miquelangeles
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(Autotranslated)
EXTRACT FROM A MÉMOIRE READ AT THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE INSTITUTE.
(Reports of the meetings of March 26, April 30 and May 14, 1855)
By Jean-Charles Herpin (de Metz),
LAUREATE OF THE INSTITUTE;
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY ENCOURAGEMENT SOCIETY, ETC.
In the course of my visits to the thermal establishments of Germany, I had several times the opportunity of studying the effects of a very interesting medication still unknown in France; I mean carbonic acid gas baths and showers.
It has existed for several years in Germany, in the main carbo-gaseous sources, establishments where carbonic acid gas is administered either in general or partial baths, or in the form of showers or injections, or finally by way of swallowing or inhalation.
Several particular facts had, for a long time, drawn the attention of German doctors to the medicinal properties of carbonic acid gas, when an altogether extraordinary, almost miraculous cure, effected by this means, came to bring this new idea into great vogue. therapeutic agent.
Dr. Struve, a distinguished scientist, was taking the waters at Marienbad (Bohemia) for a very painful lymphatic affection which he had in his left thigh and leg. He could not walk for several years without the help of crutches; the glands and lymphatic vessels of the leg were hard and inflamed. The patient also suffered from engorgement of the liver and haemorrhoids.
One day, Dr. Struve had the idea of exposing his diseased leg to the action of a current of carbon dioxide which emanated from one of the Marienbad springs and formed a layer several decimetres thick on the surface of the liquid. Leaning on a stick, supported by his servant, he managed to drag himself, with great difficulty and in severe pain, to the source. Seated on the edge of the pool, he let his leg dangle in the layer of gas; He first felt a tingling sensation and a pleasant warmth which increased to the point of causing profuse perspiration from the sick limb. When he took his foot out of the gas bath, he was quite surprised to feel no more pain, and even to be able to walk without the help of his crutches and his servant; he ran himself to announce to his friends the happy news of this unexpected cure. The patient continued for some time the use of the local baths of carbonic acid gas, and he left Marienbad cured. Since that time he has enjoyed excellent health, without experiencing any relapse or renewal of his pains.
Dr. Struve himself published the detailed account of his illness and his cure. Today there are in Germany, notably at Marienbad, Garlsbad, Kissingen, Eger, Nauheim, Canstadt, Meinberg, Cronthal, etc., very remarkable special establishments for baths, showers and even inhalation. carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is used sometimes pure, sometimes mixed in more or less considerable proportions with atmospheric air or hydrogen sulphide gas, in the dry or humid state, with the vapor of mineral waters, etc.
The apparatus used for the administration of gas baths are analogous to those used for steam or sulphurous baths, for local baths, steam showers, etc. We even take baths together in an open basin, about 1 meter deep, dug into the ground, and forming an elegantly decorated lounge. The head is elevated above the gas layer.
The susceptibility or the faculty of receiving the particular impression produced by carbon dioxide varies according to the subjects. For some, a few minutes are enough; for others, it takes half an hour or even an hour. Persons with white and delicate skin, soft flesh or a lymphatic constitution, feel the effects of the gas very quickly.
The first impression one experiences on penetrating the layer of carbon dioxide is a sensation of soft and pleasant warmth, similar to that produced by a garment of line wool or wadding; this sensation of heat is followed by a tingling, a particular tingling and, later, a kind of ardor which has been compared to that which is produced by a poultice that begins to pull or bite on the skin (1).
Old pains, especially those from old wounds, reawaken, the skin turns red; there is established on the surface of the parts of the body, exposed to the action of the gas, an abundant perspiration which presents the chemical characteristics of acidity; urinary secretion is considerably increased. The feeling of heat and perspiration continue for several hours after leaving the bath. In the first moments following the immersion of the body in the gaseous layer, the movements of the heart are only slightly accelerated; but, when the duration of the bath is prolonged, then comes over-excitement; the pulse is full, lively, and accelerated, the heat becomes burning, there is turgidity and reddening of the skin, headache, tightness of the chest, &c. Prolonged for too long (several hours), the carbon dioxide bath results in a state of stupor, like paralysis, the venous blood takes on a blackish color, etc.
