Show PLAIN EPSOM SALTS A SPINAL c V Important Discovery Announced at the Academy of Medicine CoW Cew York Times Dr Samuel J Meltzer ot of West One OneHundred OneHundred Hundred and street who with se several other physicians has hus been bean engaged In extensive experimentatIon in inthe inthe the t lIer Institute In he past eight months with magnesium sulphate or Epsom rend read a paper last day night before the Academy of Modi thio with the substance In re regard gard to Its ita uses as an anaesthetic when injected Into the spinal cord He report Ott od a ot of tetanus that had actuallY J keen een cur cured d as s a 11 result ot or the Injection The ThO paper created a sensation and It b be published soon in a heading ading med teal Joal journal It Iii Is expected th that t at the of the Society of Surg ns Which Is to be held this week the discoveries of Dr Meltzer wm be discussed In detail as an anthey the they ware Thursday night t the acad academy emy There are four Inorganic constituents of V f the human bod body The i are sodium potassium calcium and magnesium The effects of the tho first three have been In Investigated investigated very thoroughly Within the thelast thelast last three or four years a number ot of scientific workers have been devoting much time to the effects ot of the last con constituent when artificially Introduced Into the human body investigation alon along t that at lIne brought out many new facts to magnesium which have boon been published The rhe of D discovery that magnesium sal sul sulphate phate is an anaesthetic Is altogether neW naw neWt nawt t the medical profession 0 It was waa an AmerIcan Dr T j Leonard Corning ot of 53 West Street streel who discovered spinal anae anaesthesia about which a small library ot of books and treatises has been written It Is nOW all an American at least by long residence and sYI sympathies who has carried that discovery a long Ions step ahead in the opia opinion ion of physicIans Dr Meltzer Is a graduate of the th Uni University of Berlin Herlin He Is In attending phy to the Harlem hospital and has ha a 8 large private practice In his pr les research work lie he has been boen assisted by Dr John Auer and others Having long the effect of sal sul photo of magnesIa on en small mahl biological specimens Dr Meltzer saw the ties of It as S m an unaesthetic anaesthetic It was In Injected injected Into aU all sorts of animals the ef being carefully noted under all cir clr Then Thea It Wits us tried on the anImal neareSt t to man mau several monkeys being used as subjects Tile The anaesthetic effects were very marked It had been a theory theor that sulphate of when whon Introduced Into the tho body had a tendency to produce conVUlsions alone It was found however in actual e to have the opposite effect The substance was Introduced very cautious cautiously ly Into the body in increasing quantities Anaesthesia was 55 produced Dr sui saId no harmful effects V Opo or two surgeons tried the new anaesthetic 01 on patients and reported fa favorably a In one ana case an additional din dis covery was made at Roosevelt ho hospital whore where Dr Josoph A Blake Bluke one of the i visiting surgeOnS ans became interested in Inthe i ithe the Dr Meltzer About bout four weeks ago a Greek was taken to hospital suffering from tetanus OT 0 It was deel decided ed to meet the Epsom salts In the Ule endeavor to afford him some relief He w wits not noty only y relieved but was cUred That Is the only casa ot of tetanus so no far reported I In which the Injection was used The Thc indications are physicians larus sa say that this I treatment may an actual specific for tor tetanus The disease has long been In the incurable list Dr Meltzer and those who are working with hIm have by no means their experiments magnesium as asan asan an anAesthetic Dr pointed out yesterday that the discovery Is only In I Its experimental stage as yet and that It would not do to catalogue possible advantages advantages or of the salts over Oval cocaine and substances Injected to produce annes anaesthesia thesis thesia He believed however that what had been so far proved should he be to the prote profession lon He spoke n a warning word against the Injection of the j iab lb stance stanco by unpracticed hands just noW it The value ot of magnesium sulphate as An I anaesthetic Is Intimately intimate associated with I the value or of sPinal anaesthesia the ds dis discovery covery or of made a In the I medIcal Spinal anaesthesia is IR Im Em EmIted I In that it affects the tb parts bt below loW the seat ot of the injection und and only onh a above as a rule rulo there are t ew W eases cases where complete anaesthesia has bas beell produced Spinal anaesthesia Js is useful If th the pt pa patient U tient nt Is curious to I se his leg cut of tt without feeling It It is als nina u useful where I the patient has a weak heart or for nv ion the ordinary art are I am very glad clad to bear hent ot of this paper you speak of said Dr last night at his borne bome The greet great fault with I all remedies heretofore employed for si sisal sal nal anaesthesia lies fes In the fact that they I depress depres to a certAIn degree th thc natural I functions particularly partiCUlar th the ardla nut functions FatalIties have oc I II resulted from these untoward effects However these thes strictures apply not only to spinal but to general to chloroform and ether from administration the of a considerable number of fatalities occur ever eve year The number of dt deaths re from would seem pretty large were all such ca cases s promptly recorded In medical literature I I If 11 It ahall be shown hown that magnesium In iii t to pro pr duce anaesthesia iu can be Injected Into the spinal canal without causing depressIon 1 of the cardiac and respiratory function a considerable advance will have been made It must not be forgotten however that a long time ago Ha Tiny Recite and Curie Curle demonstrated that when magn lum J I sulphate was Injected Into a vein poison poisonous olson ous symptoms sometimes ensued neat noot among which were the cardiac and respiratory respirator depression of which I have spoken It this discovery by Dr Meltzer ad advances vances the use or of spinal anaesthesia phy physicians sa It wm have done dOlUS a valuable service V Dr Samuel J Is a member of I following organizations County Med Mcd I leal ical society Academy of Medicine ne Con Coun Conty t ty Medical association Pathological so clety German Medical I society and the tho I Harlem Medics assocIatIon |