Lecture by Professor Kohlschütter on Dr. Louis Weigert's method of treating consumption ; translation from the stenographic report for the Vienna "Internationale Klinische Rundschau.".

  • Kohlschütter, Ernst Otto Heinrich, 1837-1905.
Date:
1889
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture by Professor Kohlschütter on Dr. Louis Weigert's method of treating consumption ; translation from the stenographic report for the Vienna "Internationale Klinische Rundschau.". Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    seven weeks, counted his pulse before and after each inhalation, and the total result was a difference of five beats. Breathing becomes deeper and less frequent, the first patient respiring but seven times a minute while using the apparatus. This is surely not alone brought about by the will, nor on the other hand by the high temperature, but purely and simply by the exertion necessary in inhaling. The patient's difficulty in breath- ing ceased, and he can walk far and ascend easily. The cough at first in- creased slightly, the expectoration very much, then both lessened and finally stopped entirely. The general nutritrion progressed favorably, and his weight increased from i6o£ to i6i| pounds. The general condition of patient—and this is also true of all that have inhaled but a very short time—is excellent. I must now wait to see what the further microscopic examinations will reveal as to the presence of bacilli.' That they did not all disappear in the seven weeks of treatment, lies in the nature of the matter. We cannot expect to kill all the germs at once, and if with Dr. Weigert's method we can but destroy a few more daily than those that are formed, we will find in it a much better weapon than we have ever had, to combat this dread disease. Even if the cure take months and months; even if it require patience and endurance on the part of the patient, and continued attention on the part of the physician; even if the cost of the apparatus' is. high, whoever as a doctor has fought the hopeless battle against the in- roads of consumption, whoever has seen the development from an appa- rently trifling beginning to the last heartrending stages of phthisis, will, notwithstanding the difficulties, gladly avail himself of the new means of combat. Therefore it appears to me necessary to give the new method an earnest trial, and the medical profession should not disdainfully ignore this, as it has done to its disadvantage and sorrow in the case of several great discoveries in medicine. The oftener and more widely spread the researches in this matter are made the quicker we can hope to be able to give a positive opinion about it.. Now, where Dr. Weigert's method is being so much spoken of in scientific journals, newspapers, periodicals, etc., it is quite sure that the large mass of consumptives will ask their doctors if they would advise a trial of the new method. To give you some idea of the apparatus and its use, and to prove to you that the new method was well worth being accorded a trial, were the reasons that induced me to speak before you to-day.