But when you have taken a carbon dioxide bath under the right conditions, you feel lighter, more alert and more awake for a few hours. It has happened several times that patients who had had great difficulty in getting from their lodging to the establishment of the baths were able, after having taken a carbonic gas bath, to make long runs when leaving the bath, and even climb steep mountains.
Carbon dioxide is absorbed through the skin; it acts energetically on the vascular and nervous systems (1); quite often it also acts as a specific stimulant, as an aphrodisiac; it promptly recalls heat and perspiration to the skin; it acts in a very efficacious manner against the various diseases which are caused by the suppression or disturbance of perspiration; it also recalls the usual venous blood flows which have been accidentally suppressed, especially hemorrhoids, and above all menstruation which it makes more abundant and whose epochs it advances; and, for this reason, it has often produced very good effects in certain cases of sterility, in consequence of the atony of the uterine organ.
In these various circumstances, the use of carbon dioxide becomes a very precious resource, inasmuch as it dispenses with having recourse to irritating and often even dangerous internal medicines. Finally, with its antiseptic properties, carbon dioxide purifies and improves wounds and suppuration of a bad nature, both internally and externally.
Showers of carbon dioxide are employed with success against the weakening of sight (1), certain diseases of the eyes, the ears, purulent discharges, the debility of certain organs, etc.
Very often, patients suffering from neural pains, toothaches, earaches, cramps, etc., experience, on entering the gas bath, or by the simple application of the gas shower, instant relief, an immediate and surprising reduction or cessation of pain.
According to the testimony of Hufeland, a very distinguished German physician, the inhalation of a small quantity of carbon dioxide, mixed with the air with water vapour, would often produce very happy results in certain affections. of the organs of respiration, and even in cases of clearly observed ulcerations of the lungs, of the stomach; it calmed the cough, facilitated expectoration, etc. (1).
“But it is not only, adds this learned practitioner, in cases of ulceration of the lung that carbonic acid is one of the most effective medicines; it is still so in all cases of suppuration of the internal organs, liver, kidneys, intestines, mesentery, etc. Carbon dioxide corrects and improves the nature of the pus and reduces its quantity, it promotes its exit, cleans and purifies the ulcer; it possesses at the same time the very important particular property of improving the whole of the constitution, when it has been vitiated by the resorption of purulent matters in the blood; to diminish the febrile excitement of the vascular system and the slow fever which follow it, and, consequently, to prevent the disposition to putrid infection produced by this cause.
(Hufeland, Practical Examination of German Mineral Waters, page 256.)
The administration of carbon dioxide is easy, convenient and even pleasant for the sick; it does not require any special preparations. One can take these baths while fully clothed, for the gas passes easily through clothes, penetrates shoes and even boots.
As has happened with antimony, emetic, vaccinia and etherization, the therapeutic effects of gas have been exalted and exaggerated by some, denied or depreciated by others; but, although this medicinal agent must not assuredly be considered as a universal panacea, it nevertheless produces very remarkable and indisputable effects, which we ourselves have observed, verified, and partly tested, and which seemed important enough to deserve to focus the attention of French doctors in a serious way on this new medication, of which our neighbors on the other side of the Rhine are making a very advantageous use, and of which it would be appropriate , at least, to make a deeper study than I have been able to do in mere excursions.
Until now, there are no carbon dioxide bath establishments in France; nevertheless, we have a large number of mineral springs, from which this gas escapes in abundance. Those of Clermont, Royal, Saint-Mart, Sainl-Pardoux, Vichy, Cusset, Mont-Dore, Saint-Nectaire, Chàtfelguyon, Châteldon, Desaignes (Ardèche), Saint-Galmier, Camarès, Sainl-Alban, Llauterive, do Vais, de Soultzmatt, de Soultzbàch and many others would no doubt furnish quantities of carbon dioxide sufficient to form establishments for baths and showers of this gas. We could even prepare it artificially. It would be an advantageous and profitable addition to our thermal baths, at the same time as an additional means, and a very precious resource for the art of healing.
I would consider myself lucky to have been able to provide our country with this useful import.
