The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-03
WAR ON TUBERCULOSIS
French Physicians Employing a
New Electric Treatment.
The Current Used TO Trnnsfuse Mi
crobc Destroying Drugs Through
ports OF Experts in Favor of the
Method - Discovery Of Vi. Crotte.

PARIS. Aug. 1.-THE medical faculty
of Paris is deyoting considerable attelto l
to a new cure for tuberculosis through
the TRANSMISSION of microbe destroying
drugs by means of electrical currents
passed through the patients chest ami
lungs. The discovery of the treatment,
which has been submitted to sevsre ties 5
at Paris and Bordeaux during the last
four years. is attributed to NJ. Frsncisque
Crotte, OF Paris, and exhaustive report
on the results OF these experiments We e
read before the International Medical
Congress last week by DR.. Bertheau, msd-
ical delegate to the congress from the tity
of Paris, and by DR.. Ducamp, DELEGATE 10
the congress from Bordeaux. A third
paper on the same subject was submitted
10 the congress by DR.. LabaGie, vino at
tended the congress as a delegate of The
Medico Legal Society of New York.
The conclusions of the three repJrts are
emphStiCaly in favor of the new treat
ment. and this view is shared by Prof.
Nirchow, of Berlin, sd by DR.. Brouardel,
of Paris, who preGicl that the treatment
is likely to receive the sanction of the
medical faculties CT Paris and Berlin for
adoption in the public hospitals of thoss
cities.
The Paris physicians consider that NJ.
Crotte's discovery may have far-reaching
consequences. for il enables extremely
powerful antiseptics to be introduced into
the human system and permeate the It's
sues and even the bones, so that the bac
iii may be killed without injury TO the
patient which would result if the same
GIugs were absorbed by the system through
the stomach or by other means hitherto
employed. Long series of experiments has
convinced the physicians here that So
luton of formol known as formaldehyde,
containing lode and mercury. is absolutely
fatal to the bacill of tuberculosis, even
when applied in the form of vapor. This
exceedingly powerful antiseptic cannot
without great danger be taken through the
stomach and the reports submitted 10 the
Medical Congress by Drs. Bertheau, Du-
camp. and Labadie show that by static
electricity the vapor of formaldehyde has
been transfused into the tissues of the
chest and OF The lungs, thereby destroying
the bacilli o. tuberculosis and preventing
reproduction in their tubes of cultivation.
Since NJ. Crot,e communicated the theory
Of his discovery TO the French Academy OF
Science in 1894 500 tuberculosis patients
IL France have been treated by his method
and GOO of these have been completely
cured. The number of patients whose
treatment has been set forth in clinical
detail by TIE reporting physicians and sub
mitted to the congress is ~. OF these, 10
were reported upon by Dr. Bertheau, II
by DR.. DucamD. and 81 by DR.. Labadie.
All the cases known to have been treated
by the new method are divided into three
categories; first patients who are in the
first stage OF tuberculosis: second those
who have reached the second stage, and
third. those where the progress of the dis
ease is so advanced that under ordinary
circumstances they would be considered
ineurable. The statistics submitted to the
congress show that the proportion of cures
obtained by the TRANSMISSION method APP
Piled 10 patients Of the first category was
100 per cent. The percentage Of cures of
patients of the second category was 20 per
cent. and the proportion of cures in the
third category was 90 per cent. These re-
Fuits are considered highly satisfactory,
and have made a decided impression on
the leading physicians in Paris, and es-
pecially upon those who make a speciality
of tuberculosis
Elaborate experiments have been made |
with guinea pigs and rabbits TO prove the |
exact quantities of formaldehyde trans |
mitted to the tissue of the lungs by The |
application of the electric currents. and
also 10 show how the intensity CT the |
TRANSMISSION can be regulated. The method
OF treatment is simple. The patient IS
placed in an isolated chair of the static |
machine and towels saturated with |
solution of formaldehyde are applied to
the chest and the back. The solution va |
ries in strength from TO 10 per cent, ac-
cording to the degree of disease and ac-
cording to the patients constitution and /
temperament. The machine is then I
started and a current with efiuyia or /
with sparks. or with both is passed 4
through the lungs. While this is going /
on the patient inhaIes the forma ldehyde /
with electric effluvia obtained by placing |
a saturated sponge in contact with one |
of the poles of the instrument