The Washington herald., 1909-07-09
By DIR. r. R0NME-
IEnns.ated f-un La ReFue.I ]

scrioed 70 give strength and Vigor 10 Or
ganisms weakened. Over-worked. or n
any way run down II was In those
days the fashionable tonic and health
builder. One fine day Il was replaced By
the glycerO-phOsDhate. ana these worked
wonders. IN their turn. when administered
70 the same patients. The reign OF this
new tonic announced Itself as particularly
brilliant: and so II was. til the doctors
introduced the cacodyIates. z pharma-
ceutical preparation made with organic
arsenic To-day no nerve-racked. de-
pleted. or worn-out patient fails 70 take
injections OF sea water.
Now, anybody WITH a taste for philOsO-
ply VIII find matter for rejection n the
foregoing paragraph. Among physicians
Il Is regarded as axiOmaric that the acton
Of a drug depends upon its chemical com
position, which determines the effects Il
produces upon the organism. Then let
me remark that as regards chemical
composition and physiological effect, iron,
phosphorus. organic arsenic. and sea
water are as distinct and as different
from one another as sail sugar, and pep
per How came Il that those drugs,
adopted and discarded in their turn, could
act in exactly the same way upon the
same patients2 Every one is familiar
with the experiment IN which hysterl-
cal person IS hypnotized. made % swal-
low G glass Of water. and ted that Il IS
brandy: I've minutes later the victim
shows all the symptoms OF intOXication-
Shall We say that il is by suggestion. In
This case also. that the iron, the glycero-
ohosphates. the cacodylates, and the sea
water act upon the enfeebisG. the over
worked, the nervous. and the conVales-
cent? Let me answer this question by de-
scriblnE an experiment made Two years
ago BY Dr.. Matthew IN q Paris hospital
IN his ward at the Hospital Andral. Dr..
Matthew had q large number OF tubercU-
lar patients. One morning, while making
his rounds. he halted before one Of them,
performed an auscultatiOn. and then re-
marked 20 the house physician and the
students who were with him that there
had Just been discovered in Germany a
specific for tuberculosis. namely, anti
phymose" Next day he again spoke Of
this antiphymose. and. in the hearing o.
the patients. as before, told OF the Won
de-ful results Il yielded when employed in
the treatment OF tuberculosis. For a
week the patients talked Of nothing but
that wonderful antiphymose; they
couldn't understand why the chief
didn't Try the new drug
Their wishes were al last acceded 70
and the experiments with anCphyrnCse
which DR.. Matthew said he had obtained
from Germany. began To judge the &C
ton OF that drug, which was injected IN
der the skin. il was determined that the
house physician himself should take the
temperature and register The weight Of
the cOnsumptives under treatment
This was done. and soon it seemed evil
dent that a powerful and highly beRef-
cent medicine was al work. Under the
influence Of this new remedy the patients
fever subsided and their weight in
creased. Some gained a g-amme and a
half. some two. and some even three
Eilogrammes. Meanwhile. the cough
ceased. and the expectoration diminished
those who had been unable 20 touch food
began 20 eat; those who had been unable
20 sleep now slept all night. sid Il, tC
complete the test. the injections OF anti
phymose were stopped, the fever returned
and all the old symptoms reasSeTtec
themselves. The victims grew thin
Now. this famous antiphymoss. this
marvellous drug procured from Germany
was nothing but water. ordinary water
but sterilized in Dr.. Matthews laboratory
All that talk before the patients about
the discovery and therapeutic virtue o,
autiphymOse. ali those little bluffs =
voIved n the house physicians taking
the temperature and the weight OF the
patients, were simply a mise en- scene de-
signed 20 create a sort OF suggestion and
70 re-e1force K as much as possible. And
II was manifestiy suggestion, and not the
injections OF pure water. that checked the
fever. arrested the cough diminished The
expectoration. revived the appetite, and
increased the weight
Accordingly It IS bot unreasonable &C
suppose that all the drugs given 70 con
sumptives act in this way. and that sug-
gestion by drugging is probably the ther-
apeuJic measure most advantageous u
the treatment OF tuberculosis. This ex-
plains the weil-knOwn fact that II q con.
sumptivs changes doctors he gets on bet
ter for a while-that IS 70 say. during The
period when the new suggestion continues
active. IN the light OF this fact, Dr
RenOn Is abundantly justified IN saying
in his book on the treatment Of tubercu
losis. that suggestion by drugging IS s
therapeutic force Of the first order. Man
aged sagaciously.' he writes, the admin
istratiOn Of this OF that harmless sub
stance often enables a physician TO secur'
q new coefhcient OF Improvement. 10 add
suggestion 70 suggestion. and 10 get
cumulative effect. The drug becomes tht
vehicle OF the Doctors therapeutic faitl
and lights with hope the path OF The
wretched consgmptive
But these are not the only patients ca
pable of being benefited by the curativt
( force OF suggestion by drugging. II pur
water. as we have just seen. seem,
potent 10 neutralze in sor,e measure an,
| for some time the effects OF the t1bercu
lar toxin. Il is clear that the same rhlni
must happen when any other s1bstanc'
is brought into contact with anothe
poison. whether a germ-poison or not Al
bearing upon this point nothing is NOR
/ significant than the recent "scandaF' con
nected with the trade In extracts OF beef
You recall that when the Germans be
gan their agitation against beer extract
It came to light that Puro was the On'