(1) In a note read to the Academy of Sciences on the subject of the presentation I made at the Institute of my memory on carbon dioxide baths, the Honorable Mr. Doussingault reports that, during his trips to the Cordilières, he had the opportunity to penetrate, on several occasions, into caves and mines where a large quantity of carbonic acid is released; that he felt there an extraordinary sensation of heat, which he estimated at 15° centig, while the thermometer showed only a temperature of -)- 19°, but "that he did not feel the ardor which M. llerpin compares to that which accompanies the disagreeable beginnings of a poultice. >»
I would have involuntarily exaggerated the effects of carbon dioxide baths, if one could infer from my expressions, as the learned M. Doussingault would seem to believe, that I attribute to carbonic gas an action analogous or similar to that of a mustard poultice. . Between the first effects of the application of this medicine, when it only begins to act on the skin, and those of the poultice proper, which are characterized by a very strong irritation, an intense reddening, sometimes even by vesication, there is a very great difference which it is important not to confuse.
(1) Doctor Bodc told me the very interesting story of the cure obtained by means of carbon dioxide baths, at Nauhcim, near Frankfurt-on-lc-Mein, of a man of a certain age, whose hands were so cold and numb every morning that he had to rub them for more than an hour before he could use them to dress himself.
After the first gas baths, the hands began to warm up; after some time, they remained warm and flexible for an hour after the bath; finally they were able to retain their heat. After a few weeks of treatment, the patient was able to write, which he had not been able to do for several years, and his greatest joy was to be able to write to his family the happy news of his healing.
(1) Mr. Boussingault reports that the workers employed in the mines of the Cordilières eventually experience “a weakening of the organs of sight, which, in some, goes as far as blindness; Now it is precisely against the weakening of sight that we make great use, in Germany, of showers of carbon dioxide applied to the eyes. The action of carbon dioxide applied to the organ of vision is so penetrating, the cooking or the burning sensation it produces there are so intense, that one can barely bear the shower or jet for a few seconds. gas; the operation must very often be suspended. These facts prove all the power and energy of this medicinal agent; house cannot conclude from the action exercised by this gas, in a state of health, on workers who remain continuously exposed to this painful impression, against the salutary effects which the use of carbon dioxide in cases of disease of the organs of vision.
(1) Messrs. Osann and Vogel report in their works an observation relating to a famous singer of the Vienna Opera, who, having lost the strength and range of his voice as a result of an inflammatory disease of the organs of respiration, was fully recovered by inhalation of air charged with carbon dioxide, in the establishment of F.ger-Franzensbad Bohème.
EXTRACT FROM A MÉMOIRE READ AT THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE INSTITUTE.
(Reports of the meetings of March 26, April 30 and May 14, 1855)
By Jean-Charles Herpin (de Metz),
LAUREATE OF THE INSTITUTE;
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY ENCOURAGEMENT SOCIETY, ETC.
In the course of my visits to the thermal establishments of Germany, I had several times the opportunity of studying the effects of a very interesting medication still unknown in France; I mean carbonic acid gas baths and showers.
It has existed for several years in Germany, in the main carbo-gaseous sources, establishments where carbonic acid gas is administered either in general or partial baths, or in the form of showers or injections, or finally by way of swallowing or inhalation.
Several particular facts had, for a long time, drawn the attention of German doctors to the medicinal properties of carbonic acid gas, when an altogether extraordinary, almost miraculous cure, effected by this means, came to bring this new idea into great vogue. therapeutic agent.
Dr. Struve, a distinguished scientist, was taking the waters at Marienbad (Bohemia) for a very painful lymphatic affection which he had in his left thigh and leg. He could not walk for several years without the help of crutches; the glands and lymphatic vessels of the leg were hard and inflamed. The patient also suffered from engorgement of the liver and haemorrhoids.
One day, Dr. Struve had the idea of exposing his diseased leg to the action of a current of carbon dioxide which emanated from one of the Marienbad springs and formed a layer several decimetres thick on the surface of the liquid. Leaning on a stick, supported by his servant, he managed to drag himself, with great difficulty and in severe pain, to the source. Seated on the edge of the pool, he let his leg dangle in the layer of gas; He first felt a tingling sensation and a pleasant warmth which increased to the point of causing profuse perspiration from the sick limb. When he took his foot out of the gas bath, he was quite surprised to feel no more pain, and even to be able to walk without the help of his crutches and his servant; he ran himself to announce to his friends the happy news of this unexpected cure. The patient continued for some time the use of the local baths of carbonic acid gas, and he left Marienbad cured. Since that time he has enjoyed excellent health, without experiencing any relapse or renewal of his pains.
