The Columbus journal., 1909-02-24
CAN CONSUMPTION be CURED,

ice Of ouack Remedies +.
In view Of the constant agitation
and misrepresentation with regard
to the treatment of consumption, the
National Association for the Study
ana Prevention Of tuberculosis has
issued a statement in which It states
that the only sure cure for this dis
ease Is fresh air, rest, and whole
some Good.
\ Hardly week passes without some
quack doctor" or eminent special
ist." informing the public that he has
at last discovered the sure cure for
tuberculosis. After examining every
one Of these sO-called cures. several
hundred in number. the National
Association states that. one and all,
they are Misrepresentation or fakes.
Two Glasses Of "cures."
These sO-called cures" are divid-
ed into two general classes. The first
class of cures" includes the Quack
remedies and nOstrums with which
the public is being constantly de-
ceived. These range in kind from
good whiskey" to pigs blood or
ultraviolet rays. Some few of them,
for instance, are cod-liver oil, lime
dust. malt, vegetable teas. and num-
erous inhalations of supposed germ
icides. besides a large number of
well-known patent and proprietary
medicines and numerous disinfect-
ants. None of these are cures for
consumption. They are rather for
the most part of a dangerous char.
acter, and patients who take them
nay be running serious risk. Con-
sumption is caused by q germ which
destroys portions of the lungs or
other affected tissues. No drugs,
remedies can, by any means, kill the
germ or close up the cavity in the
lungs, as is SO often claimed for
these specifics. Neither is it pcssi-
BILE to inhale sufficiently strong
germicide to kill the consumption
the patient before it would kill the
germ.
Another class of cures" for con-
sumption, by which many people are
deceived, includes the secret rene
dies advertised by unscrupulCus
doctors" and professors" at the
heads of sO-called Institutes" These
people advertise that they can cure
consumption at home by means Of
remedies which are secret and known
only to them. or sometimes they adj
vertise that they can cure consump-
ton at the institute" where he
claims he has drug which will
surely cure consumption. A doctor"
in Minnesota says he has new
remedy which he himself will ex-
plot for the benefit of humanity A
Colorado specialist has advertised a
new method of curing the disease. A
st. Louis dru ygist claims to have
found how to dynamite" tuberculo-
sis germs. An institute" in a west
ern state has been opened recently.
which pretends to cure consumption,
without resort to fresh air treat
ment, largely by means Of massage,
manipulations and some
secret methods. Again, the National
asserts that the very
fact of secrecy in these cases tends
to discredit the so-calied cure. No
physician will find a cure
for disease and refuse to make it
known because of pecuniary motives
Cure Possible.
These two classes of cures" are
not "cures" at all Consumption is a
durable disease. however, and in some
places more than IS per cent of the
patients under treatment have been
to health. The essentials
for the cure of consumption are rest,
fresh air and wholesome food. A |
large number of physicians have been
for years to perfect a vac
or to find some agent such as tuber- |
culin which will assist in the cure Of |
the disease. Thus far, the expert |
ments have not furnished a product |!
which will either absolutely cure or
prevent consumption, or render the |
patient immune against the disease
Many of these serums have proved
in increasing the resistance
81 the patient and thus helping in the
cure, but no scientist CT repute to-
day claims to have discovered tu-
berculin which will produce cure
without the combined aid of fresh
air. rest and wholesome food. For
address Nebraska Assoc
.iatiOn for the Study and Prevention
If tuberculosis, 4O8 City Hall.