The record-union., 1897-03-08
GASTRIC CATARRH.
How 1t is Now Being Treated b.
EiectriZation.

Miss Carrie Helf, a young woman
about "a years DID, who lives with heI
mother, sister and two brothers at n
Summer avenue, Newark, is on the
high road to recovery-in fact, has al
most recovered-from what physicians
Of reputation and long practice pro-
nounced consumption. They treated
her for a While, one after the other,
and then gave up the case, for she de
clared they were not helping her. They
in turn declared that consumption haG
secured upon her such a firm hold that
she was incurable She then weighed
scarcely eighty-five pounds and had
not been able to work for several years.
| But now, after about three months
treatment by a local physician, she
has regained her normal condition. Her
weight is about 40 pounds, her eye is
bright, her cheeks are no longer wan
and sunken, and her whole being seems
infused with new life.
NO, 1 am not going to die of con-
sumption, as all the other doctors told
me-" she said last night. I'm about
as we'll as | ever was, and in a short
time [ expect to resume work in the
Clark Thread Mills. The doctor can
tell you what my treatment has been.
l know 1 have been swallowing a small
electric lamp once a week"
I saw the physician who treated Miss
Helf at his office last night. He said
he did not mind giving the facts about
the case, but that he would not care
| to talk beyond the bounds of profeS-
sional ethics. In response TO questions
/ he said that several prominent physi-
clans had treated Miss Helf for con-
sumption before she became his pa
tient, and they pronounced her condi-
tiGn hopeless. OF his treatment of her
he said it is little used, and perhaps
little known here but in Europe it is
said to be common. 1t is known as the
Vienna treatment. He had spent sew
eral years in Vienna and Germany
studying specialties, and surgery in
particular.
| Il found that Miss Helf was suffering
from an obstinate gastric catarrh," he
said, 'and her case illustrates what
mechanical treatment, especially direct
electrization of the stomach can do in
cases of that kind. The Roentgen rays
are not of material use in eXamina-
tiOns of the stomach or the treatment
| of its disorders. The instrument con-
structed and used by me for illuminat-
ing the stomach and for diagnostic
purposes is a flexible wire tube, inclos-
| ing two fine electric wires, with a min
| iature Edison lamp, perhaps half an
| inch in diameter and three-quarters Of
an inch long, which is placed in the
| mouth and thence forced into the
! stomach. To do this takes from ten to
| fifteen seconds.
| when the lamp is in the stomach the
middle current is turned on from fifteen
| to thirty seconds at a time, and a most
| brilliant illumination of the stOm
! ach results which enables everything
| to be clearly seen. This is done, OF
course, in a carefully darkened room.
| 1t enables me to make a rapid diagnosis
of stomach diseases.
The treatment of a stomach by cleo
irritation is simple and harmless. AS
long ago as 1877 Kussmaul, of Vienna,
| treated diseases of the stomach by cleo
| irritation. Later a Frenchman con-
| structed the stomach electrodes and
| cured obstinate cases of vomiting and
enlargement of the stomach. Within
comparatively recent date the Germans
have made rapid progress with this
method. I looked carefully into it
while abroad and am using it.
"In Miss Helf's case it has been high
| ly successful After inserting the il
Eliminating lamp a fine wire, the mega
tive pole is passed into her stomach,
and the other wire is applied externally
to the stomach, a soft, damp sponge
being on it's end. This is done after
the stomach is washed out and filled
with water.
The strength of the current for gas
trio galvaniZation-that'S what it is
called-varibs from ten to fifteen mllli-
amperes. The stomach electrode comes
into contact with only a small portion
of the mucous membrane, but the cur
rent is distributed to all parts throGgh
the water swallowed for its insertion.
BY electrization and proper treatment
an enlarged stomach will return to its
normal size and the symptoms will al
most entirely disappear. This has heen
the case with Miss Helf Very little
medicine is needed, but her treatment
has been entirely of hygienic order
washing the stomach, use of concen-
trated foods and electriZation. She is
an excellent patient. EIectrization is
not curative in all diseases of the ston-
ach, of course. l have been treating her
since October"
The doctor is at present experimenting
with his stomach lamp and tube, ana
expects shortly to be able to introduce
into the stomach with it miniature
camera and photograph portions OF the
interior of the stomach.-NeW York
7 4