for
Phthisis Pulmonans. together with
some notes on new remedial solution.
Under this heading comes the descrlp-
ton made by DR.. Edison, which, 1t is
held, may solve the hitherto unsolVed
problem of the cure of tuberculosis.
OF all the diseases which a1liict the
human race, tuberculosis, in one form
or another, is the most fatal. Among
the people of nations, sufficiently civ
ilized to keep records of deaths with
their cause, about one-third are charg-
ed to tuberculosis. The most common
form Of the disease is consumption, and
all men remember the sensation which
followed the announcement by Profess
sor. Koch, that ne hoped he had discoV-
cred a remedy. But tuberculosis kills
thousands of babies when it attacks
them in the bowels, and it causes many
men to walk with Crutches. The dis
ease is portean in character; there is
scarcely part of the body it may not
invade And it kills about One-third of
all who die.
ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE.
In order to understand DR.. Edson's
discovery, it is necessary TO remember
that Pasteur and Koch discovered and
established the fact that germ diseases
had as their ultimate cause the pres
euce IN the body of minute organisms,
called germs, microbes and the like. 1t
was not long before the germs were
cultivated, as it was called That is,
some germs from d diseased person
We're transferred to some bouilIon, Irish
moss, or some substance on which
they grow; placed IN a machine where
the temperature was maintained at
that of the blood and there allowed to
increase and multiply, which they did
with amazing rapidity. These cultivat-
ed germs were identical with those in
the diseased person, as was proven not
only by the experiments with guinea
pigs, but by the fact that many of the
scientific men studying them have by
accident been innoculated with them
and have died as the result.
Having the cultivated colonies, the
scientific men have made many expert
ments. They found disinfectants that
would kill these germs. They found,
for example, that if a mixture of one
part of phenol or carbolc acid to three
thousands parts of water were flowed
over colony of germs and left there
for "a hours, all these germs died. 1t
naturally occurred to them that ii car
bolic acid would kill germs outside the
body, it would kill them inside, and the
conclusion that if they could kill all
the germs in the body, they could de-
stroy the cause of the disease and thus
cure the latter, was apparent.
The experiment was promptly tried.
The result was that some of those in
whom these injections were put devel-
oped assesses at the point of injection.
Far, more, however, were poisoned by
the acid, and the idea had to be given
up. 1t was too fascinating, though.
Declat of Paris made a mixture of one
of the acids to one hundred of water,
and putting in a little salt continued
the injections, getting from them a
larger percentage of cures.
DR.. Edison had his attention directed
to this subject in the early part of 1895,
and he began the study Of carbolic acid
He found that Stadler. Merck. Brieger,
Salkowski and other great chemists
agreed in declaring phenol was a nor
NAL constituent of the urine in man, the
horse and the cow. AS whatever is in
the urine comes from the blood after il