TEN MONTH'S SUFFERING IN A HOSPITAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5875, 5 July 1890, Page 4

TEN MONTH'S SUFFERING IN A HOSPITAL.

There is an old saying that physicans are a class of men who pour drugs, of which the? know littlo, into bodys of which they know lese. There is both true and untrue lawyers, and good and poor doctors. The trouble with .these medical gentlemen as a profession is that they are clannish, and apt to be conceited. They don't like to be beaten at.their own trade by outsiders who have nover studied medicine. They therefore pay, by their frequent failures, tho penalty of refusing instruction unless the eacher bears their own ' Hall Mark.'

An eminent physician—Dr. BrownSequard, of Paris—states the fact accurately when ho says: ' The medical profession are so bound up in their self-confidence and conceit that they allow the diamond truths of science to be picked up by persons entirely outside their ranks. . We give a most interesting incident, which illustrates this important truth. The steamship' Concordia,' of theDonaldson Line, sailed from Glasgow for Baltimore in ISB7, having on board as a fireman a man named Richard Wade, of Glasgow Ho had been a fireman for fourteen years on various chips nailing to America, China, and India He had borne the hard uud exhausting labour, and had been healthy uid strung. On tlie trip we now name he Ocgan for the first time to feel weak and ill. Hi:* nppetite failed, and hs suffered from drowsii.tsf, heartburn, a bi;d taste in tho mouth, and costiveness and irregularity of tliu bowels. Sometimes when ut work lie had atUck* of giddinetn, hut supposi-d it to be caused by the he;it of the firu-room. Quiteofton ho was sick nudfeltl'kovomiting, ?uid had gome puin in the Leavi. Later during tho puiisajre he grew worse, ;uid wlun the .-'nip re;ii;li«l Halifax lie was £'!ai- (1 in tin: Victoria Guuoral Hospital, and

i.in! (-hip sailed away without him. Tlin hoiiw .-untiv.ii gave him some pmvdors to flop the vomiting, and thy next day tho visiting physician tr;ive him n mixture to take every four hours. Within two ciiiys Wiiiie whs f-o much wursu ihut the i!>otors stopped both tho powders and tho mixture. A month putted, tho poor fireman getting worco and worse.

'I hen cnmo another doctor, who was to be visiting physicians for the next fivo mouths. Ho gave other inedeoinee, but iiot much relief. Nearly all that time Wado suffered great torture : he digested nothing , , throwing up nil he ato. There was terrible pain in the bowela, burning heat in the throat, heartburn, and racking headache. The patient was now taking , a mixture very four houre, powders one after euch meal to digest the food, operating pille one every night, and temperature pillH two euch night to stop the cold sweats. If drugs could cure him itt all, Kiohatd had an idea that he took cuough to do it. But on the other hand pleurisy set in and the doctors took ninety ounces of matter from his riijht side, and then told him he was sure to die. Five months more rolled by, and there wan another change of visiting physicians. The new one gave Wade a mixture which he said made him tremble like a leaf on a tree.

I At this crisis Wade's Scotch blood asserted itself. He refused to stand any dosing ; aud told the doctors that if he must die ho could dio a3 well without them as with them. By this time a cup of milk would turn sour on hia stomach and Hβ there for days. Our friend from Glasgow was like a wreck on a shoal, fast going to pieces. We will let him tell tho rest of his experience in the words in which ho communicated it to tho press. He saya : ' When I was in this etato a iady whom I had never seen came to the hospital and talked with mo. Sho proved to be an angel of mercy, for without her I should not no«- he alive. She told me of a medicine called ' Mother Seigel'e Curative Syrup,' and brought me a bottle next day. I started with it, without consulting the doctor*, and in only a few days , time I was out of ltd calling furham and cygs for breakfast. From this time keeping on with Mother Seigel'e great remedy, 1 got well fast, and was boon able to leave the hospital and come heme to Glasgow. 1 now fell as if I was in another world, and have no illness of auy kind.'

The above facts are calmly and impartially stilted, and tho reader may draw his own conclusion. We deem it best to use no names, although Mr Wade gave them in his original deposition. His address is No. 244. Stobcross Street, Glasgow, Whore letters will reach him. Editoe.