NEW CURE FOR CONSUMPTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 44, 6 January 1880, Page 3

NEW CURE FOR CONSUMPTION.

♦ The “ New York Sun ” has printed a report of a conversation in a horso-car between the Hon. Ellis B. Schnabel and a consumptive. Schnabel toldti.o coughing man that rock candy and rye whisky would euro any pulmonary complaint, and referred him to several well-known persons who hare regained their health by the use of the mixture. His theory was that the direct cause of hereditary consumption was a chronic ulceration of the lungs. It was a scrofulous affection, and came down from father to son the same

as scrofula. A chronic inflammation would not heal ; but if it could be turned into an acute inflammation, it might bo cured. “In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred,” said Mi*. Schnabel, “if you could get into the lungs with a stick of caustic, by cauterization you might produce the necessary acute inflammation, and the patient wovdd recover. ” He claimed that a cordial of rock candy and rye whisky takes the place of the caustic. Its use produces a semi-acute inflammation of the surface of the lung, thus putting that organ in a curable condition. The moment alcohol touches the stomach, it flashes into circulation by opening and expanding the capillary vessels or pores of the stomach. As the saccharine matter combines with the .alcohol, both arc transmitted into the blood and sent to the lungs. When the air you breathe strikes tho'blood in the lungs the alcohol produces the acute inflammation, and is the only thing that will produce it. The acute inflammation draws the blood to the weak point, and the saccharine matter, taking advantage of the inflammation, builds up and strengthens the weakened organ. The membrane is thickened and healed, and after a few weeks can bear all changes of weather with impunity. Such was Mr. Schnabel’s theory. His recipe was five pounds of pure white rock candy dissolved in a gallon of old iyo whisky—■ the older the better. The whisky must he distilled in the old-fashioned way with a copper worm. Steam distillation develops the latent poison of the berry, and fills the system with fusil and other deadly oils. Colored rock candy is poisonous. The yellow tinge shows the presence of an insoluble earth, deleterious to the stomach and dangerous. The clear white rock is pure crystallized sugar, the most nourishing of all substances, The five pounds of candy should ho put into a gallon of whisky. The demijohn should ho well shaken throe or four times a day, and the mixture is not to be used until the candy is dissolved. The patient may take a sherry wineglass full on going (o bed, and two-thirds as much on an empty stomach in the morning.' He can carry a flask in his pocket, and take a spoonful half a dozen times :v day. Night sweats will disappear, and the patient will get a long refreshing sleep. Lung fever will go, amf he will feel no more pain in his chest. While taking this cordial the patient must limit his diet. He must keep his stomach employed in taking up rich and nourishing matter. All vinegars, pickles, sour wines, malt drinks, and salt provisions must be avoided. Touch no fresh pork, for it promotes ulceration. Do away with coffee, for it fevers the blond. Drink bh\-ck teaEat roast beef rare, broiled steaks, mutton chops well done, toasted bread, and .all kinds of vegetables. The great object is to enrich the blood. One of the best articles of food is a rum omelette made exclusively of the yolk of eggs. In the Southern States, rock candy and corn whisky has been a favorite drink for years, taking the place of the old Georgia poachbrandy and honey. The Southerners say that corn-whisky is as good for consumptives as rye, but this is denied by Mr. Schnabel.