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Show REVIVING AN OLD TREAT-MENT TREAT-MENT OF MALADIES. "Cures by absorption" is the subject sub-ject of a most interesting article in the January issue of Review of Reviews, Re-views, which we deem sufficiently important to reproduce in part, as follows: fol-lows: Some very recent experiments by modern physicians have led to the re-1val of the treatment of certain maladies by means of substances hav Ing a high absorbent power. Cen-turicr. Cen-turicr. ago fine white clay was highly cBirfnii-u Hfc a uressing lor wound, especially those with a foul discharge and for such diseases of the alimentary aliment-ary canal as diarrhoea, cholera, typhus, ty-phus, and flux as well as for "heartburn" "heart-burn" and for cases of poisoning. In the last cpn tun powdered charcoal was employed for similar purposes As early as 1830 a heroic druggist named Thouery vpntured to swallow 1 gram of strychnine (about ten lime6 the average lethal doei. together to-gether with fifteen grams of charcoal char-coal powder He escaped without injury, and thus proved the virtue that inheres in charcoal. Unfortunnteh . instances of such remarkable re-markable efficae led to absorbents being tried enthusiastically for BUcn different thing as cancer and consumption, con-sumption, where they naturally failed of effect. According to a modern authority, Prof. L Lichfwitz, of Goet-tingen. Goet-tingen. this is the reason that absorption absorp-tion therapy became discredited and was neglected until practically forgotten forgot-ten In an article he says: "The first person to revive this old, forgotten therapeutics was I. Stumpf. who first made successful use of bolus alba (kaolin) to bandage wounds having hav-ing a copious and putrid discharge Stumpf then began to give bolus alba for the cholera morbus of children and in cases of Asiatic cholera, and was successful here also. He has recently announced excellent results from its use in a Bulgarian r-holera hospital. He also carried out two experiments on dogs. Within 11 da s time they received respectively 1 L' gram1? and 3.5 grams of pulverized pulver-ized white arsenic (many timps the amount of the usual fatal dose), together to-gether with 40o grams of bolus, without with-out dying.' Professor Lichtwite has personally investigated different absorbents and their action on different substances. He divides the domain in which they are applicable into lour departments 1. Maladies of the stomach, such as hyperchlorhydia and its consequences consequen-ces (especially ulcus pepticumi and fermentative processes. 2 Bacterial affections of the intestines intes-tines in vshich the whole organism Is endangered by bacterial toxins. 3 Gastrointestinal auto-intoxication. 4. Poisonings. From this summary of the field of action ac-tion it Is obvious that it was necessary neces-sary to investigate the absorption of hydrochloric add ( which is the principal princi-pal component of the gastric julcei.i lactic acid, the various ferments (pepsin, (pep-sin, trypgin etc ) and various toxins. He continues: "We have carried out such investi- gations and find that hydrochloric acid is absorbed, both in the test tube and in the stomach, by blood-char roal. kaolin. Magisterium Eismnihl, and neutralon to such an extent ihM h perchlorhydrla is reduced to the normal Pepsin also is absorbed by nil Uieao media, both in the stomacn and in the test tube. It is particularly particu-larly interesting that bismuth, which Is so much employed in the therapeut ics of supersecretlon and of ulceration of the stomach, should prove to be an ahsorbent "The absorption of ferments is n irreversible action . . the most Strongly absorbent medium beins blood-charcoal (Merck's.) We Investigated Inves-tigated two easily measurable blood-dlssohing blood-dlssohing poisons: that of the cobra and that of the garden spider (arah-nolysin (arah-nolysin i In both the absorptive action ac-tion was irreversible, and here acaln the strongest absorbent was Merck's blood-charcoal." An important point made by the writer is that both blood-charcoal and kaolin can be prescribed for invalids -without hesitation, since thev are quite harmless even in large doses. Hp states that he has employed them in many rases of stomach trouble wlfB coorl reults A curious fact is that whpn given before meals rhov strong ly affect the appetite Thus heavy eaters, or those taking an obesity cure, may curb thp pangs of gnaw-inc gnaw-inc hunger by swallowing clay or charcoal The effect here, savs the author Is doubtlP6s due to the absorption absorp-tion of what is known as the "appetite "appe-tite juice." which is an Important constituent con-stituent of thp stomachic secretion. For patients suffering from superse-cretlon. superse-cretlon. on thp other hand, the charcoal char-coal or kaloin is riven after meals instead of before He also gives details de-tails of one case in his own knowledge knowl-edge where a victim of a severe case of anemia was cured by the washing out of the stomach and intestine and the giving of large doses of kaolin He savs further "The absorption of gases by charcoal char-coal has led to attempts to aid flatulence flatu-lence b its us. If success be at talnpd it is probably not due to absorption ab-sorption of the gases themselves, sine this is possible only with dry charcoal but to absorption of the putrescent matter or of the bacterl?. which cause the evolution of the gas " The article concludes with an account ac-count of som very remarkable pxpen-menta pxpen-menta with divers very virulent poisons poi-sons Blood-charcoal was used with excellent results on both animals and human being6. |