Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1899-03-03
ABOUT APPENDICITIS
What an Eminent Physician Says
About Il,
OLt Of 100 Cases, He Never Performed an
Operation and Never Lost
Patient

IneTe mas Oeen so luuCO inquiry
about Z. recent item In The JOUR
NAL To the effect that a physician had
cured one hundred cases OF "append-
citis" without use Of u knife, that
we publish below an extract from a
recent article in the Medical Record
fI0m the pen Of DR.. j Il. HaJton, a
regular aud quite eminent ply
sician Of Chicago, AmOnst other
things he says:
This paper Is a protest against the
current surgical theory ami practice
that all cases OF appendicitis must be
split open, lis protest Is based on
twenty-seven years experience as
physicians aud surgeon, including
service in three hospitals, one West
ern fort, five years In mining surgery,
hye years In railroad surgery, twelve
years 10 general practice on the cen
tral western plateau Of Minnesota,
and four years la this great city,
MY experience is tnat appendicitis
is promptly amepable TO proper med
ical treatment. l can recall one
hundred cases treated with symptoms
Of this malady --or OF Lyphlitis or
poriLyphlitis, as IL was formerly
called 80 but l have never yet met a
case Of IL ia which felt IL was my
duty 20 cut, or which terminated
f.taIl,, Tnanannad h,, ha nsavu "A ~,
craze 10 cut, time and again in coming
To new cases OF this kind | have
thought: "NOw, sir, your time has
come; iu this case you must cut,
But, presto simple medical treat
ment again prevailed, Later on l
shall cite other unimpeachable practi-
medical treatment aYai 10
in this malady, one SHOW inR
forty-nine out of nifty one cases sue
cessfully treated-being more than
ninety-six per cent,
my treatment for appendicitis Is
free calomel and soda PurgdtIOn, sup
plemenJed by hot applications. Faecal
lmpactioD OF the colon Is present la
some instances; here the bowels must
hrst be unloaded by suitable enemas.
This unloading the bowels is in some
instances Il SLOW aud difiicult task.
~ symptoms continue after the
enemata have done their work, then
the calonIel and soda purRatiOn fol-
lows. 10 all cases light, hot applica-
tions, as OF cloths dipped Ia boiling
water and slightly cooled, are Inn
portant adjuncts 10 the treatment.
But the main factor in the treatment
in the vast majority Of cases is the
calomel and soda purgation and here
is the mode OF administration;
According 20 the age OF the pa
tlent, a few powders, each containing
from two and one.half TO ten grains
each OF calomel aud bicarbonate Of
sodium, are ordered. One powder Is
given every hour until the few powders
are taken. That is all there is to the
calomel and soda treatment, except
that when its action is too slow a
saline purge is given. Free purgation
follows, and all symptoms cease. Is
anything simpler? Could anything
be cheaper! Certainly nothing could
he more effective. The least price
charged by druggists for tilllng pre-
scriptiOn is twenty cents, and this
SUN is the exact charge for these
powders. 20 that the caption Of this
paper is literally correct,
"Cal0mel, like many good man,
has suffered much for the sins OF
others. Through no fault OF It's own,
but simply because some OF our pre-
decessOrs abused IL, has il fallen
under a chronic ban. But far from
needing apology, its record, rightly
used, is all eulOgy. 1t is a, or rather
the, prOtean remedy. IL ILLS the
greatest number OF indications OF any
remedy in the entire materia medica.
The man who still sits ia the seat Oi
the scornful as to the virtues OF thi'
agent, hut shows his own profound
ignorance. would almost say al
calomel what Beecher said OF cheek
that thorough knowledge Of ~
virtues is 10 the practitioner equal 4
cash capital Of $4,000" "
TWO ITEMS FROM A DULUTH PAPER
For some time past scarcely a ~eel
has gone BY 10 which sOme medica
, Jack-the-RIpper has not sacrificed on
or more human lives under the pre-
tense OF cnTing them Of that allege
disease, appendicIlus; and the las