The New Cure for Pyphoid

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 118, 28 March 1891, Page 3

The New Cure for Pyphoid

When doctors disagree who shall decide ? Dr : Koch's alleged cure for tuberculosis has been assailed from all quarters -by rival medical men, and M; de Bavay's supposed discovery of a view. remedy, for typhoid fever has caused a rattling of the dry bones iv the : surgeries of ■ Melbourne. Dr. , Anderson, resident medical officer of the Alfred .'..Hospital,, thinks the data ,'tbo: far, are insufficient to warrant any safe deductions, and he points out t'aat where typhoid ulcers are deeply seated there is a difficulty in Ireaching the;. affeced parts iv the body by assimilation i of food, though the germs from chyle may overpower typhoid bacilli when brought into proximity. Dr Bavay's reputation as a scientist stands very high in Melbourne, chiefly through, his 'discovery of typhoid germs in r Yah: Yean water, though his first anuouncemeut was scouted with ridicule by his prof 68---sioual '•■rivals. His claim to haviug vxi.de i a valuable discovery in this in stance is .supported by the fact that two cures have been effected, one case being;that-Vof ; :'-'a'"lad.Vwhoße condition was regarded as almost hopeless. The discovery owes its origin to Dr O'Hara, ■who, whilst perfoimingan operation .-on a patient iuj; conjunction with Drs Cox and Spiriugthorpe, cut the chyle-, duct in the man accidentally. Prior to this duct being cut a most offensive smell arose from an abscess ih the inau's "chest,- but directly the chyle flowed into the abcess the smell disappeared. The i - doctor at ■'"t'le".; same time that the ph;l> was a most powerful disinfectant,? aud. whatever, it touched it ''purified. This circumstance led him to believe that the ihyle contained some exceptionally powerful serin, the discovery of which lie left to M. de Bavay. That gentleman examined the stuff but failed to flud any sign of a germ, and so he the bottle and prepared to wait until the matter decomposed before continuing -his iuyfestigationa. After allowing the . substance to remain uudisturbed f or some months he again examined it, and found the •chyle had undergone a complete ■change, and he had ho difficulty in ■discovering geriiis, which continued to grow >and multiply. The extraordinary growth of .the organisms led M;. d&" Bavay to think of his many flourishing colonies of typhoid bacilli, and wonder how the two would flourish together. ' Without attaching auy. particular importance to the experiment, ~ : l»e; placed a quantity of typhoid '„ bacilli with the chy ) c and left the,-, germs for a few days to become acquainte 1. Qu inspecting the eoilectionjVh;i.wev ! er : he was' su - p ised to find that the typhoid'gtrni ; had eutirtly disappeared, and that the chyle organism ..-was as prolific as ever. The entire destruction of 'such a powerful germ as that of typhoid astouished the scientist, and so he made Be voral other fcxperimeuts with the same, satisfactory results. The question that then presented itself to the bacteriologist was how to turn his discovery to practical use. The prevalence of typhoid in the.colony made him aware that anything that would destroy the germ alter it had once got iuto the paiieut'B system would be invaluable, biit the question then nr>se, would the chyle germ not' be ts-dangerous as the -typhoid ? To ascertain this was an easy matter for the now enthusiastic scientist. He knew that coy la was the fruit of all the food after it was digested, and that it was from it that the veins were supplied with blood. He argued that if it was so pure as to supply the body with the blood in its origiual state,. it -could;; not be a very deadly germ to get into a man -s system. He was not sure, however,' what the effect would-be, andijso- before speakiug to any one about his discovery he decided to . experiment . on himself. He got some milk, and} placing some of the germs -.in- it swallowed the concoctipnv; The plucky; scientist was rewarded'^ for 'his rather ' venturesome feat by finding that the germs were perfectly harmless ; and so after waiting a short 1 while, he reported the result of his exW; riment to Dr O'Hara.. That gentle. !,au decided to treat some of his patiouts with it at once, and he experimented first on a lad who was in a very low condition, aiaU expected to die. The effect wrb marvellous,' and the lad is now almost well. Other experiments followed, which although successful, the medical men decided to keep secret until there could be no doubt that the complete recovery' of ■ every case on which it was tried had been assured. Dr Cresswell, one of the leading m edibal authorities of Victoria, though naturally cautious, thinks that the -discovery is reconcilable with previously known scientific facts.—Launceston Examiner.