HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 72

HEALTH COLUMN.

Allowed Cure of Tuberculosis. (Montreal Witness, February 27.)

Dr G. A. Brown, of 1008 Dorchester street, on Friday night made an important announcement to the members of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society, when in the course of a paper on. an old treatment which he had been using in a new way for tuberculosis, he announced that he believed he had discovered a cure for that disease, in whatever part of the bedy it might manifest itself. Dr Brown, who is a graduate of M'Gill, has been experimenitng on the cure cf tuberculosis for ten years, and for the past four years has been applying in his iiractice the treatment he has discovered. He explained this treatment in the> minutest detail to the doctors present, and produced several patients whom he claimed to have cured. In an interview with a Witness reporter Dr Brown, while speaking with tr.e greatest confidencs of his discovery, was not so dogmatic as to claim that it was an absolute cure in all cases. But he made tho statement that he had in quite a number of instances cured consumption, or tuberculosis, whether in the lungs, the skin, the hip, or any other part of the bodyHe had tried the treatment chiefly in diEponsary cases, and the patients were therefore among the poorest in the community — people who could not afford to go away for change of air, or go to great expense m any way. " I suppose you take the cure ox these patients a 6 an even greater proof of the. efficacy of your remedy than would be the case if you had tried it on well-to-do people?" " Yes, certainly." " There is an impression lhat with your treatment the .modern methods of i>pcn air, diet and change of locality are- not necessary." "I would not say that," replied the doctor. ''I attach the greatest importance to these modern methods, used in conjunction with my treatment. But at the same iime I have cured tuberculosis among people who could not go to the expense of these methods, but had to stay at home." " Can consumption be cured even in advanced cases?" -" Yea, I h.&2£ surgd it ia what are slagged

as advanced cases ; bul; the , cure depends on the lesions in the lungs." " Are the cures even in ' advanced cases' rapid ?" "Well, you can't say they are B rapid, for this reason, that after all trace of disease is eradicated if; takes perhaps 12 months for a shattered constitution to recover itself." Dr Brown declined to give the name of the drus; which he claims to have used with 6uch effect, saying he intended to publish hip paper in the medical journals, giving a full description of his method. He had [ come to this decision because he wanted hi 3 remedy tested by other medical gentlemen before he made tho absolute announcement that he had discovered an unfailing cure for consumption. There is, however, no secret about "the treatment. It is known to every medical gentleman- in the city. It consists of the hypodermic injection of an emulsion of icdoform. A number of tho leading medical practitioners of the city were also seen upon the matter by a Witness representative. They all spoke in the highest terms of Dr Brown's paper, saying that he deserved the greatest credit for havinjr undertaken work too often left to the clinic and the specialist. They declared that Dr Brown was to be congratulated on bis perseverance and original work, and for the. perfectly ethical way in which, he" presented the conclusions he had arrived at." The Witness- represen-' tative found that the general attitude of the profession was .best summed up\ in a statement made by Dr Andrew Macphail. • Dr Macphail said that he had nothing but praise for Dr Brown, that he, a general practitioner, should have done any work ai all, and arrived at results, whether right or wrong, upon fo important a matter as ihe curability of tuberculosis. Yet, the profession, having in view the fiasco in which Koch's discovery ended, the suspicious circumstances undef which Bearing's dircovery was exploited last summer, and the limited results obtained from 'Marmorek's serum, had a right to receive with the utmost of scepticism any v.ew announcement. ( Dr Brown's treatment, as he understood it. was the enlarged application of a remedy which had been previously employed. There were so many problems to be considered — uncertainty of diagnosis, uncertainty of the Termanencv of results, ar.d tho natural tendency which so many diseases have to limit themselves, that any method of treatment must be subject to wide and thorough experiment. Any such information as Dr Brown's was welcomed by the profession, and he felt sure that, sufficient interest had been aroused to load to further investigation. If good came of it, no one would rejoice more than the medical profession. If no useful results were obtained, it would not he the first time in the history of medicine- ,that -«, remedy which had been much praised after»ward<s fell into 'disuse. ' '