The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-25
AID IN CONSUMPTION CURE.
DR. RUSSELL ADDS VEGETABLE
JUICES TO HIS TREATMENT.

suits Are Already Very Promising.
DR.. John F. Russell, whose experiments
for the cure OF consumption, carried on at
the New York Post Graduate Hospital
in the last seven years, have attracted the
attention Of the medical world, announced
Yesterday In a report to the executive
committee OF the hospital the discovery
ri an addition to treatment already used
that has increased the chance Of cure
nearly 100 per cent.
This new factor is q compound OF the
Juices of raw vegetables, and Is believed
to be the element Of diet needed In obstinate
cases, where the LESSONS in the lungs per-
sisted even after the ravages OF the disease
had been apparently checked, the general
bodily health restored and the patient
begun to increase In weight.
DR.. Russell's treatment Of consumption
Is based on the theory that the disease Is
largely due to malnutrition. The con-
sumptive's body noes not readily absorb
the elements that 1t needs to create normal
blood. According to this idea, II the
blood can be made normal its white cor
pusces would take up the fight and Sue
cessfully combat the tubercle bacilli.
Acting on this theory, DR.. Russell evolved
by experiment a system OF diet by which
the patient absorbed much more fat than
was needed for the production Of heat or
energy and much more proteid than was
needed for the repair Of waste. BY this
overlooking method the doctor secured
much success In curing tuberculosis, or at
least in obtaining apparent cures, as the
cautious scientist prefers to call them.
Frequently, however, DR.. Russell found
a patient in whose lungs the bacilli con-
tinued to exist, although the steady gain
In weight showed the nutritional process
to be effective. He decided that the pres
enoe or absence of some unknown sub
stance in the diet OF the patient was re-
sponsible for the cures, and that II this
substance could be found the certainty
Of the cures would be greatly increased.
The dispensary treatment did not allow
the doctor to supervise his patients food,
but last October an annex to the hospital
In East Nineteenth street was built and
turned over to the doctor for his work.
An elaborate system OF experimentation
was begun, with the result announced yes
terday. In the five months Of treatment
with the vegetable juice eleven patients
we're discharged as apparently cured.
The record of cures previously was thir-
teen for the entire year in 1894
The addition to the treatment contains
the juices of most OF the vegetables found
In the market and can be prepared by the
patient at home IL necessary. DR.. Rus
sells report thus describes the method Of
preparing 1t:
Equal parts by weight Of raw vege-
tables are scrubbed with brush in fresh
water then mixed and chopped until the
particles are small enough to go into the
receiver OF grinding machine, where the
mass is reduced to pulp. The pulp is
collected and the juice squeezed out through
coarse cloth.
The machines are designed to tear and
grind the mass rather than to cut it up.
A peanut butter device was used. The
mechanism consists of two metal disks.
.ibbed and facing each other. One Of them
revolves. The coarse vegetable matter
the width OF the plates, escapes at the cir
expensive, can be adjusted on any table
and are easily kept clean"
The vegetables first used were potato,
onion beet, cabbage, turnip and celery.
Later the doctor added sweet potato, apple,
pineapple. carrot, parsnip, and later still
radishes, string beans and green peas
with the pods. The report states that
'the juice is prepared every day at the
hospital and is kept on ice.
The dose is two ounces twice day after
meals
In speakng of his experiments DR.. Russell
says in the report:
1T has been demonstrated that food and
fresh air are the main factors in the cure
Of consumption. but most physicians must
feel that much remains to be done toward
the perfection of diet before We can aps
full assurance. The problem Of weight
gaining has been solved. There is no
longer difficulty in supplying the proper
quantity Of proteid, arbo-hydrate and
fat; but is there not something additional
needed to lift the blood and tissues to that
high estate, perfect health, for which physi-
ologists have not as yet found name?
For centuries scurvy dominated the world
and its treatment ia undoubtedly the great
est dietetic triumph. Still it is well to re,
member that after more than hundred
years physiological chemistry has failed to
answer the question: What was the SUBJ
stance in fresh vegetables and fruit Juices
by means Of which the magical results are
wrought?
Experiment in large number Of cases
oil consumption mas led TO Cno COnCiublon
that in cases of the apparently durable type,
who fail to get well, the cause of the failure
ia the lack of an unknown something in
the diet. In cases where the patients re-
spond but very slowly this mysterious
something is supplied in insufficient quanti-
ties or at too long intervals.
For a number Of years I have been
searching for this unknown something or
It's source Of supply, and the vegetable
Juice is the final outcome
Although the new compound has been on
trial with uniform success for six months,
DR.. Russell refuses to commit himself as
to the extent Of its curative powers. am
convinced he says in the report, that the
vegetable fluid is valuable addition to
diet, but feel that six months observation
is not sufficient period to justify me in
speaking positively of it's full value. As
an investigator merely. it would be more
agreeable to wait until the end Of the year;
but ! do not feel justified in withholding
longer an account Of its use in these ex-
periments, because the results so far are
so favorable. The number Of persons
suffering with pulmonary tuberculosis Is
enormous and the need for relief is press
Ing
DR.. Donald M. Barstow OF 527 Madison
avenue and DR.. Thomas w. Bickerton Of
e56 West End avenue, who were appointed
L. s&oI c,,eL