Dr. Struve himself published the detailed account of his illness and his cure. Today there are in Germany, notably at Marienbad, Garlsbad, Kissingen, Eger, Nauheim, Canstadt, Meinberg, Cronthal, etc., very remarkable special establishments for baths, showers and even inhalation. carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is used sometimes pure, sometimes mixed in more or less considerable proportions with atmospheric air or hydrogen sulphide gas, in the dry or humid state, with the vapor of mineral waters, etc.
The apparatus used for the administration of gas baths are analogous to those used for steam or sulphurous baths, for local baths, steam showers, etc. We even take baths together in an open basin, about 1 meter deep, dug into the ground, and forming an elegantly decorated lounge. The head is elevated above the gas layer.
The susceptibility or the faculty of receiving the particular impression produced by carbon dioxide varies according to the subjects. For some, a few minutes are enough; for others, it takes half an hour or even an hour. Persons with white and delicate skin, soft flesh or a lymphatic constitution, feel the effects of the gas very quickly.
The first impression one experiences on penetrating the layer of carbon dioxide is a sensation of soft and pleasant warmth, similar to that produced by a garment of line wool or wadding; this sensation of heat is followed by a tingling, a particular tingling and, later, a kind of ardor which has been compared to that which is produced by a poultice that begins to pull or bite on the skin (1).
Old pains, especially those from old wounds, reawaken, the skin turns red; there is established on the surface of the parts of the body, exposed to the action of the gas, an abundant perspiration which presents the chemical characteristics of acidity; urinary secretion is considerably increased. The feeling of heat and perspiration continue for several hours after leaving the bath. In the first moments following the immersion of the body in the gaseous layer, the movements of the heart are only slightly accelerated; but, when the duration of the bath is prolonged, then comes over-excitement; the pulse is full, lively, and accelerated, the heat becomes burning, there is turgidity and reddening of the skin, headache, tightness of the chest, &c. Prolonged for too long (several hours), the carbon dioxide bath results in a state of stupor, like paralysis, the venous blood takes on a blackish color, etc.
But when you have taken a carbon dioxide bath under the right conditions, you feel lighter, more alert and more awake for a few hours. It has happened several times that patients who had had great difficulty in getting from their lodging to the establishment of the baths were able, after having taken a carbonic gas bath, to make long runs when leaving the bath, and even climb steep mountains.
Carbon dioxide is absorbed through the skin; it acts energetically on the vascular and nervous systems (1); quite often it also acts as a specific stimulant, as an aphrodisiac; it promptly recalls heat and perspiration to the skin; it acts in a very efficacious manner against the various diseases which are caused by the suppression or disturbance of perspiration; it also recalls the usual venous blood flows which have been accidentally suppressed, especially hemorrhoids, and above all menstruation which it makes more abundant and whose epochs it advances; and, for this reason, it has often produced very good effects in certain cases of sterility, in consequence of the atony of the uterine organ.
In these various circumstances, the use of carbon dioxide becomes a very precious resource, inasmuch as it dispenses with having recourse to irritating and often even dangerous internal medicines. Finally, with its antiseptic properties, carbon dioxide purifies and improves wounds and suppuration of a bad nature, both internally and externally.
Showers of carbon dioxide are employed with success against the weakening of sight (1), certain diseases of the eyes, the ears, purulent discharges, the debility of certain organs, etc.
Very often, patients suffering from neural pains, toothaches, earaches, cramps, etc., experience, on entering the gas bath, or by the simple application of the gas shower, instant relief, an immediate and surprising reduction or cessation of pain.
According to the testimony of Hufeland, a very distinguished German physician, the inhalation of a small quantity of carbon dioxide, mixed with the air with water vapour, would often produce very happy results in certain affections. of the organs of respiration, and even in cases of clearly observed ulcerations of the lungs, of the stomach; it calmed the cough, facilitated expectoration, etc. (1).
“But it is not only, adds this learned practitioner, in cases of ulceration of the lung that carbonic acid is one of the most effective medicines; it is still so in all cases of suppuration of the internal organs, liver, kidneys, intestines, mesentery, etc. Carbon dioxide corrects and improves the nature of the pus and reduces its quantity, it promotes its exit, cleans and purifies the ulcer; it possesses at the same time the very important particular property of improving the whole of the constitution, when it has been vitiated by the resorption of purulent matters in the blood; to diminish the febrile excitement of the vascular system and the slow fever which follow it, and, consequently, to prevent the disposition to putrid infection produced by this cause.
