HEALTH TALKS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8338, 25 January 1913, Page 9

HEALTH TALKS.

"Health is the second blessins that ■vre mortals are capable a. blesnns that money cannot buy.

Reuters correspondent in Berli states that in connection with the Friedmann tuberculosis cure, was announced at a meeting oi the Be - lin Medical Society on November 6th certain misconceptions as to the nature and scope of the remedy have crept into publicity, which it is desirable to correct. In view of the immense importance of tho subject, it should be clearly understood that Dr hnedmann and the authorities who support him claim that they have an specific against ail forms of tuberculosis, and not only, as has been stated abroad, against tuberculosis of the bones. Sweeping as this statement may appear, Dr Friedmann takes full responsibility for it. The euro consists in the injection of a serum living tubercule bacilli, which ho claims to havo rendered non-virulent and in ” capable of producing diseases, while at the same time they retain the curative element (antigens) which, since the discoveries of Robert Koch, has been known to exist in these bacteria. As Professor Klemperer, quoting Koch’s words at a recent mooting of the Berlin Medical Society, said ; “ That is the right way. AV© havo only to find a tubercule bacillus innocuous for human beings, which can be injected living into the human system. Then we shall bo able to cure tuberculosis and to confer immunity against it.”

This bacillus Dr Friedmann declares that he has developed by processes known only to himself, from virulent human tubercule bacilli. Up to dato 1250 patients have been treated with the Friedmann serum, in practically all cases with favourable results, and iu no case with harmful results. About 900 of these patients were suffering from tuberculosis in some form, and a great number of them. from pulmonary tuberculosis, children included. About 300, mostly young children, have been inoculated with the serum to render them immune against the _ disease. These were, of course, cases in which there was a grave danger of transmission from tuberculous parents or infection from some other source.

Dr Friedmann and the physicians using his serum, among them Professor Erich Muller, head physician of the Berlin Orphanage; Professor C. 'U. Schlscih, of the Virchow Hospital; Dr Karfunkel, Privy Councillors Dr Kuster and Heymann, Professor Blaschke, and Dr Goldberg, are able to point to a large number of apparently complete cures. Many of these are of a character so startling as to arouse the strongest scepticism among those of Dr Friedmann’s professional colleagues who have not seen the serum at work themselves. In medical circles there is a pretty general demand that Dr Friedmann should explain the nature of his serum and place it at the disposal of the medical profession as a whole. Until this has been done, it is argued, Dr Friedmann cannot expect the profession to accept his discovery as final. Naturally Dr Friedmann considers that he is the best judge of the fitting moment to place his remedy at the disposal of the general practitioner. Meanwhile, ho is being inundated with applications, and inquiries from all parts of the world and petitions from sufferers who see in him their last hope.

The rate of infantile mortality in England and Wales was 109 per 1000 births in 1909. This is by far the lowest on record, says the RegistrarGeneral. The provisional figures show that the rat© for 1910 will be lower still.

Of th© 483,247 deaths registered during the year in England and Wales, 94,579, or 20 per cent., were those of children under on© year of age, corresponding to a mortality rate of 105 per 1000 births. This rate was 27 per 1000 births, or 27 per cent, below the average in ten years, 1900-1909; and was 4 per thousand births, or 4 per cent, below the lowest rate previously recorded, that for th© year 1909.

To th© maintenance of this satisfactory downward tendency the cool and wet summer of 1910 doubtless contributed very materially through its effect in restraint of fatal diarrhoea. Th© infant mortality from diarrhoeal diseases was 13 per 1000 births, the same as that of 1909, which was the lowest figure recorded during the past twenty years, except in 1894 and 1907, in both of which the fat© was 12 per 1000. Tile meteorological conditions of the summer and the downward tendency of infantile mortality experienced in 1910 so clearly reproduced those of 1909 that the remarks made in the report for the former year upon the relation between the two are equally applicable to the year now under review.

It is utterly impossible to keep well unless the feet are kept dry aud warm all the time. Dr George Butler recommends in a recent paper that if cold and dry, the feet should bo soaked in hot water for ten minutes every night; and, when wiped and dried, they should be rubbed well with ten or fifteen drops of sweet oil, which should be done patiently with the hands, rubbing the oil into the soles of the feet particularly. On getting up in the morning dip both feet at once into water, as cold as the air of the room, half-ankle deep, for a minute in summer, half a minute or less in winter, rubbing one foot with the other; then wipe dry, and, if convenient, hold them to the fire, rubbing them until perfectly dry and warm in every part. If tho feet are damp and cold, attend only to tho morning washings, but always at night remove the stockings, and hold the feet to the fire, rubbing them with the hands for fifteen minutes,' and get immediately into bed. Persons who walk a great deal during the day should on coming home for the night remove their shoes and stockings, and hold the feet to the fire until perfectly dry, then put on a dry pair of hose, and wear slippers for the remainder of the evening.