The author has written a thoroughly readable book, in which all the latest discoveries of medicine and surgery are praised. It will, therefore, appeal strongly to all those who desire to obtain “the latest and the most scientific treatment” for their complaints. Unfortunately, the latest treatments are not always the most scientific, and, with fine, disregard for possible disappointments, if not worse, the author bids us admire all the latest treatments, which he extols to the skies.
On the cover there are some extracts which are intended to startle and attract. They are headed “Do you know?” and then come sentences such as the following: “That a new drug has been discovered which actually melts away fat?” “That cancer is being brought to heel by the radium bullet?” “That nerve specialists have devised an operation by which all pain can be stopped in cases of cancer, heart disease and facial neuralgia?”
The drug which melts away fat is likely to produce heart disease; cancer is not being brought to heel by radium, the use of which is exceedingly dangerous, because, while it eliminates cancer locally, it aggravates it fearfully by driving it all over the body; and the stoppage of pain by cutting through the nerves is nothing very wonderful – unfortunately it often leads to blindness in cases of facial neuralgia and to local paralysis.
Chapter XXI is entitled “Fighting High Blood Pressure.” High blood pressure should not be fought by drugs, which act only temporarily, but by a blood-thin in diet and attention to the colon, which he does not mention. A heading proclaims “Arsenic Conquers Syphilis.” Of course, it does nothing of the kind. Ehrlichs compounds in their various forms do not cure it.
