HEALTH HINTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 65, 17 March 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

HEALTH HINTS.

! BRONCHIAL AFFECTIONS. I ])r Mendel, of Paris,' recently sent toMhe French Academy of Medicine a IHWMt interesting- communication on the subject of a new treatment of diseases of the bronchial tubes and of the chest. Hitherto these maladies have been treated by means of medicines absorbed by the stomach. The origin- ' ality of Dr. Mendel's treatment consists in the introduction of the medicaments directly into the respiratory passages. . j The physician uses a syringe with a ! curved tube, and introduces the point into the orifice of the tracheal conduit by which air enters into the chest. The medicament used descends the conduit without producing- the slightest disagreeable sensation. The patient feels a mild warmth diffuse itself in the chest and breathes more freely for some hours. The medicaments thus introduced (oil containing- in solution vegetable essences) are volatile and kill the mi[crobes. As soon as they are projected i'i/ito the chest they evaporate, saturate Ifhe air breathed and fill the lungs. Thus is established an inhalation of an :exceptional intensity, because the •centre of inhalation, instead of being- outside, is in the ! midst of the respiratory organs. At the end of a few hours the medicament injected is absorbed, en:ters the blood, and leaves the system ;by the lungs, influencing them for I the second time. M. Mendel continues these injections ! daily for a month at least. The dailydose is ten cubic centimetres. He has tried the treatment on fifty patients,. !of whom forty-five were tuberculous ! and the rest non-tuberculous (bron-.; j'chltis, asthma and pulmonary congestion), and obtained numerous ag well as lasting- successes in the form ■ of the cessation of coughing and ex- ■ pectoration, the return of appetite, I sleep and strength, and an increase in, weight. .., ■■..;. What is especially curious, and tipsets many ideas, is the perfect sub-' mission of the throat and chest to the injections, which are by no means unpleasant, and never bring on coughing. Another advantage is that patients are not compelled to take medicines that upset the stomach. They maintain' their appetite and the good working of the digestive organs.