THE AMERICAN PRACTITIONER and News.

Vol. 19.

“NEC TENUI PENNÂ.”

SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1895.

No. 12.

D. W. YANDELL, M. D., LL.D., and H. A. COTTELL, M. D., Editors.
JOHN L. HOWARD, M. D., Assistant Editor.

A Journal of Medicine and Surgery, published every other Saturday. Price, $3 per year, postage paid.

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AN INQUIRY INTO THE EFFICACY OF THE " GOLD-CURE."

A few years ago the world was startled by the statement that a doctor in an obscure village in the State of Illinois had discovered a new and certain cure for alcoholism. The new fad was hailed with delight by many good people of sober habits, and was caught at as drowning men catch at straws" by many a wretch whose potations had mastered him.

The discoverer of the remedy was toasted by the laity and introduced from pulpits as a great philanthropist and benefactor of his kind. His business boomed; a big institution was established at Dwight for the cure of inebriety, with many minor like institutions in various places; the drunkards were sent to these institutions by the car load, and the instigator of the craze soon coined a colossal fortune.

But time, which tries all things, has tested the merits of these pretenses, and now that the dust has settled and the smoke has gone skyward, we are able to survey the results of the so-called "cure" with mathematical coolness.

The Record of the 25th ultimo gives us the following, which is but a repetition of the experience of the ages, so far as secret remedies are concerned:

Rev. Dr. Buckley, the learned editor of the Christian Advocate, has made a serious attempt to investigate the therapeutic value of the so-called

gold-cure." He sent out letters of inquiry to a large number of physicians and clergymen. He got answers from 25 of the former and 68 of the latter, or 93 in all. Through these he obtained reports of 534 cases of inebriety treated by the "gold-cure," of which number 275 remained cured and 251 relapsed. This gives a proportion of cures of 511⁄2 per cent. It might be said at once that if fifty per cent are cured, something is accomplished; but the answer is that this same result can be secured by ordinary measures not involving the resort to secret preparations. Of one hundred drunkards who deliberately and honestly desire to break up their habits, surely over half will be rescued by measures known to the profession. As two thirds of Dr. Buckley's correspondents were clergymen, and many of these were believers in the treatment, the percentage of cures obtained by the inquiry is probably too high. Even admitting it to be as high as fifty, the validity of the claim that the "gold-cure" is a specific is surely disposed of.

From the above it appears that no more good is done at a "goldcure" reformatory for inebriates than at any other institution of like kind. That if a man is in earnest and wants to quit drinking, he has but to resolve to quit and live up to his resolve, at the same time taking, under the advice of a physician, such well-known remedies as will hold his nervous and circulatory systems at the proper tension after the withdrawal of the alcohol.

To the credit of the profession be it said, few reputable physicians, if any, have countenanced or recommended the fad, while no man of eminence has by word or practice done any thing to enhance the boom.

The only specific for inebriety is a determination to quit drinking, and moral strength to carry out the determination.

Special Notices.

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES WITH SOLUTIONS OF PYROZONE.-Dr. Geo. L. Parmele, of Hartford, Conn., says: "For about two years I have used pyrozone, and find it indispensable. The one point alone, of its remaining active and efficient after long standing open in the office, renders it vastly superior to ordinary peroxide of hydrogen. In the treatment of alveolar abscess, pus-secreting sockets and diseased antra, I find it of inestimable value. The 3 per cent for cleansing the mouth, and the 5 per cent for cases above mentioned. I have not as yet employed the caustic 25 per cent solution. The fact that I give this testimonial, contrary to my usual custom and unsolicited, will show you how highly I value pyrozone."

WALKER PHARMACAL CO., St. Louis, Mo. Gentlemen: Please send me a sample of Pineoline. I have used Phytoline and believe it is the best, and about the only medicinal remedy that will reduce a surplus of adipose tissue. I gave it to a lady patient weighing 200 pounds; reduced weight 26 pounds in four weeks; at the same time, gave entire relief to a train of hepatic, gastric, and rheumatic symptoms that had long made the patient's life miserable. Very truly yours,

M. L. ADAMS, M. D., Olympia, Wash. ENURESIS NOCTURNA.-Dr. F. Clark, of Boston, Mass., writing, says: "I have used Sanmetto with good results in bladder, kidney and urinary troubles. I had a man come to me from Philadelphia, Penn., who had been troubled from an infant up to the age of twenty-four years with nocturnal incontinence of urine, wetting the bed almost every night. I used three bottles of Sanmetto on him, and found it made a thorough cure. He can go to bed at eight o'clock and sleep until eight the next morning without urinating. I recommend with all honesty, to the suffering and to the profession, the great cure, Sanmetto."

OX-GALL, one grain of the inspissated, with one drop of oil of wintergreen to one teaspoonful of Celerina, will relieve headache. The remedy may be repeated every hour.

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