THE century now drawing to a close will pass into history as an era of wonderful advance. Never before has there been such ceaseless activity, such painstaking investigation in man’s efforts to discover and to control the forces of nature. Medicine shares in this spirit of discovery, and in the world of therapeutics the present is a period of great unrest.
In the Homoeopathic school this activity is displayed not so much in the addition of new therapeutic agents to our already extensive list, as it in a movement to systematize our present records of drug pathogenesy, to expunge that which is faulty, and to place what remains in a shape to be efficiently used. Faith in Homoeopathic methods was never stronger than it is to-day. It is this very faith that inspires the demand that the source of our therapeutics shall be reliable and authoritative. To this end effort is directed.
On the other hand, in the dominant school little confidence is shown in prevailing methods of treatment. new remedies are being energy sought, only to have brief title, to be as quickly abandoned.
This, also, is in keeping with the spirit of the day. Every new method of treatment that is introduced is submitted to test thousands of experimenters. If wanting in merit, it is soon rejected.
It is investigation of the nature indicated that gave to the medical world the synthetic antipyretics, which for a time enjoyed high favor. At last it was found that antipyrine has no power to control or to inhibit the heat-making process-it only promotes heat elimination. The salicylates have no specific action in rheumatism-they only obscure pain. With the fall of these two drugs form their temporary pedestal, less faith is reposed in the class of remedies to which they belong.
But investigators are not idle. Efforts, however, have taken another direction. After the lapse of a hundred years the medical world has turned its attention anew to methods closely allied to that discovered by Jenner, the treatment of disease by agents which are the products of disease. Inspired by the demonstrated success of Pasteur in the preventive treatment of rabies, experimenters are industriously working in this promising field. Necessarily, experiments are confined almost entirely to the lower animals, but the results obtained are, in many cases, definite, and gave promise that man may yet be made the beneficiary. In the lower animals infections diseases, artificially produced, that usually and fatally, may be led to a favorable termination by the injection of micro-organisms derived from other and similar infections diseases, or even by the injection of the micro-organisms of the same disease.
Again, it has been found that immunity to certain diseases may be conferred on animals by the injection of micro-organisms or their products-a state of immunity without which the animal would perish when attacked by the original disease. The injection of the blood-serum taken from and animal already in a state of immunity has been found to prevent the fatal effects of certain toxins when introduced into the system of the susceptible animal. A number of cases have been reported of recovery from tetanus after the injection of Antitoxin, a substance obtained from the blood of dogs artificially rendered immune to the infection of tetanus.
From knowledge gained by experiments of this class, it is probably that new and valuable methods for the prevention and cure of disease will be developed. The results already attained are striking and significant. They are in line with the work accomplished by Jenner and Pasteur.
Of new therapeutic methods none surpasses in interest that introduced by Murray, of England-the treatment of myxoedema by the administration to the patient of Thyroid extract. It having been conclusively shown by Mr. Victor Horsley, in 1884, that myxoedema is due to loss of function of the thyroid gland, Murray conceived the idea of treating the condition by the injection of Thyroid extract. In October, 1891, he reported his first case, which gave very satisfactory results. Since that time Murray and others have treated altogether a large number of cases, and it is now possible to form some estimate of the value of the treatment.
The method pursued, as first devised by Murray, was to inject subcutaneously a Thyroid extract, made by macerating the recently removed thyroid gland of the sheep, which is then treated with Glycerine and a weak Carbolic acid solution. A dose, consisting of from ten to twenty-five minims of this extract, is slowly injected beneath the skin. But, since the hypodermatic injections are sometimes followed by abscess, Dr. Hector Mackenzie, in October, 1892, adopted a modification of Murray’s treatment, which consists of feeding to the patient the extract, or even the gland itself.
It is found that the results obtained are fully as satisfactory as those following the use of the subcutaneous injection of the extract. To the present time the gland has been used in four different forms-as an extract, a powder prepared by desiccation of the extract, the raw gland, and, most remarkable of all, the gland after having been fried. Thus it would seem that the active principle contained in the gland is not destroyed even by heat. used in any one of the forms named, the remedy seems to be equally efficacious.
As a result of this method of treatment, many cases of complete recovery from myxoedema have been reported by competent clinicians.
The time required in order to bring about a cure varies in different cases from several weeks to several months or a year. At the end of the period all signs of the disease have disappeared; the oedema subsides, the face and hands become natural in size, the speech is restored, the spirits brighten, the temperature rises to normal, the skin becomes soft, smooth, and moist, and, most conspicuous of all, the previously bare scalp becomes covered with a heavy growth of hair. In a word, all lesions and symptoms of the malady disappear, and the patient is restored to perfect health.
The size of the dose of the gland or its extract, it is found, must be carefully regulated in order to obtain the best results. An excessive dose produces cardiac irregularity, syncopal attacks, and can even cause death. But, administered with the care that would be given to any other agent,it is safe and efficacious.
It may be announced that a specific for a heretofore incurable chronic disease has been found. There is but one qualification that must be made, but that is a serious one-the recovery is not permanent unless the treatment is continued throughout the lifetime of the patient.
But, notwithstanding this one disadvantage-the necessity for the continued use of the remedy-Murray’s method of treatment of myxoedema may be said to be a great therapeutic triumph.
The mode of action of the Thyroid extract in the disease in question would seem to be not difficult to understand. it has been pretty conclusively shown, by the researches of Mr. Victor Horsley, that the thyroid gland plays an important part in keeping the blood in normal condition and in maintaining the natural metabolism of the tissues.
The thyroid gland thus imparts to the blood some element or principle that neutralizes the tendency to the peculiar degeneration of tissue that occurs in the diseased condition known as myxoedema, and it is shown that this same element or principle can remove the degeneration after it has once occurred. The Thyroid extract and the gland, when ingested, evidently supplies to the blood the principle that is wanting by reason of loss of function of the gland in the victim of the disease.
It might be a satisfaction to be able to find some Homoeopathic relation of the remedy to the disease in this instance. But this can hardly be done. On the contrary, it seems to be an instance of the revival of an ancient practice under more scientific auspices, the treatment of conditions depending on damaged organs by the administration of such organs or their secretions. The method under consideration, therefore, is a marked example of the treatment of disease according to isopathy. The terms isopathy is applied to two distinct practices. One of these, and the one applicable in the present instance, is “the theory of curing a diseased organ by the use of the analogous organ of a healthy animal.”.
Hence, we must conclude that the treatment of myxoedema by the use of Thyroid extract is the practice of isopathy.
There is another therapeutic agent, of comparatively recent introduction, belonging to the class of those which are the product of disease action that is sell worthy of consideration at this time. Following the lead of Pasteur, investigation in this field is now very active and renewed attention is being given to the agent indicated. I refer to that which has been isolated and presented to the profession by Koch- Parataloid or Tuberculin.
Notwithstanding the premature announcement of the alleged virtues of Tuberculin and the extravagant claims made in its, favor, there is now evidence that would seem to indicate that it will yet prove to be a remedy of great value. If this be true, it will have a definite place in the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia. it is for the purpose of reviewing what has already been done in this direction that the subject is now brought to your attention.
