WAGING WAR WITH GERMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 215, 19 February 1915, Page 3

WAGING WAR WITH GERMS.

SAVAGE PROPOSAL OF AN AUSTRIAN GENERAL. SIMPLE REMEDY. (By Lieut.-Col. Roustam Bek.) In some Russian newspapers, and especially in tlie Armv Messenger, which is issued by the staff of the armies a< the front, it was recently stated .that tin use of cholera cultures as a weapon ol modern warfare was proposed officially by General von IToctzendorf for us< against the Russians and the Servians. Such a terrible scheme -on the part it our enemy was suggested to the Supreme Military Council of Austria, where Count Berchtold firmly opposed this barbaric suggestion, hinting that he would resign his post if the Military Council were in favor of it. . Of course, the very idea of such a weapon being used against the Allies. | coming from high military circles in i Austria, would make the. whole world tremble with horror, but such news be-1 ing published in the official military newspaper could certainly be accepted with confidence. CHOLERA. I n any case, if our enemies make war in such a savage manner, we have a good remedy for preventing terrible disaster among our armies. In the past I had many opportunities in Central Asia and the Far East of battling against cholera, and I think il would be very useful at present to draw the attention of military medical men to one method of preventing not only the, danger of cholera among the soldiers, but in general of preserving, troops in the field from infection. I always used for myself and for mv soldiers during the war and on expeditions, a solution of sulphuric acid. Generally, I took six per cent, of sulnhuric acid to a litre of distilled or boiled water. And, if the circumstances permitted, T have ozonised this solution by ultra-violet rays. The process of ozonisation can ue effected in different ways, and depends on what appliances are at hand. It i.< very well known that sulphuric acid plays a very important role in amalgamating matter, and it has the ability to amalgamate ozone. A litre of this solution after beintf ozonised will cnotain about two cubic centimetres of pure ozone, and about fourteen cubic centimetres of active oxygen, strongly and firmly amalgamated, j The discharge of oxygen when this'so-' lution conies into connection with th tissues is very slow, Evcrv medical man will understand the preference of the slow discharge of oxygen to the quick one. MICROBES KILLED. The solution must be diluted with water, from 2 per cent, to 50 per cent. For instance, many bacteriological analyses, made by Russian analysts, havej shown that in a 2 per cent, solution the cholera microbes die immediately. One of the strongest bacilli, the lai'to bacillus, we killed with a solution of 10 per cent in five minutes. T applied different degrees of this solution for the sterilisation of wounds, and obtained splendid results. Usually we had a tcaspoonful of the solution in a glass of water, which is equal to " per- cent. Sometimes both myself and my men were able to drink the most dirty water without any bad results. For instance, during the cholera time in several regions of the Russian empire, the whole of the meat supplies w washed over with a strong solution of about 25 to 50 per cent, and it was sufficient to prevent any danger. Til the same way this ozonised fluid helped to close the wounds in a very clean manner, and in the case of a burn would stop the pain immediately. It is not always possible to ozonise the fluid, and on one occasion I left the fluid in the open air for a night, and the sulnhurie acid did its work, accumulating the oxvgen from the air. Both- my doctor and mvself noticed that the solution without being ozonised also gave nearly the same results, and. for instance, in Macedonia, in lOO.'i. during the whole campaign, the non-ozon-isrd solution was a favorite remedy among the Macedonian bands, bring introduced there by myself.

TNTKr.KAT, USlv This liquid, in siieh proportions as 2 to 5 per cent., can be taken internally, ■without any harm resulting, and, as a. matter of fact, with vary ;rrcat benefit. Th Kniilish pharmacopoeia, as well as tlie ] hnrmaeopoeia of the old world, allows tlu» use internally of sulphuric ae;< 1 in larger quantities than T lmw suggested. Most of our diseases are the* result of an attack on our l>oil\ r by microbes, ami if we kept our skin in a'dea,, and antiseptic condition the harm to ourselves caused by microbes would be diminished. As T noticed on myself and on my Oassncks. wo wore* always fit and active lifter rubbing our bodies with pure essence of this solution. eve n in the winf-T time. when it was absolutely impossib]: l to take a. bath. The application of litis liquid to animals is also wonderful, especially wl: ?« horses, for instance. are from different wounds caused by the saddle. Also in cases where through poor food and hard work the animals become verv exhausted, if 1} io 5 per cent of this solution is added to their drjnkr wafer it makes theni onile aelivo a.nd fit a',!'-'.in. Tt is not my fa<k in thes" columns to deal with the analysis of this liquid. 1 , only wish to draw the attention of tieBritish military doctors, as well as thattention of th" ])iiblie. to my Yi--w on i liis very important, question, ami if- i> tor fhe medical men io j.jive th"ir (.(pinion i,j regard to (his matter. 1 only do my share in pointing ov. l < this ehean and io--.t wonderful r-'medy v.hieh can so ";Hly be prepared by ;tnv--0?10.