CHARCOAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19682, 27 December 1933, Page 2

CHARCOAL

USEFUL MEDICINAL QUALITIES PALLIATIVE FOR INDIGESTION Charcoal has long had a reputation as a palliative in certain forms of indigestion; and there may be some curiosity as to the basis of this popular idea and as to the reasons why, if its reputation is justified, it is not more often prescribed by doctors. That certain forms of charcoal do actually give relief in appropriate cases is beyond doubt. Indeed, we may be pretty sure that any remedy which has remained in popular favour for centuries has some virtues to its credit, writes a physician in the “Weekly Scotsman.” Why then do doctors not make greater use of it I think the explanation is that they cannot count on the result. Sometimes charcoal seems to work wonders; at others It seems to have no effect whatever. Only lately has the reason for this variability been discovered. The fact is that some kinds of charcoal, prepared in a particular way, possess qualities which ordinary charcoal possesses in but trivial degree. Enterprising commercial pharmacists have now exploited this bit of knowledge, and have made available to doctors a preparation which is 30 or 40 times as potent for medicinal purposes as is the ordinary charcoal of commerce.

The action of charcoal, when swallowed, is peculiar. It does not act as an ordinary drug, for it is not absorbed into the blood at all, but passes through the body apparently unchanged. In fact, it has no chemical action whatever inside the body; but it has several important and useful physical properties. Although it is so firm to the touch, its minute structure is almost spongelike; that is to say, its bulk it largely composed of interstices between the solid particles. When it is swallowed, the interstices of the charcoal are full of air—that is, of diluted oxygen. Many forms of indigestion are characterised by the symptom known as flatulence, that is by distension of the stomach and intestines with gas, resulting from the fermentation or putrefaction of partly digested food that is not moving along so quickly as it ought to do. Properly prepared charcoal has the peculiar property of attracting this gas to itself, at the same time liberating the oxygen which its crevices contain. The oxygen checks the fermentation and putrefaction, and so hinders the production of further gas. Charcoal of the right sort has another useful property. It renders inert many otherwise dangerous poisons, both of vr .etable and of mineral origin. Instances are recorded of actual saving of life through the prompt administration of charcoal to individuals who have swallowed poison—absorption being thereby hindered until more specialised treatment could be given, I suppose that it is the slimming craze which chiefly accounts for the popularity and for the profits of many of these institutions that profess to cure all and sundry by the simple process of half-starving them. To the organisers of these “homes” and “sanitariums” this simple therapy naturally makes a strong commercial appeal; for, clearly, it is an economical one to apply. One needs to be a very thirsty individual to consume 12 guineas' Worth of orange juice a week. I am not suggesting that the commercial motive alone explains the existence of these institutions; for I am sure that many of those who conduct them sincerely believe in the doctrine they put into practice. Moreover, there is no doubt that a good many of those who submit themselves to treatment get in increased health full measure of value for the money they have spent; but there is little less doubt—as from time to time we get convincing evidence from the newspapers—that not a few individuals are induced to submit themselves to a ritual of fasting not only with no gain to their health, but with serious loss of ite-to say nothing of the more measurable loss imposed on their pockets.

The truth is that this form of treatment needs as much skill and discrimination in its application as does any drug or surgical procedure. That individuals, whose physical inertia is essentially due to persistent over-eating and sedentariness of habit, nearly always benefit by a temporary reduction of their food intake is a well established fact. Generally, these people are out of health owing to the accumulation of stagnant waste products In the Interstices of their tissues; and a short spell of relative fasting gives the body an opportunity of clearing these potential poisons out of the way. So long as the fasting therapy is applied to men and women of this sort, suffering from no obvious organic lesion, it is likely to do them nothing but good. They could, of course, carry out the treatment just as well at home, if they had the will; but, without an element of authority and of mystery, we know that few of them would do so. It is when the enthusiastic directors of some of these “nature-cure” institutions, over-confident by reason of the results they have obtained in suitable cases, jump to the conclusion that they can produce equally magical cures in people suffering from organic ailments of a much more complicated nature, that disappointment and even tragedy may follow.

Disease is not a simple entity; it is a manifestation of individual disharmony with environment. There can, therefore, be no one panacea applicable to every case. Scientific medicine is nothing like as effective as all of us would like it to be; but it remains the most, reliable healing weapon we have, and we must make the best of it, and try to improve it.