CONSUMPTION CURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 12, 15 January 1913, Page 4

CONSUMPTION CURE.

«» WONDERFUL BESULTS. PROFESSOR "FRIEDMANN'S DISCOVERY. - Continental medical journals just to hand contain details of Ptofesscu* Friedinann'tf cure lov consumption, which has caused more interest in medical circles' than any discovery for a long time past, and is of sflch vital interest to the whole civilised world (says the Sydney Morning Herald). Professor Friedmann. read a paper on the subject before the Berlin Medical Association on, 6th November last, giving many interesting details of cases treated aild cures effected. In. all previous preparations for the cure of consuwp.tion, from the time, of Koch, he said, the bacilli used had been of • a virulent and strongly toxic character, atid on account of their very nature they were calculated to do injury to th<s organism and also to the materials which constituted the element in opposition to the tuberculosis. t He then set to work to develop a living bacillus of natural non- virulence and non-toxic, which would be harmless if taken in large doses, and serve for innocuous stimulation to the resistance of the disease. He conducted very extensive experiments, and when he had succeeded in elimina.' ting f r&n' his - curative bacillus the last traces of virulence, he applied it to human beings. First of all, he subjected himself to repeated injections,

then he treated adult tubercular subjects, and then children. Up to the time the paper was read. Professor lTriedmann had treated 1182 perfione, and the preparation had proved to be innocuous in every form of application, subcutaneous, intramuscular, and intravenous. The course of treatment now followed by him consisted in the intra-muscular incorporation of the bacillus, the injections being given once, twice, or thrice— -seldom more often—at increasing intervals. The $fficacy of the treatment depended upon the complete absorption of the preparation. It was only when and while tho injected remedy was completely absorbed, and remained in tho body, that the specific remedial operations made themselves markedly manifest. This usually occurred very soon, and in the conditions mentioned had continued steadily. Amongst the effects which, he said, had been obtained with the injection of only a. single doee had been the drying up fo a scar of tubercular abscesses. Those suffering from phthisis of tli3 lung^hnd lost all their ailment, and the physical signs of disease had disappear cd. As far as lung tuberculosis was concerned, where ihe disease had not advanced too far. a decline of the symptoms was quickly shown on application of thq. remedy. Obviously, in cases where death was near at hand, or large caserns existed in the lungs, with perhaps various complications, tho patients could nofc^ be saved. Out of 250 sufferers treated for lung tuberculosis, he had been unnble to save six very advanced cases, ' though at the start a 'pronounced improvement had been noticeable. In none oi the cases referred to had tho patients had tho advantage of rest under good nursing, such as well-to-do people would have, inasmuch as they belong almost exclusively to the working classes. Tho patients were engaged in strenuous physical labour — some of them working 12 hours a day— and in no casewas a working patient required, on account of the injection, to give up his ordinary occupation. There were others who had been Unable to work for months, yet within, a few weeks of the first injection, were able to resume work. A'nbtliei' striking thing was the regular increase in the appetite for food after the firßt injection, some of the sufferers declaring that they became ravenously hungry^ Further, the cough and expectoration diminished and died away. One of the most interesting of Professor Fricdmann's statements was that his remedy had been used to vaccinate children to .secure immunity against tuberculosis. In all, 335 children, aged from one hour to three years, had been vaccinated, the vaccination consisting of a single intra-muscular injection. It had proved absolutely harmless, and had been conducted under the closest scrutiny of the medical officers of maternity institutions, who had thoroughly satisfied themselves that there was nothing injurious in the treatment, and that the healthy development of the children was in nowise impaired. These children were kept under skilled surveillance, and were regularly examined by doctors. In nono of these cases, which included some in which there was every reason to expect a hereditary tendency towards tuberculosis, had any symptoms of the disease become manifest. Many of the parents and some of the brothers and sisters o( these children were sufferers from tuberculosis. In a discussion that followed, Professor Friedmann stated that his remedy was not of the nature of the weakened bacilli or human tuberculosis, but represented a non-virulent culture. The Oerman name given to it by him is a combination of four Words— "tortoiset übercle-baeilhts-culture. ' '