Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-06-26
OXYGEN AS A HEALER.
Record of Several Valuable English TX
periments.

During the Zulu war DR.. George
Stoker, who served during the campaign
as an army surgeon, had an opportunity
of observing the method i'll which the
natives treated their wounded comrades
He noticed that they carried them to the
highest point attainable, and there ex-
posed the wounds to the purest air and
the action of pure water. This simple
remedy was swift and sure, the worst
cases yielding rapidly under its influ-
ence, doubtless the healthy state of the
blood and the abstemious lives led by
the natives having a good deal to do
with the matter. DR.. Stoker was led to
believe that the oxygen cure might be
applied to ulcers, burns and wounds of
a similar nature, and on his return to
this country he made several expert
ments on such cases, and the more he
saw of it the firmer was his belief i'll his
discovery. Bacteria consist of two kinds
- the harmful heterogeneous and
those necessary to the system, i'll order
that the mechanism of the body may bo
carried on satisfactorily. Before the dis
covery of antiseptlc surgery the risk
which was run wherever raw surface
was exposed to the air was enormous,
hut with the introduction of antiseptics
into the treatment the danger was re-
duced to a minimum. Iodoform has al
ways been the special medium for use
in the case of ulcers, and it is not a
pleasant one, but it tended to hold the
bacteria at bay. Now, however, it has
been noticed that i'll cases where oxygen
has been applied and where the wound
is healing the progress was marked by
the presence of common organisms and
that if relapse occurred the bacteria
disappeared, so that one is led to the
conclusion that certain number of
these living organisms are necessary in
the formation of new and healthy flesh.
1t was decided to enter upon wider
field of operations and test this expert
ment further-for it must be borne in
mind that as yet it is only an expert
ment-and accordingly committee of
ladies and gentlemen, under the presi-
dency of Baroness Burdett-Coutts, I'M
dertook to establish hospital at 30 St.
Georges square, s. W. The hospital is
small, but if funds were forthcoming a
larger house could be secured. The oXy-
gen used is said to be first generated in
an iron funnel, and thence it is pumped
into india rubber bags, according to the
strength required. The part affected is
then inclosed in a wooden box with "a
glass lid and cased round with oilskin.
A tube communicates with the box and
the bag, and in this way the oxygen is
introduced into the box. Other appa-
ratuses are contrived for the back, head
and other parts of the body. The first
effect is the cessation of pain, land the
healing properties are quickly discerned.
One case of an ulcer of 40 years stand
ing had yielded to the treatment in
three weeks, another of IS years i'll an
equally short time, and many others
had similar tale to tell. Not one of
the least of the virtues of the oxygen is
its deodorizing power. 1t has also been
tried on cases of badness, with the re-
suit that the hair grew rapidly and i'll a
short time was in a normal condition.
To what length the curative properties
of oxygen may be carried remains to be
proved, but it has at least one advan-
tage, that of extreme economy, for, be-
yond the cost of the oxygen, which, it
is said, comes to about az pence for "a
hours, there IS no expense for dressings
or medicines.-British Sanitary Record.