Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-20
Why We Losing
Confidence
IN Tonnes
BY WOODS HUTCHINSON. M. D.

| OF all the brave array OF tones and
appetizers and restoratives and bitters
which used to fill page after page of
our textbooks, we have left only this
acknowledgements, quassia, gentian,
iron, phosphorus, strychnla and ar
senic.
Most of the virtues Of the first OF
these, quinine, was due, as has already
been suggested, to its curative powers
in malaria, which up to fifty years ago
! in Europe and twenty in America was
an almost universal disease. Until, IN
fact, tile drains, scientific agriculture
and good roads came along and drove
it into the wilds by drying up swamps
and ponds in which its mosquito-car-
riers bred.
Ouinine, with its famous bitter taste,
appears to improve the appetite i'll
some patients, and others claim to be
nervously stimulated and toned up by
it, but these latter are usually old
sufferers from malaria.
The next two, gentian and quassia,-
are what are practically known as
Simple bitters," that is to say, they are
believed by their bitter taste to inn
prove the appetite, and there is con-
siderable body of testimony from pa
tients in support of this claim. But
they have been positively proved to
have no ascertainable influence what
ever upon the rate of the digestion.
the flow of gastric, or pancreatic juice
or bile or the muscular movements
Of the intestines.
Test on Animals.
In this connection it may be re-
marked that the rock upon which the
last fragments of our belief in tones
foundercd was careful and repeated
testings upon animals. Literally gal
Ions of them were administered to
hundreds of animals, in score OF dit.
ferent laboratories on both sides OF
the Atlantic, and the results most
carefully watched and checked up,
with the assistance of microscopic and
oost-mortem examinations whenever
necessary.
Nowadays every new medicine or
drug recommended for the cure OF
disease is thoroughly and painstaking-
" tested out upon animals, either by
national committees of Psychologists
or BY great laboratories of interna-
tional reputation before it will be ac<,.
cepted by progressive physicians tor
trial in cases of human disease. Not
only are many worthless remedies de-
tected and weeded out by this method,
but not a few active and temporarily
helpful drugs have been discovered
to have dangerous after-effects, which
must be carefully guarded against, or
may even forbid their use altogether.
Of course, in this connection, It is
only fair to remember, as the believ-
ers in tones remind us, that rabbits
and guinea pigs cannot talk, and nence
in experiments of this sort we are
deprived of their valuable testimony
as to how much better the medicine
make. them feel while they are taking
Il. or what a sense of satisfaction and
safety it gives them. But we are learn.
inc to be a little shy Of this sort OF
testimony from our patients tor fea-
sons already suggested.
Food Supplies Iron.
The next two remaining tonicsr
iron and phosphorus, while OF con-
siderable value in certain definite con-
ditions-the one of the blood and the
other of the nervous system-are now
Known to be chiefly of value only so
far a. they can actually be taken up
BY and built into the tissues OF inc
body. In other words, they are iooos,
though required and digestible in very
small amounts per day, and the best
and most digestiblc form in which
iron can be given is fresh meat, green
vegetables and ripe fruit, and the oest,
form of phosphorus, egg .yolk'
The last two surviving tones,
strvchnia and arsenic, are real tonics
in the sense Of stimulants, or toners.
up," but have only a limited. fielo OF
usefulness. Strychnia in certain weak
nesses of the heart and blood vessels
and of the muscular system, and ar.
senic in some diseases Of the skin and
the nerves. Both. however. are dam
gerous poisons, and should never be
given except upon expert advice and
under professional care, ana Io1 DITCH
periods of time.
In fact, the whole method Of tonic
dealing and tonic-taking is opposed to
the spirit of modern medicine, whose
keynote is: Find the cause OF disease
in each particular patient, no matter
how much time and trouble it takes
and then remove it if possible; don't
prescribe blindly for symptoms. Ger
neatly speaking, the more careful ply
steal examination and laboratory dag
nostic tests doctor makes the fewer
tonic prescriptions he will write.