El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-21
NEW CONSUMPTION CURE.
Presented by DR.. J. B. Murphy, at
the Denver Meeting of the Ame-
riCan Medical Association.


the fifty-firss annual convention OF the
American Medical Association met al
| Denver, Colorado. In talking to the
HERALD about his trip DR.. Rawlings
said: ''This is the largest convention
that the association has ever held, ex-
cept one. Every state and territory l.
the United States was represented at
this meeting, and there were on the
register of the convention one thousand
three hundred and sixty PHYSICIANS.
"Before this meeting of medicOes
there were read six hundred and nine
papers for the advancement of the DIFF
| ferent branches Of the profession: the
number on different subjects is as fol-
lows: Neurology, 80: therapeutics, 81;
Surgery and anatomy, Il; diseases OF
women, 81: optb Anthology. So: diseases
of children, So; practice, As: physio-
logy, 43; otology, SO; state medicine,
33; diseases of the skin, "a; stomato-
logy, Is.
t'This convention was SO large that
they met at the different churches all
over the city, and when one wanted to
hear a special paper read he could find
out by looking iu the program at what
place it was to be read, and he could go
there and hear it.
zone of the main features of the
| NEE ting. and of the year, was the eX-
PLANTATION of rebuilding the lungs OF
persons having tuberculosis of the
lungs. This.paper was read and ex-
planned by DR.. ]. B. Murphy, of Chic
ago. DR.. Murphy is one of the leading
surgeons of this country, and the fact
| that subject of this kind is treated by
him, with such explain nations founded
on experiments by him is enough in it.
self to make the doctors consider it.
"The reading of this one paper con-
sumed four hours and covered the
whole ground of his discoveries upon
this NATTER
Following is synopsis of the paper.
taken from DR.. Murphy's own brief:
"Brietiy." said DR.. Murphy, "tuber-
culosis of the lungs, if left to itself,
has a tendency to cure itself. In over
20 per cent, of deaths from all causes,
post norton examination will show
spontaneously cured tuberculosis,
which, in the majority of cases, was
unsupported during life. The effect of
give the tissues an opportunity of re-
building themselves.
SIT has been found by experiment by
myself and others that the reason that
a person is enabled to live and breathe
with large portion of the lung tissue
gone is that the capability of the lung
is fully ten times as great as the actual
working surface. That is, there is
nine times as much tissue in reserve as
there is in actual use, and if q portion
of the lung is removed the remainder
will expand and fill the pleural cavity,
thus giving as much working surface
as before. This 1 have demonstrated,
first by experiments on dogs and after
ward on humans.
1.-The sore spots in the cavities and
on the tissues of the lungs, while in
constant motion as in breathing, are
prevented from healing just as any
main open. A sore on any part of the
body would not heal if it were being
constantly pulled apart. The ten
dency of the tubercular sore is to heal,
and if left alone it will heal.
''The way to do this is by withdraw
ing the air. That the air can be with
drawn with safety is demonstrated pa
thologically in the treatment of pleuri-
sy and other diseases in which air and
fluid have been drawn off. The very
best way to get this effect is by com
pressing pre-. sure upon it. There are
two ways of doing this. One is by re-
moving the ribs and allowing the chest
to collapse.
"The pressure of the side will prevent
air from entering and prevent the
spread of the disease. A far better
way, and one which l adopted after
much experiment, is the Introduction
into the cavity of gas. The best gas
for the purpose is pure nitrogen, for,
unlike air and oxygen, it has no effect
on the tissues and will not be absorbed.
Air might remain in the cavity for a
week or even longer, and then would
find it's way out by being absorbed, but
the lung needs a longer rest than this
and nitrogen 1 find to be perfectly
adapted to the purpose.
II have been working on this sub
ject for three years, but during the
past year l have experimental prac-
it in five cases of advanced tuberculosis
with unqualified success. AS a result,
L can say with safety that, unless the
lung is entirely gone, a permanent
cure can be affected. The action of
he nitrogen congresses the lung and
gives it. an entire rest. The nodule of
the tuberculosis becomes cicatrized or
scarifed into solid substance and the
tissue builds up around it.
SIN one case which 1 commenced to
work on in December last the patti
ent who had not slept for months on
account of his continual coughing,
slept that night for the first time. The
cough disappeared entirely, the night
swears disappeared and the temper
allure was returned to normal, thus
leaving no symptoms of the disease
In April skiagraph was taken of the
case, and the tuberculosis was found to
have entirely disappeared.
DR. Murphy exhibited number Of
skiagraphs which were unique as be-:
ing the first on record in which the
healthy and diseased conditions of the
lung were shown. The peri. ct tissues
in the healthy lung were shown as
we'll as the cavity in the diseased lung.
Other pictures showed the outlines of
the healthy normal lung on one side
and the diseased and compressed lung
in which the cavity was filled with
nitrogen on the other.
''In the five cases in which I have
used this treatment" DR.. Murphy con-
tinued, "cure was effected in from
four to eight weeks. The nitrogen
treatment is exceedingly simple. 1t
consists mostly of introducing hyper
dermic needle through which nitrogen
is injected. The needle is supplied
with stopcock by which the amount
introduced can be regulated. There is
sensation of short breathedness for a
few moments in some cases, which i'm
mediatelV disaDDearS and in everv