TUBERCULOSIS REMEDY ?

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 December 1929, Page 7

TUBERCULOSIS REMEDY ?

DOCTORS HAVE DOUBTS MORE INFORMATION WANTED (Special to “Star.”) AUCKLAND, December 5. When asked what was the attitude of the profession to the alleged discovery of a cure for tuberculosis, an experienced medical man, said this morning, it could not take any notice of that so-called cure until the authoi revealed the contents of the medicine used and the treatment. The Vicar of the Point Chevalier church was nc doubt quite sincere in his claim, bui the doctors could not take cognisance of it, so long as the whole thing remained a secret, known only to the discoverer. The position in regard to tuberculosis was exactly on all fours with what happened some time back in regard to an alleged cure for infantile paralysis. In that case, a man who happened to be a doctor said he had worked out a cure and offered to treat cases in the general hospital. The authorities said they could not agree to any such experiment until the treatment was revealed. They pointed out that they were responsible for the lives of the in the hospital, and if they permitted the use of some mysterious remedy, they would be held responsible. The remedy might or might not be efficient, but the authorities were the responsible people and could not experiment in the dark.

The medical man pointed out that from time to time similar claims were put forward, honestly no doubt, but they had all proved to be more or less fantastic. In addition to the case of the infantile paralysis, there was the case of cancer. Then a man came forward with a cure for indigestion, and now there was the man with the cure for tuberculosis. It was quite obvious that the medical profession could countenance none of these things without knowing the details and the ingredients of the medicines. Anyone with an alleged cure must expect to be asked for details and proofs of genuineness before human lives would be exposed to risk by any responsible man.

The “Star’s” informant recalled the case of Spahlinger, the famous Continental doctor who had reported the discovery of a cure of T.B. His treatment included the use of a complicated serum. He claimed that his treatment was equally effective on calves and the British Government offered to allow him to experiment with twenty tuberculosis calves whose condition would be checked by comparison with the condition of twenty healthy calves. The inventor of the cure refused to accept the conditions, and there the matter ended.

GROUP SYSTEM. NELSON, December 5. The Nelson Hospital Board unanimously decided in favour of joining the North Canterbury group, under the group system, of providing more effective treatment of tuberculosis. WELLINGTON SCEPTICISM. WELLINGTON, December 6. Local doctors appear to be just a little sceptical regarding the merits of the Auckland clergyman’s cure for consumption. One Wellington practitioner when approached on the subject spoke with decided feeling. . “If there is anything in the thing,” he said, “surely the first thing the discoverer "would do would be to get the opinion of a number of medical men, or the executive of the Association. Research work has been going on for a great many yetars dealing with all possible treatment for tuberculosis of the lungs. The results, however, are invariably published, so that all details conected with these investigations can be got by medical men interested in the subject. If there is anything in the present claim, surely the discoverer would be only too glad to put his formula before a body of men competent to judge of its possibilities.”

Other practitioners comment in similar terms.