Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-31
ADVANCE N MEDICAL SCIENCE.
iwo Grades of life EIiNirS" Dn
covered aud Applied.
Baltimore sun.

h'N
The close Of this present year Of grace
has been distinguished by a gratifying ad-
vance in the medical science. Prof.
Metchnikon, at Paris. has discovered the
elixir Of life and a remedy for typhoid
fever has been found at the Smith infrmary
on Staten island. In view Of the first
discovery it might be considered that the
second one is unnecessary. but the remedy
Itself is so pleasant that even IL the patients
were net actually suffering with the foye~
they might be anxious to take the remedy.
Theodore 5. Thorscn was so desperately III
with typhoid that the physicians abandoned
hope and the undertakcrs we're in confident
expectation of a job. As a last resort a
marriage ceremony was decided upon.
Thorsen wished to be married before he
died and Miss Mary Nilsson, having a
woman's natural desire to become a widow.
consented to be the bride. But there is
many a slip 'twiXt cup and lip, and Miss
Nilsson is not a widow after all. Up to the
time OF the ceremony Thorscn seemed to lose
nope and courage and was rapidly sinking.
Immediately after the ccremon the patient
appeared brighter and has since continued to
improve so that his final restoration to
health seems to be a matter Of a few days.
The story e the old woman who followed a
bishop around and was confirmed a number
Of times because she had found It good for
rheumatism is a familiar one. But the cure
of typhoid fever by the marriage ceremony
is a discovery which will make the last
week Of the year 1899 famous in the
centuries. The Improvement in MIR. Thorsen's
case was so quick and decided that
matriGnony will doubtless soon become the
recognized treatment in such cases. But
its adoption is not without its drawbacks.
II n bpNprnpC a rnpt Of tho Int. Of 4ha
trained nurses to marry the typhoid patients
there will be such an alarming epidemic
Of typhoid fever among the young bachelors
that the hospitals will have to be enlarged.
The trained nurse is a very attractive aud
delightful young parsonage, and in her
professional uniform she looks more beauti-
full than any bride dressed in tulle de sole
with hat and gloves to match and carrying
bride roses. No longer ago than last week
n young man in a hospital ward complained
that his nurse had golden hair and a
GreCian profile to such an extent that when
she felt his pulse it went up to 175 and she
thought he had fever and dosed him accord
ingly. At another time the contemplation of
her beauty agitated him to such a degree
that he nearly swallowed a thermometer
worth several dollars.
But we had almost forgotten the elixir
of life. Prof. Metchnikoff by an adroit in
fusion of the blood of the guinea pig into
the rabbit and the blood of the rabbit so
modified back into the guinea pig, and then
by the infusion of the blood so variously
modified into something else, finds that in
three or four days the red corpuscles con-
tanned in a cubic millimeter of blood had
Increased from 5000, 900 to 5000 900. This
important discovery insures the indefinite
prolongation of human life and knocks the
Coffin trust silly. The great obstacle in the
way OF long life heretofore has been the
weakening effect of age upon the noble cells.
This fxed-up guinea pig blood acts as a
reinforcement of the noble cells in their
contest with the ~plebeian cells and by this
aid the latter are kept in subsection.