Etiology of rheumatism, diet in rheumatism, relation of chorea and rheumatism and of tonsillitis and rheumatism / by Joseph E. Winters.

  • Winters, Joseph Edcil, 1848-1922.
Date:
[1907?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Etiology of rheumatism, diet in rheumatism, relation of chorea and rheumatism and of tonsillitis and rheumatism / by Joseph E. Winters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    That there is a positive, chemical antidote elucidates the etiolog}. This antidote is an organic, chemical compound. Synthetic salicylic acid has no effect. The antidote must be from Nature, organic, vegetable. Wintergreen oil is 9G per cent methyl salicylate. 169 grains methyl salicylate yield 188 grains of salicylic acid. The operation of this antidote still further illuminates the etiology. Salicylic acitl is converted by the alkaline secretions in the intestine into salicylate. In the blood the bases are set free; salicylic acid is at once eliminated, appearing in the urine in a few minutes. It is a base which neutralizes the rheumatic virus. A base operates by chemical union with an acid. This is in- evitable; it is Nature’s law. It is a base which is a specific in rheumatic fever. It is an acid, therefore, which is the morbific principle in rheumatism. Every disease, in its most pronounced typical form, has one, unequivocal, absolutely diagnostic, pathognomonic symptom. In rheumatism this is profuse, drenching, sour-smelling, acid perspiration. The normally alkaline saliva becomes acid; the urine is hyperacid; the fa:‘ces be- come acid. This condition belongs exclusively to rheu- matism. These symptoms are not to be found except in rheumatic fever. A vegetable acid holding a base in light chemical union dispels them: inconfutably demonstrative of acid-neutral- ization. Salicjdic acid is a specific in rheumatic fever. Salicylic acid does not cure rheumatism. At the New York Academy of Medicine Dr. Andrew H. Smith said that since the introduction of salicylic acid he experienced no difficulty in getting his patients about three-fourths well. If some one would tell him how to cure the remaining fourth of their disease he would be greatly obliged. A remaining fourth of the disease lurks in the tissue fluids. The morbific principle of this fourth is the same. The same antidote must neutralize. Salicylates liberate their leases in the blood—they never reach the tissue fluids. Tissue fluids are rendered alka- lescent by same chemical constituents as blood. These