The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-02-20
TWO THEORIES
In the Treatment or Consumption Ad-
vanced by New York Doctor.
New York SUM

(New York SUM-
In a paper read before the Academy
of Medicine at q recent meeting DIR. II.
w. Mitchell put forth what he believes
to be two new ideas concerning pulmon-
ary tuberculosis. One had reference to
the possibility of cure of the disease in
the early stages; the other pointed out
that there may be tuberculosis without
tubercles, or consumption without the
recognized specific bacillus of that
disease. Dr. Mitchell cited two particu-
lar cases in his own practice which
served as typical ones for the illustra-
ton of his own points, gave a detailed
history of each, and said that the de-
ductions he had made from the study
of those two cases has been borne in an
experience with 600 cases.
In April, 1894, he said, two women
called on him who were suffering
greatly from pulmonary consumption.
They called on the same day. Neither
was known to the other Both were
married. They were both 20 years of
age. Each expected to be confined with
in a month. To him the cases seemed
hopeless. He told the husbands so and
advised that the wives should be sent
away. The husbands objected and re-
quested that everything possible should
be done to make easier at their homes
such of life as remained to their wives.
DR.. Mitchell had been using for ex-
ternal application to ulcerate condi-
tiOn chlorine preparation, the compo-
sition of which he detailed to the
academy. 1t contained one Of the accids
of the gastric juice, hydrochloric acid,
and the idea suggested itself to the
doctor that it would be readily alb
sorbed in the stomach and introduced
directly into the blood and so sent
promptly through the lungs, and that
if it healed ulcers at the surface of the
body it might heal the tuberculosis ul-
cerations in the lungs of his two
patients. Besides the hydrochloric acid,
the medicine contained various hypo-
chlorites, the proportions of which were
all explained to the academy. None
should prove poisonous as they were
combined to the human system, and DR..
Mitchell gave himself dose to learn
what effect the stuff would have. 1t
gave his stomach a very comfortable
sensation, he said, and he decided to
give some to his patients. The women
children were born well. One of the
mothers was treated for consumption
for year and a half and the other
for q months. At the expiration of
those periods the women had recovered
health. They had ceased to cough, and
an examination failed to reveal any
evidences of the disease. Each had in
the interval again become a mother.
The symptoms exhibited by each had
been Identical but there proved to be
one marked difference in their condition.
DR.. Mitchell had the sputum examined
from time to time. That of one showed
until the conclusion Of the course of
treatment many bacilli; that of the
other at no time revealed a single bacil-
lus of tuberculosis. This discovery led
DR.. Mitchell to the belief that there
must be two kinds of consumption, one
where the bacillus is present and one
where it is not. In the case of the
woman who had the bacilli, it was
necessary to continue the treatment a
few months longer than with her who
had no bacilli. In an aggregation of
600 cases between the spring of 1894
and date, DR.. Mitchell told the academy
that he had noted the absence of the
bacillus in a little more than 10 per
cent of them. AS in the first, or ex-
perimental instances, those patients re-
covered a little sooner who had no
bacilli. This difference in form of the
disease and the chlorine treatment Dr.
Mitchell thought opened new lines for
professional investigation.