The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-06

The Ameriona IheFapeutlS NOStSts
meets In washington today. This as
ISOLATION of medical men was fosnea
in 1900, and annual meetings have
been held since then One Of it's prin-
cfpal objects Is to revive interest IN
nateria nedica. This subject. nrst
among the things the older physictans
had TO study, has lost its hold on med
fcaI men. and there are many schools
which do not teach 1t at all The prae-
tice OF pharmacy was once An essen
tial part OF the medical mans IRE.
who does not remember the day when
the physician compounded MS own
prescription, and who does net recan
his quaint saddiebags with their mul-
titudinous small bottles7 But with
the rise OF the drug store all this has
passed, save In reTnote rural districts
For generations surgery was In the
hands OF the barber Bleeding ana
dressing were about as far as II pro-
crossed. Then surgery became the
associate of medicine. and since then
has acquired new responsibility. per-
haps outshining medicine itself In It's
trfumphs. But a. surgery has aarane-
cd in the practice OF medicine, pharm-
acoIogy has retrogadearY The aAEnarA-
can Therapeutic Society preaches tire
gospel OF pharmacoiogy and pure.
standardized drugs.
since 1875, or in only third OF .
century, practically the entire sys-
tenn Of therapeutics has been over
hauled. During that time has been
discovered the fact that bacterial
agencies are the essential causes Of
Inflammation and suppuration. and Of
ali specific diseases. Pastuer's great
discovery OF the principle Of ferment-
alton occurred within that timss bring
ing In it's train many millions Of
dollars to commerce and saving thou
santys Of lives and millions Of hours
~ human and animal suffering. For
all the generations before medical men
had to fight invisible, unknowabie
something's. They We're iika the school
girl who saia electricity was . force
Known only by it's manifestations.
THAT was all they knew about disease.
with the enemy at last driven from
cover. having been seen and recogniz-
ed bx means OF the microscope. Ii was
comparatively easy. to fight him. Com
aeuuently, there has been more prog
ress. In therapeutics In three decades
than there was In the sixty centuries
Of historical existence that went be-
fore.
A learned physician has likened the
progress OF therapeutics TO the al
vance of drunken man. He says
that there have been many ups and
downs, side Iurches and backward
slips In therapeutics, but withais much
progress; Innumerable spafhies have
had their little day or their hundred
years, but each has contributed It's
mite to the general progress OF the
mass. 4
Perhaps the most promising of the
recent therapeutic discoveries relates
10 very commonplace thing--lactic
acid as exempliied in buttermiik
One noted physician. in his enthusiasm,
has recently termed ft. the elixir of
life. There Is a little bacillus which
makes Ats home in Iactfe acid that Is
the sworn enemy of every decompos-
Ing germ that iphabits the human
frame. It goes after them with the
instinct and avidjty with which ter
Of saline pufgatives in keeping the
Intestinal tract free from fecaying
matter has long been known. But
now Tactic acid Is to come along and
prevent decay. There are many forms
in which It may be adIninistered-but
usually It is administered asa powder
or In bouliion.
The discovery of this principle OF
introducing one germ to wage re-
lentiess warfare on another Ia believ-
ed by many medical men to have in
It great possibilities for the future.
They think II may mean as much to
the treatment Of disease as the dis.
covery Of anti-toxins. 1t is agreed
that 1t is as yet difficult to tell Just
how far this principle may not be car
ried, OF to calculate the dement's the
race may yet receive from It.
The bee sting cure for rheumatism,
often supported by the observations
of laymen, at last is vouched for by
prominent physician, who tried 1t on
himself. He saws that he first tried
the baths at n celebrated watering
place without success in getting free
from his sciatica. Going back home
he determined to try the bee sting
cure as last resort. He admits that
he had little confidence In II when
he started. On October IL he applied
seven or eight bees to the sciatic
nerve. The next morning. without
limp or pain, for the flrst time in
three months. he was able to walk
across the floor. He returned to bed
and was stung half dozen times
more. and again that night Contin-
uinE the treatment four days he found
himself absolutely free from rheal-
matte pains. He still continued the
treatment ana cured himself writ
ing in ths medical journals he reminds
the members Of his profession that he
is man sixty-seven years old, who
had been a sufferer from rheumatism
for years. He says the pain OF the
stinRs was not as severe as that Of
the disease. and that he took no ONT
afa~ haranaa ha Sva,fad a.. ss,aa-.gf- :.