Forty Years In The Wilderness Of Pills And Powders Part 37

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN PATIENT.

Not many years since, I received a letter from a family in a retired village of the Green Mountains, begging me to visit one of their number, a young woman about twenty-seven years of age. She was a farmer's daughter, and had been, in early life, employed as is customary in such families in that region; but, for a few years past had been employed, a considerable portion of the time, in teaching in the district or public schools. It is probable she exchanged the employments of home for the labors of the pedagogue, on account of increasing ill health (though of this I am not quite certain), since nothing is more common or more hazardous. The daughters of our agriculturalists, who inherit, as she did, a scrofulous const.i.tution, and who appear to be tolerably healthy while they remain at home, almost always break down within a few years after leaving the broom and duster.

But whatever may have been the first cause or causes of her diseased condition, it is probable there had been both action and reaction. She was now, at the time I received her most piteous pet.i.tion, quite ill, and had been so for a considerable time. However, in order to come at the case and the results, it may be as well to make a few extracts from the letters of her friends and herself. For, though they were not accustomed to such descriptions of a case as a medical man would be apt to give, yet, for popular perusal, they are, after all, the more useful.

My first extract will be made from a long letter written by her brother.

"The first attack of what we suppose to be her present disease, was a year ago last spring, and was believed to be the result of taking severe colds repeatedly, while teaching school among the mountains of New Hampshire, and which ended in what Dr. K. (their family physician) called inflammation of the lungs, and was treated accordingly. There was much cough and expectoration of mucus. Though she partially recovered, so as to be able to teach again the ensuing summer, yet her cough was somewhat troublesome till autumn, when health seemed again to smile upon her.

"Late in the fall, however, she had a very severe attack of diarrhoea,--caused, perhaps, by imprudence in diet, and sundry other deviations from a straight line,--which has been her constant companion ever since. (This was a period of eight months.) During all this time her food has pa.s.sed almost without being dissolved. There is much pain in the stomach and bowels, unless mitigated by opiates, morphine or something a.n.a.logous. But very little cough has attended her since the last attack of diarrhoea. There has been some pain and soreness in the right side; an eruption over the region of her stomach, swelling of the feet and ankles, whenever fatigued by walking, with pain and soreness in the left ankle.

"I will now give you, briefly, her physician's views. He was called soon after the disease had taken hold of her, and made an examination of her case, which he then called dyspepsia, attended with a little inflammation of the right lung, or perhaps, said he, a slight filling up of the air pa.s.sages, and he thought the lower part of her right lung might be somewhat indurated. 'Still,' said he, 'the case is not a serious one.' These were his very words. He said he could cure her; and, till very lately, he has always held out to her the language of hope.

But now he speaks very differently; he says the case is a hopeless one--that of tubercular consumption; and he says he has always known it to be such!--and adds that there is, even now, a small cavity in her right lung, and that her lungs are pa.s.sing off in her diarrhoea, without any inconvenience in breathing, or any disagreeable sensation in filling the lungs to fulness."

It is difficult to believe that a medical man who has any regard for his own reputation, would tell such a downright falsehood, as that above represented; and still more difficult to believe he would make the strange mistake of representing her lungs as pa.s.sing off through the bowels! Why, they might almost as well pa.s.s though the moon! Probably my correspondent did not exactly and truly apprehend his meaning; at least, I would charitably hope so.

The appeal for relief was so very urgent, and withal so humble, I visited and examined her, the family physician being present. I found the latter to be a timid invalid, for whom, before I left, I was requested to prescribe; which may account, in part, for his very inefficient practice. I also found him ignorant, in many particulars, of the first principles of his profession; and it was with extreme difficulty--like that of mingling oil with water--that we could unite on any thing reasonable or desirable. He still clung to medicine, as his sheet-anchor in the case, while I was for depending, mainly, on a strict conformity to the laws of health, and the restorative efforts of Nature.

There were other difficulties. A part of the family still inclined to a reliance on him and his old system, while the rest were in favor of my general views, as far as they understood them. The patient herself sometimes inclined to one, and sometimes to the other. While in health, she had been a woman of much decision of character; but, in her present condition, she was weak and vacillating.

But there was, at length, a partial blending of the inharmonious elements, and a prescription made out. It did not satisfy, however.

There was so strong a leaning to nature, that, after my departure, Dr.

K. gradually worked his way back to his old system of full medication, as a letter received a few weeks afterwards plainly indicated. For, as the great change in her treatment which we made, left her no mystical props to lean upon, and as Dr. K. was a little disposed to speak to her in a way which was calculated to increase her fears, it preyed upon her mind so much that, though her diseased tendencies gradually diminished, yet the continual croakings of her would-be friends, and the faithlessness of a half-sick and wholly sombre physician, more than counteracted every favorable tendency.

In about two weeks after I saw her, she began to have more heat and pain in the stomach, with some other threatening symptoms,--probably induced by an attempt to use food prescribed for her, but which was too stimulating. Her physician now, to gratify both his own morbid feelings, and the clamor of her friends, ordered brandy and other stimulating drinks; also morphine and camphor powders, and a new relay of stimulating food.

