The herald., 1897-07-18
Discovery by DR.. Ira Van
Gieson, the Savant
is NOT SIMPLE OvERHEATING
THE SUMS RAYS ORIGINATE A
MOST VIRULENT POISON
Remarkable Effects Of the Poison Up
on the Nervous System Re-
vealed by Experiments

Special Correspondence to The Herald.
NEW YORK, July ia person who
is sunstruck does not die because of
overheating of the blod, but for the rea-
son that there has been formed in his
veins by the fierce rays of the sun a
poison so deadly that it destroys the
nerve cells. This somewhat startling in
formation, even to the most skilled med
ical msn, is the result of series of ex-
periments by DR.. Ira Van Gieson, d.
rector of the New York State PATHOLOGY
cal institute and one Of the foremost
disciples of medical science of the day.
The announcement at this season is par
ticularly timely.
To the surprise this fact engenders is
added the further complication that, try
their best, the doctors who have in
vestigated have found themselves to-
tally unable to analyze the poison whose
effects are so dire, though they have
proved again and again that it does ex-
list. They know that it is what the doc
tors call an "auto-toxic" poison, but
right there they are compelled to stop,
and the worst of it is that until they can
succeed in the matter of analysis, it will
be utterly impossible to compound an
absolute remedy for sunstroke.
1t is strange series of facts that this
investigation has revealed. 1t has shown
that the virulence of this mysterious
poison has often been as great as that
which the rattlesnake instills into the
victim, and, oddly enough, it is not I'M
like the venom of the rattlesnake in its
effects. Yet there is difference, and it
is just this difference which forms the
stumbling block over which the an
alysts have fallen.
DR.. Van Gieson said to the writer that
he did not see how even layman could
doubt the fact that sunstroke was prao-
tically nothing but auto-toxic poisoning.
ALI, he said, that was necessary was to
note the purple, swollen face of the pa
tient. the enfeebled heart action, the
profound collapse and the fact that
death occurred within one or two hours
to convince oneself that what was seen
was the result of the action of one Of the
most deadly Of poisons. Said the doc
tor: ut is, beyond question, the most
brilliant, Straightforward example Of an
acute intense, virulent poison, originat-
ing within the body which acts most
rapidly and violently upon the nervous
system"
The very first point at which the poison
strikes is that group Of nerve cells which
manage the heart. These are known as
"ganglion,,' cells. Instantly the poison
touches them the process of degenera-
tion begins and continues at lightning
speed. Often physician will give the
cause Of death as heart failure resulting
from excessive heat. In a measure this
is technically correct, but really death
should be declared to be due to poison
and the consequent degeneration or de-
cay of the cells Sometimes the poison
attacks the cells of the brain, and then
there happens what medical men term
degeneration of the cortical cells. mean
ing that the nerve cells of the brain are
being killed and practically forced out of
existence.
Occasionally 1t happens. too, that the
sufferer from this sort of poisoning man
ages to cling to life, but he is always in
a damaged condition. The poison can
not enter ones system without making
a scar. 1t is certain to be the case4hat
at least few of the nerve cells are par
TALLY destroyed. The doctors call these
structural changes. The layman knows
that he is not as we'll as before and is
friends say that his mind is affected
which IS very apt to be the case.
DR.. Van Gieson said, when questioned
regarding the matter: "The progress
of the past ten years in bacteriology and