A CURE FOR SCIATICA.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 264, 26 March 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

A CURE FOR SCIATICA.

Sciatic* is a painful malady from which many persons suffer acutely, more especially after the occurrence of a change in the weather. It may be roughly described as neuralgia of the thigh or the hip-joint, generally partaking more or - less of the character of rheumatism. Owiug to a providential blunder made by a Frenchman in Algeria, it has been recently dis:overed that hydrochloric acid painted over the skin gives speedy relief in even the most stubborn cases of sciatica. Chronic sufferers may be permanently cured in from a week to 25 days by about half a dozen applications of the remedy. The blunder which led to the disclosure of this remarkable curative agent was due to the popular bat highly misleading u«e of the term' " spirits of salt* " in such a way as to mean hydrochloric acid. Salt is used in the manufacture of this acid, bet it is split up into its constituents daring the process and does not in the least resemble any of the products, the acid being by far the most dissimilar. In a hospital in Algeria a patient had been treated with injections of salt nnder the skin in the vain endeavour to ease him of severe sciatica. He went away no better, and one day—thinking the matter oit in & confused way—he concluded that possibly the salt had not been sufficiently strong He therefore procured so.ne "spirits of salt," and rubbed it on the affected parts. In a short time his pains left him, and he went about his ordinary business.

ISoi long afterwards, however, he had occasion to visit the same hospital to be treated for another ailment, and was asked how he had got rid of his sciatica. At first he sud he ua 1 done it by the use of very strong salt; but finally Dr. BonrHer, the professor of therapeutics at the hospital, extracted from him the fact that he meant spirits of salt. This in* formation was a clue to something novel in the way of therapeutic*. Tha new remeJy was at once tried on 12 patients, who were all cured by a few applications. Medical men have for some years bsen aware that sulphuric acid eases the pains of sciatica, but uofortunately it gives rise to extensive sloughing of the skin. Nothing of this kind is said to be experienced when hydrochloric acid is used, though the great corrosiveness of the chemical should prevent- any need-le-S application of it, and should suggest th>j question whether dilution with water would not be advisable. Whit may suit one skin may not suit another, and casual experiments may be risky. The case may fairly In cited not only as an instance of an accidental discovery, but aho as an example of the very liberal and eclectic methods followed by mo ieni medical investigators. No matter from what source it comes, the knowledge of new weapons in the warfare agaiust piin and disease is always welcome. It may be that an erudite pro-

lessor of physic discovers X-rays and enables physicians to see through flssh as easily as through glass; or it may be that an ignorant man stumbles npon a useful idea in the effort to ease himself of pain. The benefits of every advance are at oace shared by sufferers in every part of the world, because no other science is so really cosmopolitan in the present day as that of medicine.