The sequel of the story, as related by a sister of the patient, is as follows:--

"Soon after I wrote you last (which was the letter containing an account of the strange resort to beef, brandy, morphine and camphor), she began to fail very fast, and Dr. K. informed her that she could live but a very short time. But she clung to life, and it was distressing to see her going down to the grave, while we were doing nothing to help her. We spoke to her about sending for you again; but she said you were a great way off, and if you could come at all, which was doubtful, it would be a long time before you could arrive; whereas, if she could not have help soon, she must be compelled to leave us. We asked her if she could think of any other physician that she would like to see? She replied, that she should like to see Dr. Q.,--an old physician about twenty miles distant.

We sent for him immediately. He came, and with him her old physician, Dr. K.

"I wish to say that she had taken but very little medicine before Dr. Q.

came, except the morphine, camphor, and brandy. But the counselling physician said that would not do, and he could not help her unless she took three opium pills, eighteen drops of laudanum, and from six to nine drops of the chloride of iron, a day; and when she hesitated about being able to bear it, he told her to drink down the white part of two eggs in cold water, which would keep the medicine from hurting her.

"We inquired if he would come again and see her: to which he replied in the affirmative. She proceeded to take his medicine for one day, but it quickly increased her diarrhoea. Instead of six movements a day, they were increased to thirty-five. Under these circ.u.mstances, her weakness increased so fast that she could help herself very little; and her feet, hands, and limbs were very much bloated. As Dr. Q. did not come, according to his agreement, we sent for her old physician. When he saw her, he said it was a wonder she had lived so long after taking Dr. Q.'s medicine."

We are not told, in the letter from which the above is extracted, why her old physician, Dr. K., consented, in the first place, that she should take the medicine, if he regarded it as so very bad for her. But, then, he was a timid as well as a Ja.n.u.s-faced man, and probably said as he did because he did not know what else to say. But I will go on with the extracts, since they reveal another most astounding fact in regard to medical dishonesty.

"He also (the family physician) told us that we must not expect Dr. Q.

any more, for he told him expressly that he should not come again, as he could do nothing for her, and that if he had known how she was before he came, he never would have come so far in a case so hopeless. And, true to his engagement with Dr. K., but contrary to his promise, both to my sister and my father, separately, he never came again.

"But the other doctor came again, and attended her as formerly. He gave her a powder of morphine, and some gum myrrh, and a little anise, which reduced the evacuations from thirty-three to three a day. But her distress was still very great, and her feet soon began to turn purple, and she began to bloat in her stomach and bowels. This continued till she was as full as she could be; and you could have heard her scream and groan as far as the road (a distance of three or four rods). The physician then applied ether, to relieve her distress, and gave twenty-five drops of laudanum, and a morphine powder, upon which her distress left her for a very short time, but soon returned, not to leave her again while she lived. Almost her last breath was a scream. She died in just eight days after Dr. Q. came to see her.

"But I must close by saying that we think if our sister could have been a patient of yours, she would have been restored to health. But it is past, and we cannot recall it; and all I can now do, is to tender our thanks to you for your kindness and attention during our sister's sickness. I trust you will have life and health, long to pursue your n.o.ble vocation."

I am afraid the patient reader of this long chapter, will be led to one conclusion which the writer would exceedingly regret; viz., that all medical counsel, in chronic disease, is of more than doubtful utility; and that it would be safer to leave it wholly to nature and to good nursing. There are medical men in the world who are honest as well as skilful, and who, because a case is difficult to manage, will not, chameleon-like, tell two or three different stories, and thus half ruin a profession that embraces so many n.o.ble and honorable-minded men; nor will they persist in a course of treatment which is evidently murdering their patients.

It is hardly needful to say that the patient above described was murdered; but I am obliged to say, without doubt, that there was no necessity of her coming to such an untimely end. Her sister, it seems, thought that, had she fallen into my hands from the first, she might have been saved. I think so too. And yet, it might have been otherwise.

In any event, she ought not, at the first, to have been treated for consumption, but for dyspepsia. Starvation, and a little mental quietude, with daily exercise, such as she could bear, in the open air, would have greatly changed her condition, when her diarrhoea first commenced.

I never knew a case which was worse managed in my whole life. It is a wonder to me, when I think of it, that she so long survived under it.

But it is a wonder, greater still, that medical men who are so unqualified for the duties of their profession as the physicians who were most concerned in the treatment of the above case appear to me to have been, do not feel compelled, by the remonstrances of their own consciences, to quit their profession, and do something for a living for which they are better prepared.

CHAPTER XCIV.

CURE OF POISON FROM LEAD.

Cases of poisoning by lead are occurring in our country almost daily; and it becomes a matter of much importance to know how to treat them.

Indeed, there are many who are so susceptible to the action of this deleterious agent, that the reception of a single tumbler of water brought through lead pipes, in a certain condition, into their stomachs, will cause serious disturbance. I have had one patient of this description--a Mr. E., of Worcester, Ma.s.s.

