Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-12-22
NEW CURES FOR OLD DISEASES.
BY CYRUS EDSON, NJ. D.

| b1 C1nOo GboON, H. ~.
Prior to the development of bac-
teriology or the study Of germs, ply
sicians did not know the cause of dis
ease. All they knew were the symp-
toms, and the symptoms of a particu-
lar disease-such as typhoid fever, for
example-are but the visible results
produced by the causes at work. Ply
sicians were in the condition of man
who might be asked to improve rail-
way train while he was without any
understanding of the force of expan-
sion developed when water is turned
into steam by heat.
Such man could see the train
move, and if he saw this often enough,
he could recognize it was train-a
line of cars which would move and
carry people from place to place. But
think for q moment how impossible it
would he for this man to improve that
train by inventions, so long as he
knew nothing of the expansive power
of steam, the cause of the movement
1t is easy to understand why physi-
clans without the knowledge of the
cause of disease, were conservative ;
that is, unwilling to try new remedies
or methods.
1t took $50 years to induce physi-
clans generally to use quinine, which
is, perhaps, the most valuable remedy
known. Physicians had found out, af-
ter numberless experiments and many
failures, that certain medicines were
valuable in certain diseases-they
learned, for example, that quinine was
most useful in cases of malaria. But
as they did not know the cause OF
malaria,- for no man had ever heard
of the "plasmadia." the germs of ma
laria,-so they were ignorant of why
quinine did good.
However, the fact that it would help
the patient to recover was absolutely
known to them, and a dose of quinine
was Just as valuable then as it is now,
when, as we know several things about
the germs that cause the disease called
malaria, we can reason on the action
Of the drug.
The conservatism of physicians was
forced on them. Knowing nothing Of
the cause of disease and, therefore,
nothing of the real action of the drugs
administered, they clung to those
which experience had taught them
would do good. Of these they were
certain-the new remedies proposed
might be good or might not be. What
was the use of giving up thing known
to be good for another which no one
knew anything of? This they rea-
soned, and naturally. True, remedies
really good made their way in time,
but it took many long years.
With the discovery of the cause OF
germ diseases, all this changed. 1t
was found possible to cause these
germs to grow and increase outside
the body. On these "cultivated colo
MES" as they are called, experiments
could be made, new remedies tried and
their results noted.
FROM THE THEORY TO THE CURE.
Moreover, with the discovery of the
cause of disease and the investigations
into the laws or influences affecting
these germs, it became possible to part
ly work out the laws governing dis
ease, and this made possible also the
reasoning out of theories which could
be afterward demonstrated by expert
ments.
Medicine is in a very different posi-.
ton today from that which it occupied
century ago. Then it was little
more than a collection of experiences,
now it may be called science.
In bacteriology, then, is to be found
the real startling-point of tbe new
cures for old diseases of which we hear
so much. Some of these cures are
very good, others are for the most part
of theoretical value only and have
yet to be proved. But in the general
disposition of physicians to test the
new theories and cures, great ad-
vance has been made. Doctors are no
longer shackled by their ignorance OF
the cause of disease. They are free to
move ahead.
Perhaps one of the best known Of
these new cures is what is called anti
toxin for diphtheria. The germ OF
the disease is the Klebs- -Loefer bacil.
| lus, called after the two men who dis
covered it and made physicians under.
stand the part it played in the disease
The Klebs- Loeher bacilly, developed
in countless myriads in the throat and
air-passages, produced poison, tox'
in, which when absorbed into the blood
might killed the patient.
It was discovered that if an animal
"a horse is usually chosen-were Civ
en- little less than poisonous dose o.
diphtheria toxin and allowed to re
cover. then another larger dose of the
poison followed by recovery, and ther
another and another, time wOulC
come when an enormous dose of toxir
would have no effect on that animal
Nature had developed in it some sub
stance which was an antidote for the
toxin, the poison produced by the diph
liberia germs.
This substance is the antitoxin. II
is contained in the serum, that is, the
watery part of the animals blood
When patient has diphtheria thi:
serum, carrying the antidote to the
poison of the disease, is injected ant
the poison is neutralized. Hence tht
patient has very much better chance
of recovery.
One of the most curious classes o
remedies now used is to be found il
/ the animal extracts as they are called