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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd July 1854, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16

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      We Referred Last Week To Tho Absolute St...

      » / -An awfiilidramatic solemnity—it seems irreverent to calUt a . "festival " i ^ heti beea celebrated at Munich . The two first plays performed were rigidly classical ; one being the genuine Greek metal , forged by Sophocles ; : i £ & h < ir r the finest . German silver imitation manufactured by Schemer . 'Z-A ^ ae . Iel ' Ahe way ; and the Bride of Mussina followed . The ^ British r pfegperipmeyears since opened his eyes ( and mouth ) pretty widely at Antigone , and . listened in estate of bewildered bliss to Chorus and Semi-chorus , Strophe and AMistrophe— -vrha & would have happened to him if he had witix ^ sied the performance of the Bride of Messina ? This play is too classical j . toailow ^ he . persons of the chorus to sing : they must only speak , and must rtiiwebver realise the modern notion of a disorderly mob , by all speaking at

      • once . " in , thfi reeeiit performance at Munich , twenty gentlemen—ten of them in brown dresses , and ten in red dresses—formed the chorus sur-< roundin £ " the Princess Isabella , " / who , standing . in the middle of them , uttered 'conciliatory speeches- —as well she might , in such a situation—and was answered by the twenty mouths of the chorus all opening at once , all speaking , the same words exactly at the same time , and all ending again right to va-momeati The sound thus produced is described , by our French informant , T ^ eophile Gatjtiek , , as being like the voice of [ a Colossus . Heaven-defend us from the colossal misfortune of ever having to hear it !

      . •<*&8 H^P.P/. X^ Aper. :V; .[Saturday,

      . •<*& 8 H ^ P . P / . X ^ APER . : V ; . [ Saturday ,

      Victob Schoelcheb,* One Of The Most Dese...

      Victob Schoelcheb , * one of the most deservedly esteemed among the many honoured names in the crowded . lists of the Bonapartist proscription , a man of unsullied ^ purity of * life , and tiled services in the cause = of universal human freedom , white and black , lifts up his voipe amidst the chorus of mutual felicitations that resound from shore to shore , to denounce and deplore , in ' terms of somewhat'Unmeasured declamation , an alliance which he deems fraughttvith peril and humiliation to the free country whose flag he has found to reider ^ the last refuge in Europe , and to whose laws and institutions he professes that respectful adhesion which a sense of hospitality alone would dictate to a heart alive to gratitude and honour . We shall return to this publication next week for the purpose of an " explanation . "

      Victob Schoelcheb,* One Of The Most Dese...

      ¦ *** w * srer * kkJSngland of tho Alliance with tho Man of tho Coup d'Etot . By Victor ao ^ O ^ lflhorjiJBeprwA nUaT o of the *\> oplp . . I ^ udont Trub , nor nnd Oo . 1804 .

      ., , -. ,, ., , , . , , R Baiibienie On ...

      ., , -. ,, ., , , . , , BAIiBIENIE ON THE WATEU CUKE . Wke Watei ^ Cure ¦&» Consumption and Scrofula : an Exposition of the Qwstion of their * ' : CimtbUUgi- By JohnBall ) irnie M . Ai , Rf . D . . Longman and Co . * f ohn Mii * l , in his " Logic , ' * tells the story of some remarkable man , whose advjce to a newly-appointed eolpny ^ ju dge was , " Give judgment * but never give your reasons ; the judgment will , from your natural sagacity , be often ar % ht- ^ -the reasons you allege will mostly be wrong . " Very much this sentiment is the one we hold -with reference to the Water Cure . As an empirical niefchodof' treia 6 ! nent 'we have some faith in Hydropathy ; but when the hydropathistsr begin to give their '' reasons , " they usually shake our faith . The ^ r practise is better than their science . When they reason upon physiological : ' p ! bmts , they always assume that the current doctrines of the day are Indisputable , established truths of science ; -whereas a little examination ¦ w ould show them that , for the most part , they , are reasoning upon data which can , only be accepted provisionally .

      The remark just made is intended to be general . We apply it also to the special case before ' us . Dr . Balbirnie has written a very elaborate , a very able ,, and a very interesting book on the Water Cure in Consumption and Scrofula- ^ ** book which the public may read with profit , and the profession with interest ; but there is scarcely a proposition in the theoretical portions which ia not ctpen to criticism , and mainy of them will be unequivocally rejected . He makes a great claim for fche recognition of a theory of tubercular disease—and it is evident that he has bestowed great labour on this theory—but according to strict scientific criticism , it ia not a theory at all , t » i * t a " giiesS ; , ? and a guess which demands a vast amount of labour in the verification of certain data on which it jests .