Some twenty years ago, much of the water used in the village of Dedham, Ma.s.s., was conveyed to the village, for half a mile or so, in lead pipes. Many who drank the water were injured by it; some of them for life. A Mr. R., a printer, is believed to have lost his life, by disease which was either induced or aggravated by this cause. I have, myself, been called to prescribe for several, who were probably led into a state of ill health by this unhealthy water. One of the clergymen of the village suffered from it very greatly, though he is, as I believe, yet living.

There is some difference of opinion as to the circ.u.mstances which most favor the action of the lead, or, rather, which cause its dissolution in the water. But, with regard to its danger, in certain circ.u.mstances, either known or unknown, there can be no doubt. Nor can we doubt that, in view of facts which exist, it is our duty to banish lead pipes, as much as possible, from common use.

During the early part of the year 1855, Capt. J. H., near Boston, aged thirty-four years, of good natural const.i.tution and comparatively healthy habits in general, had a slow typhoid fever, from which, however, he finally recovered, though not without a continued liability to a relapse. About this time, he began to use water brought to his kitchen in lead pipes.

Late in the year 1856, he was taken down very suddenly, with fever and great debility, and in four or five days his upper and lower limbs became completely paralyzed. He was not able to stir so much as one of his hands. Indeed, the whole abdominal region seemed to be almost as inactive as his limbs; for very severe friction across the hips, and along the spine, down the legs, produced no sensation; and his bowels were so constipated, as to remain motionless from five or six days to a fortnight at a time, unless excited by medical agents.

His case was examined by several eminent medical men in the vicinity of Boston, who gave it as their unanimous opinion, that the cause of his disease was the irritation of the water. Some of them prescribed for his case, but all to no apparent purpose.

On the first day of November, he was sent to an electro-chemical bathing establishment, to be treated according to the usages of that inst.i.tution. I was intimately acquainted with the establishment, and, in circ.u.mstances like his, was understood to regard it with favor. I was, therefore, from time to time, consulted in the case of Captain H. To give an impulse to the nervous and arterial systems of Capt. H., one bath was administered. The use of his limbs was restored, as if by magic. When he came out of the bath, he walked some twenty feet or more, to his bed, without a.s.sistance; and, to his great surprise, could raise his hands to his head. The second day's bath, and treatment with simple diet, not only restored sensation, but gave him a better use of his hands than he had enjoyed before for many months. His bowels, also, became immediately regular, and continued so.

It is, however, to be confessed, that his recovery was not so rapid as at first seemed probable. The baths seemed to give an impulse; but it was reserved for a proper diet, suitable exercise, and good air, to work out, slowly, a perfect cure. How much was attributable to the baths, considered by themselves, is not known. No medicine was given, from first to last, except the electricity.

It should also be confessed, that no belief was entertained, by myself or my a.s.sociates, of any mechanical power possessed by the electricity, of forcing the lead out of the system; though some individuals had believed in such a power. The most we claimed was, that the invisible agent had an immediate influence on the nerves, and a more remote one on the absorbent system.

As a farther proof, if more proof had been needed, that the paralysis was induced by lead, some of the water from which he had drank was a.n.a.lyzed by Dr. Hayes, City a.s.sayer for Boston, who p.r.o.nounced it to be strongly impregnated with lead, and "utterly unfit for culinary purposes."

CHAPTER XCV.

FAITH AND WORKS.

In the autumn of 1856, a fine young man, a clerk in a large mercantile house in Boston, came to me with complaints not unlike those of thousands of his own age and s.e.x, and begged for relief; but was surprised when he learned that I treated all such cases as his without medicine. Added to the surprise, moreover, was a degree of mortification at the idea of attempting to cure himself by a change of habits, especially of dietetic habits, which, in a boarder in a family, might be observed. He would have been much better pleased to take medicine, so concentrated that a few drops or a few small boluses or pills could be taken a few times a day unperceived--than to run the risk of awakening suspicions of diseases to which he was unwilling to make confession.

And herein, by the way, comes out the secret of such a wonderful imposition on our young men, by what I have elsewhere called land-sharks in the shape of physicians. The fondness of young men for secret cures,--or, at least, their money, which is the thing most wanted after all,--leads them, almost directly, into the mouths of these monsters.

My young patient, however, had faith in me; and, after the first shock of surprise and the first feelings of mortification were over, resolved to follow my directions, and did so. He came to me, it is true, several times, and said he could not endure it; that he was losing flesh very fast, and that he was already so weak that he could scarcely walk to his desk. I comforted him as well as I could, told him there would be a change soon for the better, and kept him on through the tedious months of December, January, and February, when his strength began to return, and his flesh to be restored. Between March and May, he gained twenty-one pounds; and in June, he was in as good health as he ever had been before in his life. And yet he took not a particle of any thing medicinal, from first to last.

If you desire to know, in few words, what he _did_ do, I will tell you.