The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-06
Progress in Therapeutics
By Frederie ]. Ilaskin.

clinical Observation OF his case. ne
concludes that there will stin be
proud skeptics, who, like Naaman. win
swear by their ancient rernsdtess ana
despise the humber Jordan. but 40
tor him he y content with Anything
that effects the cure
me use OF magnesium sulpfAts "a
the treatment OF tetansis OF fock5aw
has Tecentiy come into prominence.
Clinical observations show that in .
great many cases Il has effected
relaxation OF the muscles when every
other known remedy had failed. AL
ready the death rate had been de-
the employment OF magnesium sui
phate rs expected to bring u even
lower.
me tendency Of medical sesearen
IN the treatment Of typhoid fever In
now away from the i0ea Of an anti
toxin ana toward the finding Of some
agent which will enable the physician
to recognise the disease in its earlier
stages. There sre 20 many ailments
whose symptoms are almost wholly
like sfhose a1 tyaphofds fever that in
most cases enH physician Is not able
to diagnose the disease with absolute
certainty untn 1t has reached the
stage where 4 responds less readily to
treatment what IS hoped to be ac-
complished 10 to fna some method for
recognizing the disease ike the tuber-
cular reaction, In tubercuiosis.
Army surgeons. who have given to
medical science some OF It's greatest
triumphs over disease, think they
have discovered q vaccine that WITH In
the end prove az effective against sty-
pliotd as the vaccine for smallpox IL
effective against that disease. Vac
cinatlon against typhoid fever win not
DO made compulsory IN the army. but
Il SIS the intention OF The War De-
parfment 70 urge tha soldiers 10 be
vaccinated
/ Recent discoveries have enabled
physicians 10 know the conditions that
lead TO the formation Of gall stones
in time to prevent than from form
ing a. remarkable inetAnce OF the
ability 81 d healthy body to throw
on foreign elements has been brought
10 light BY Doctor Balm In his ex-
periments with gall bladder Diseases.
He introduced large gail stones into
found that IN every case they were
completely dissolved and thrown on
without any permanent injury 20 the
dog. new method Of blood trans
fusion has been devised, and again
the dog Is useful to the doctor. a
small artery Is taken from the neck
OF o small dog. all the blood Is driv-
SQ6k6Q
term in the salt solution. Il is then
attached to an artery in the arm Of
the donor OF the blood and to d vein
In that OF the patient who is TO re-
ceiye Il. The connecting INK thus
formed has been found 70 serve its
purpose admirably.
The wide lack of uniformity OF
preparations In common use has been
widely commented on by physicians,
and is one Of the most serious propo-
sitions with which they have to deal.
In many cases IL is not the fault of
the drug maker that this is so. For
instance, In the case of digitalis, made
from the common foxglove. the
hundred per cent. and since no one
has vet discovered what the active
principle Of dlgitalis is, there is no
sort of analysis that will reveal its
strength. The only way It can be de-
ternined IL by actual experiments
tioa. on. human beings or animals.
1t Is true that there has been great
progress made In the way OF accuracy
in the administration OF medicines.
Standardization Of strength has been
made possible In many drugs, notably
opium, belladonna, nux vomica, eSc.
Their active constituents have been
isolated. and by analysis Il Is possible
70 Letl JUST now much Ln0y contain OF
that principle. But in the caae of err
got, canabiB indica, and other drugs
Of that class, including digitaais, the
real agent has not bsen discovered
Some progress has been made in the
study of the latter drug, and II 10 exc
pected that physiological stAndardiza-
ton Will yet be made a possibility. It
Is a peculiar fact that the English foxs
glove makes better digitalfs than lie
American, and that the wild plant
makes better than the cultivated one.
One OF the older treatments that Is
now being brought into life again is
the Bier process Of pneumatic therapy
--or dry ouppfng. The medical jonrn-
ais Of the day publish many articles
on the value OF this mode Of treat
mont. These articles tell Of Its sue
cossful application in many diseased.
Bier is the successor Of Or. Victor
Theodore Junod In the advocacy OF
this method OF treatment. He not
only uses the airy cupping principle.
but also simple lgatures to enforee
circulation. In q recent case in this
country reporter had the writer's
crRmp badly. The physician whom he
consulted applied the Bier bandages
ana IN q few days the Newspaper man
had entirely recovered from his annie
tion.
To@srssw-rA. ss,.~ss Of sewage.