      «' M « cU . inceniona research has been spent in trying to find tubercle , quoad tubercle , in the blood , ana much wonder expressed at its non-detection there . How gratuitous tliia B ^ aTch and tills--wonderment aro will now bo apparent . In vain will chemical test or ' nuotoscopielonsbc brought to reveal in the bl « od that which is only the product of subsequent transformations after it has left the vessels . Only the materies twerculi exists in , fche blood—the vitiated oleo-allraminous element , and the cull-organisms of lowly-ondowod vitality ; the constitutional taint , or primary blood defect , being presupposed . " x <^ E ? fce italic ^ as in all our extracts , are the author ' s own . ) In trying to ascertain what ia the real cause of tubercle , Dr . Balbirnie , after an interesting survey of the various theories offered by hia predecessors , lays down 1 ftese principles :- ^ -

      «• Animal life is maintained b y constant supplies of food , for the purposes of growth and for tlm . rppiiir of its waste , nnd by proportional supplies of oxygen for respiratory or dopunil ( tioc . purposes , i . e . aa the means of combining with , and currying out of tlio economy , tho 10 > rbonawoua products , of decomposition . Of the two , the depurating-process is much the moi ' e essential to life . Accordingly , there ia only ono apparatus or system appointed for the elaboration of the . food , but many and largo are tho organs appropriated to the excretion of , tho corporeal waste * . The lungs , liver , and akin are set apart for the elimination of the oflbto i or superfluous carbon . The kidneys « ro tho grand outlet of tho nitrogenous matters and earthy and ealino materials . Every other function may bo suspended for a considerable time without involving life . Wo can Hvo for weeks without food , or with tlio liver ' lockod 1 and with

      -up , ! several days " tho function of tho Icidnoya suspended ; but wo can Hvo only two Mr throe hours , with tho skin coated oven , and only a very fow minutes with respiration aunppndcci : Hence it ia cloar that tho . integrity of tho eliminating functions ia tho first want , < rf animal life , tlio ^ ndiapenonbla condition of sound healtli . From tho aamo facts , as well « VJ froni tho iratnenac extent and influence of the lungs nnd akin , it ia manifest that tho grand business of depuration chiefly falla on those organs . I i" $ <> od . Wwd-, making depones mqro on tho aotivo condition of the oxcreting functions thnn on the Abstractly nutritive qualities of tho food . Those who food best , In tho popular acceptation of tho term , are not nourished host . An inferior nlimont will bo turned to good /* ecouat * n-any ungenial substance it contains will be strained off—provided tlio air breathed Jrtft « l the oxerojso taken by tho individual bo tmcli aa to keep up a highly aotlvo state of tho

      efirninatory outlets of the " ~ boay , especially of the lungs and sfciru ~ X ) n ' tKe corilrairy , the richer the diet and the less the elimination of the corporeal waste , the more are artificial causes of disease addecl to natural ories—retained excretions being the most potent source of disease . " Very sound doctrine this . Dr . Balbirnie adds : — " Lactic Acre is one of the products of the decomposition of the tissues , and finds its chief outlet by tlie skin . When the cutaneous function is impaired—and this impairment , we contend , is an integral part of Scrofula—the elimination of the lactic acid is attempted by other outlets , chiefly by the bowels . Hence the prevailing acidity of the intestinal canal in Scrofula and Phthisis , remarked by all who have investigated the point . Hence the partial and temporary benefit of alkaline remedies in these diseases . This acidity of the primai vice , and Che derangements of the alimentary canal associated with it , are most common in infants and . children ; Hence their greater tendency to manifest the mesenteric forms of Scrofula . "

      Here is the primary cause of consumption according to Dr . BalbLmj . e : — " Imperfect blood-fufification—deficient play of the excretort functions , AND . NOT DIRECTLY BAD DIGESTION OR FAULTY BLOOD-MAKING—IS TH ^ PRIMARY SOURCE OF THE VITIATION OF THE SOLIDS AND FLUIDS CHARACTERISTIC OF SCROFULA AND CONSUMPTION . " The theory may now be presented : — " The oil and albumen of the food withthe inorganic elements they hold in solution , acted on mechanically , chemically , and vitally in the body , constitute the material from -which the blood is formed . The presence of these elements in proper proportions , and unimpaired in their atomic constituents , is absolutely necessary to maintain the vital properties of the blood . A drop of chyle , taken from an animal a few hours after a meal , contains : —1 st . A molecular basis of inconceivably minute jparticles . 2 ndly , numerous corpuscles indifferent states of developement into blood-globules . This molecular basis consists principally of fat , coated with albumen . These two important principles constitute the essential nutrient

      elements of the chyme : enralsioned into the minutest particles , they pass through the intestinal villi , and into the lacteals in the form of the milky fluid called chyle . " When the indispensable supply of oxygen foi combining with and abstracting the perpetual waste of the body fails by its legitimate soiirceS' —the lungs and skin- ^ -the only alternative left for nature is to convert certain of the elements of nutrition into elements of depuration ;—the latter being by far tie more pressing demand of the economy . The food , therefore , no sooner begins to be dissolved in the stomach , and its elements set free , than a portion of the oxygen of the oil , and the albumen is abstracted to supply the lack of that which should have been introduced by the lungs ? thereby vitiating the constitution of these nutrient principles , and effectually disabling them for perfect nutrition , precisely to the extent to wnich the robbery of their oxygen has taken p lace . " The oii . and albumen are deoxydated—in other words , made to yield up a certain amount of their oxygen . Hence it comes to pass , that that which was previously oil and albumen is iiow neither the one nor the other , but a twtium quid—a . deteriorated substance unfit for sound nutrition . With regard to the albumen of tubercular blood it is , by

