MR. GREATHEAD'S REMEDY FOR DIPHTHERIA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 300, 30 October 1873, Page 6

MR. GREATHEAD'S REMEDY FOR DIPHTHERIA.

(To tlie Editor of the *' Argus.") Sis,*— The accompanying letter was handed to me yesterday, with the request that I shonld read it to the Assembly, but having been ruled out of order, I was unable to do so. As, however, it may be of the geatest importance to those who are suffering from a disease that is sending hunreda to an early grave, I do not feel justified in delaying the bringing of the matter under the notice of the public, and therefore place this letter in your hands, hoping that the remedy may be as effectual as my friend the author, imagines ; and if so, that the country and Legislative will not fail to rcognise a good service so freely offered. — I am, sir, yours obediently, J. M. Geant Collins-street, 16th September. " The Hon. J. M. Grant,— " Sir, — Knowinpr so well as I do that you are ever ready to do good in your capacity aa a member of Parliament^ not only to indivduals but to the public at large, I am satisfied jrou will do justice in laying the following state ment and cure for diphtheria before Parliament at your earliest convenience, viz: — Having seen, and constantly hearing of that direful disease diphtheria, and its awful effects in bringing such [ terrible afflictions into so many families all over the colony, I can no longer withhold from the public, the cure that I have found to be so perfect in about a dozen cases, not failing in one instance, and I trust Parliament will reward me if they find the cure is effectual. I might make a fortune by it, as some gentlemen advised me to make a private practice of it ; but, being the father of a family myself, and seeing the distress that the disease would bring into so many families in one part of the colony while I might be in another, has brought me to the above conclusion of giving publicity to it through you i* your place in Parliament. " The disease is of a- hydadit growth. The itisectß breed in millions in -.a few days under a film they make, ' which sweUs up. in the throat, and co«apletely staD&'yespiwttio,«s

" The mixture described below causes the film instantly to contract and break, and kills the insects instantly, and they are all washed down the throat, which soon passes away. "the mtxtttbe, " Give four drops of sulphuric acid in a glass* of water ; mix the two well together by pouring out of one glass into another a few times ; then give it to patient to drink. " The quantity will not hurt anyone, and is also a good purifier of the blood, " Any person can get for 6d. as much acid as will serve him for his lifetime. " I am, sir, yours respectfully, "RojJT. Q-REATTTEAP. " 33 Chetwynd-street, Hotham, Sept. 17." One of the first things (says the "Telegraph") that struck people on reading Mr. G-reathead's cure for diphtheria — "four drops of sulphuric acid in a glass of water" — was whether the acid in its full strength is to be used, or whether the ordinary dilution is sufficient. The question being all important, we despatched a reporter to interview Mr. Greathead, and the following is the statement made by him : — " The acid is to be used in its strength, not diluted. lam sure that the stoppage in the throat which "constitutes diphtheria is"' not a fungus, but a mass of insects. These insects emit a matter which creates a kind of film, and as they grow, the film is swelled out until there is no breathing room in the throat. If itwere a fungus, the acid would not remove it. I, in the case of one patient, obtained a portion of the matter out of the throat, and putting it under a powerful glass, I discover it to be a moving mass. I dropped some of the acid upon it, and immediately it changed colour, and presented altogether a different aspect. I commenced my experiments about eighteen months ago, if experiments they may be termed, for my discovery was purely accidental. I discovered the cure thusr — I was living at Seymour, or rather a few miles from Seymour, and one of my sons was taken bad with diphtheria. There was no doctor at hand. I was at the time taking sulphuric acid as a medicine for ,purifying/the blood. I had found the acid efßcacious in clearing the phlegm from my throat, and when my child" 'was choking from diphtheria, I used it as a chance resource. I only gave him one dose, and in a few seconds he said, c Mr. I can breathe as well as ever I did ! ' Several children have since been cured with one drink. Two of my boys wore very bad, were in a state of strangulation, were nearly dying in fact, and one dose as I have mentioned cured them. I have never had to give more than one drink. I have cured about a dozen cases that were really bad, and am so sure of my cure that I would risk my life on it. AVhatever the doctors may say. I am convinced that diphtheria is an accumulation of insects, and not a vegetable growth, nnd I stake my life upon it, that four drops of the strongest sulphuric acid in a glass of water is a sure cure."