The Washington herald., 1909-05-06


ciation Of medical men was formed in
ISae. and annual meetings have been held
since then One OF IT'S principal objects
Is to revive interest in materia medica.
This subject. first among the things the
Older physicians had 20 study. has lost
It's hold on medical men, and there are
many schools which do not teach it at all
The practice Of pharmacy was once an
essential part OF the medical mans life
Who does not remember the day when
the physician compounded his own pre-
scrfptioE, and who does not recall his
quaint saddlebzgs with their multitude
nous small bottles7 Put with the rise
Of the drug store all this has passed, save
in remote rural districts.
For generations surgery was IN the
hands Of the barber. Bleeding and dress
ing were as far as Il progressed. Then
surgery became the associate OF medicine,
and since then has acquired a new re-
spectability, perhaps outshining medicine
itself in its trfumphs But as surgery
has advanced IN tie practice Ct medicine,
pharmacology has retrograded- The
American Therapeutic Society breaches
the gospel Of pharmacology and pure,
standardized drugs.
Since 1876, or in only third OF cen
tury. practically the entire system OF
therapeutics has been overhauled- Dur
ing that time has been discovered the
fact that bacterial agencies are the es-
sential causes OF Inflammation and sup
pEradon. and of al specific diseases
Pastuer's great discovery OF the prin-
ciple Of fermentation occurred within
that tine. bringing in its train many MI
lions OF dollars 10 commerce and saving
thousands OF lives and millions OF hours
OF human and animal suffering. For all
the generations before medical men had
20 fight invisible, unknowabie something's.
They we're Ike the school girl who said
electricity was a force known only by
its manifestations. That was all they
knew about disease With the energy at
last driven from cover. having been seen
and recognized BY means OF the micro
scope, Il was comparatively easy 20 fight
him. Consequently. there has been more
progress in therapeutics in three decades
than there was In the sixty centuries Of
historical existence that went before.
A learned physician has likeued the
OF a drunken man. He says that there
have been many ups and downs, side
lurehes ard backward slips IN thsrapeu-
ties, but withal. much progress; innu-
meTaole 'pathies'' have had their little
day or their hundred years, but each
has contributed It's mite TO the general
progress OF the mass
Perhaps the most promising Of the re-
cent therapeutic discoveries relates 70 a
very common place thing-iactic acid as
exemplifed in bUtternuk One noted
physician. in his enthusiasm, has recent
u termed II The elixir OF life There Is
little bacillus which makes its home
n lactic acid that is the sworn enemy OF
every decompOsing germ that inhabIts
the human frame. Il goes after them
with the instinct and avidity with which
a terrier goes after 2 rat The great
value Of saline purgatiyes IL keeping the
intestinal trSct free ron deczyizz mat
ter has long been knoWn. But now Ioctic
acid is 70 come along and prevent decay.
There are many forms n which Il may
be administe-ed-OUt usually II Is admin
isteTed as a powder or in boullion.
The discovery Of this principle Of IN
Producing one germ 10 wage relentless
warfare on another Is believed by many
medical men 70 have IN It great posi-
bilities for the future They think II may
mean as much TO the treatment Of disease
as the discovery OF anri-toxins Il is
agreed that II is as yet difficult TO tell
Just how far this principle may not be
carried. or 10 calculate the benefits the
race may yet receive from IL
The bee sting cure for rheumatism
often supported by the observations Of
laymen. at last IS vouched for by a prom
fnent physician, who tried II on himself.
He says that he first tried the baths at
celebrated watering place without sue
cess in getting free from his sciatica-
Going back home he determined 70 try
the bee sting cure as a last resort. He
admits that he had little confidence IN
II when he started On October Il he ap-
piled seven or eight bees tc the sciatic
nerve The next morning. without limp
or pain for the first tine IN three months.
he was able to walk across the floor. He
returned 10 bed and was stung a half
dozen times more. and again that night
Continuing the treatment four days. ne
found himself absolutely free from rheu-
matte pains He stiil continued the treat
ment and cured himself Writing n she
medical journals he reminds the members
OF MS profession that he IS a man sixty
seven years old. who had been q sufferer
from rheumatism for years He saws the
pain OF the stings vas not as severe as
that OF the disease. and that he took no
opiates, because he wanted 10 make a
clinical observation OF his case. He con
cludes that there VIII stu be proud
skeptics. who. Ike Naaman. EflI swear
BY their ancient remedies. and despise
the humber Jordan. but as for him he IS
u-ffh ~ 4h1A -Aro
cure.
The use Of magnesium sulphste In the
treatment OF tetanus or Iockjaw has re-
Gently come into prominence Clinical
observations show that in a great many
cases it has effected a relaxation Of the
muscles when every other known remedy
bad failed Already the death rate had
been decreased TO a remarkable degree.
and the employment OF magnesium sui
phate Is expected TO bring Il even lower.
The teD1ency OF medical research in
the treatment OF typhoid fever Is now
away from the idea Of an anti-toxin and
toward tie finding Of some agent which
viii enable the physician 70 recognize the
disease IN its earlier stages. There are
so many ailments whose symptoms are
almost wholly ike those OF typhoid fever
that n most cases the physician IS not
able TO diagnose the disease with abso-
lutte certainty until i has reached the
stage where It responds less readily 10
treatment. What is hoped TO be accom-
plished IS TO find some method for recoz-
mixing the disease Ike the tubercuiar re-
action in tuberculosis
Army surgeons. who have given 10 med
icai science some Of its greatest triurnhs
over disease. think they have discovered
a vaccine that viii in the end prove as
effective against typhoid as the vaccine
for smallpox Is effective against that dis
ease. Vaccination against typhoid fever