(Hufeland, Practical Examination of German Mineral Waters, page 256.)
The administration of carbon dioxide is easy, convenient and even pleasant for the sick; it does not require any special preparations. One can take these baths while fully clothed, for the gas passes easily through clothes, penetrates shoes and even boots.
As has happened with antimony, emetic, vaccinia and etherization, the therapeutic effects of gas have been exalted and exaggerated by some, denied or depreciated by others; but, although this medicinal agent must not assuredly be considered as a universal panacea, it nevertheless produces very remarkable and indisputable effects, which we ourselves have observed, verified, and partly tested, and which seemed important enough to deserve to focus the attention of French doctors in a serious way on this new medication, of which our neighbors on the other side of the Rhine are making a very advantageous use, and of which it would be appropriate , at least, to make a deeper study than I have been able to do in mere excursions.
Until now, there are no carbon dioxide bath establishments in France; nevertheless, we have a large number of mineral springs, from which this gas escapes in abundance. Those of Clermont, Royal, Saint-Mart, Sainl-Pardoux, Vichy, Cusset, Mont-Dore, Saint-Nectaire, Chàtfelguyon, Châteldon, Desaignes (Ardèche), Saint-Galmier, Camarès, Sainl-Alban, Llauterive, do Vais, de Soultzmatt, de Soultzbàch and many others would no doubt furnish quantities of carbon dioxide sufficient to form establishments for baths and showers of this gas. We could even prepare it artificially. It would be an advantageous and profitable addition to our thermal baths, at the same time as an additional means, and a very precious resource for the art of healing.
I would consider myself lucky to have been able to provide our country with this useful import.
(1) In a note read to the Academy of Sciences on the subject of the presentation I made at the Institute of my memory on carbon dioxide baths, the Honorable Mr. Doussingault reports that, during his trips to the Cordilières, he had the opportunity to penetrate, on several occasions, into caves and mines where a large quantity of carbonic acid is released; that he felt there an extraordinary sensation of heat, which he estimated at 15° centig, while the thermometer showed only a temperature of -)- 19°, but "that he did not feel the ardor which M. llerpin compares to that which accompanies the disagreeable beginnings of a poultice. >»
I would have involuntarily exaggerated the effects of carbon dioxide baths, if one could infer from my expressions, as the learned M. Doussingault would seem to believe, that I attribute to carbonic gas an action analogous or similar to that of a mustard poultice. . Between the first effects of the application of this medicine, when it only begins to act on the skin, and those of the poultice proper, which are characterized by a very strong irritation, an intense reddening, sometimes even by vesication, there is a very great difference which it is important not to confuse.
(1) Doctor Bodc told me the very interesting story of the cure obtained by means of carbon dioxide baths, at Nauhcim, near Frankfurt-on-lc-Mein, of a man of a certain age, whose hands were so cold and numb every morning that he had to rub them for more than an hour before he could use them to dress himself.
After the first gas baths, the hands began to warm up; after some time, they remained warm and flexible for an hour after the bath; finally they were able to retain their heat. After a few weeks of treatment, the patient was able to write, which he had not been able to do for several years, and his greatest joy was to be able to write to his family the happy news of his healing.
(1) Mr. Boussingault reports that the workers employed in the mines of the Cordilières eventually experience “a weakening of the organs of sight, which, in some, goes as far as blindness; Now it is precisely against the weakening of sight that we make great use, in Germany, of showers of carbon dioxide applied to the eyes. The action of carbon dioxide applied to the organ of vision is so penetrating, the cooking or the burning sensation it produces there are so intense, that one can barely bear the shower or jet for a few seconds. gas; the operation must very often be suspended. These facts prove all the power and energy of this medicinal agent; house cannot conclude from the action exercised by this gas, in a state of health, on workers who remain continuously exposed to this painful impression, against the salutary effects which the use of carbon dioxide in cases of disease of the organs of vision.
(1) Messrs. Osann and Vogel report in their works an observation relating to a famous singer of the Vienna Opera, who, having lost the strength and range of his voice as a result of an inflammatory disease of the organs of respiration, was fully recovered by inhalation of air charged with carbon dioxide, in the establishment of F.ger-Franzensbad Bohème.