      universal consent of chemists arid pathologists , admitted to be of degraded quality ; but what the precise change that has passed upon it is , chemistry has not yet clearly taught Us . That change we announce . It is deoxydated albdmen . It has given up a portion of its oxygen for depurating purposes . The defect in the constitution of the albumen is shown by this , that yrhen it should fibrillate , or develope into the characters of healthy fibrine , it assumes instead a granular amorphous form . But we are not left in the same uncertainty as to the result to the oily principle of the loss of a portion of its oxygen ^ Chemistry even defines and gires a name to this deoxydated oil . It is cholesterine—a form utterly unfit for nutrition . It abounds , as we should expect j in tubercle . The liver is the appointed organ for eliminating the excess of fatty matters in the system . Cholesterine is a constituent of bile . When in excess in the economy , of course we bave fatty liver-r-the peculiar lesion of consumptive patients . " Of these deoxydated materials , the tubercular body is obliged to make the most as the foundation of its plood-globules . Need we wonder then that such blood-globules should be of lowly endowed vital properties , and that in proportion as the system is compelled to use this faulty material , there should be a progressive deterioration of the whole solids and fluids of the body—to an extant in the long run utterly incompatible with the functions of life . "

      We have no space to combat this thoory , and must be content with its enunciation . The following extract alone would afford text for columns of comment : — "No truth is more certain than this , viz ., that the oxygen op the food is converted INTO AN ELEWBNT OF RICSFIRATION OR OF DEPURATION , "WHENEVER StrFFICIENT OXYGEN FOU TUK PURPOSE IS < HOT FORTHCOMING BY THE INLET OF THE LUNGS , OR SUFFICIEN T CAKBON NOT ELIMINATED BY TIIK OUTLET OF THE SKIN . Here is a neiO factor of the disease , we introduce to the notice of the profession- —ope destined to create a great revolution in practice , and to influence the destinies of thousands of unborn generations . Sciento will only every day confirm this truth . Deoxydation , or deficient oxydation of the wasto of the body , will be found to lie at tho foundation of most diseases an evil aggravated by tlie attempts of the system to compensate this defect by abstracting oxygen from the food . " Nowhere is a proposition ushered in with the announcement that " no truth ia more certain , " every sentence of which is hypothetical .

      But happily for consumptive patients , the treatment adopted by Dr . Balbirnie is not dependent on the correctness of his theory of tubercle ; nor ia the value of this book to be measured by the confidence accorded to that theory . He treats patients on water-cure principles , but without quackery and without bigotry , as may bo gathered from the following candid admission : — "Enlarged experience provos that tho wator-curo is far from justifying tho exclusive pretensions set up ior it by its enrly writers and practitioners . Wo nro willing to confess error for our own part ; to admit that , in tlio warmth of our zeal in a good cause , in the day in question , wo may have exnggorntod the extent of its action and npplicubility . It is found to bo , in effect , imything but a cure for all diseases , and it is very far from curing oven all curable diseases , It is a very groat way off from tlio infallibility , the precision , and tho jjuviroi ugt uj wwiuu ior vYiietiiur conaiaorcd

      » u . , noairaciiy , nygiemc agencies atone comprise all tho needed modifiers of tho organism which tlie exigencies of disease domnnd , is still an open question . And if it wore decided in tho aflirmntive , who in tho practitioner that dare lay claim to the energy , tho genius , and tho ubiijuity rcquL-rito always to work this simplo agency with the boat effect . " JDefaato , wo find it imposn ! ble , in tho present state of knowledge and of society , altogether , and in all cases , to dinp « nao with the aid of drugs in tho treatment of disease , unlcsa at tho cxpenfio of grout and gratuitous suffering to tho patient , nnd tho deferring of oonvaleaccnoo often for weeks . In u commercial country like ours , to gain time is nn element of paramount conaidorntion with crowds of pationta . That } tho profcHnion thomsolven admit tlio prying abuse of drugs is quito enough ; but therefore to donounco and renounce their use is mad new in the oxtrcmo . This point nltto ¦«¦« concede , viz , —tlmt tho disadvantages of town practice ixiiiko them to bo much moro resorted to tlmn is found nooossmy in pationta placed under tho favourable hygienic oiroumutancos of uuch a hoalth-resort as Mnlvern . "

      The work tUroiijghout exhibits tho candour , no less than tho ability , of n philosophic physician , biassed , of courso , in favour of his own principles , but ready enough to admit where they may fail to curry him . Ho describes ¦ with graphio power the ntructurul changes which occur in consumption—and here he alights upon a vory important consideration : " Tho writor bwlicvoo that ho i » tho ilrat , at lonut in thia country , strongly to > inaiat on inflammatory or fibrinoua ctoutftttions around tubercular deposit / I arta the limnaa of cavities aa naturo ' u grand ! mode of » porjtnnepuo nrreot of tlio diaenao . Hence ohalfcy concretions—

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 22, 1854, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22071854/page/16/