Again, "Look at the diseases of the circulation," he says. "The
doctors say that digitalis and nitrite of amyl act on the heart; and
that the action of these drugs was discovered by the help of
experiments on animals. Very good. The heart is concerned with the
circulation. Very good. But here are the Registrar-General's returns
of the annual death-rate for all diseases of the circulation. See how
it has gone up, from 1371 per million persons in 1881 to 1709 in 1900.
Therefore, either these two drugs are never used, or they are useless,
or the Registrar-General's returns are false." It is impossible to
understand how Mr. Coleridge could bring himself to write thus.
Digitalis has a certain effect on the heart-beat; nitrite of amyl
diminishes arterial tension. The Registrar-General's returns for all
diseases of the circulation include every sort and kind of organic
disease of the valves of the heart; include also pericarditis,
aneurism, senile gangrene, embolism, phlebitis, varicose veins, and
35,499 deaths from "other and undefined diseases of heart or
circulatory system."
RABIES
For rabies, Mr. Berdoe praises the "Buisson Bath Treatment for the
Prevention and Cure of Hydrophobia." The virtues of this treatment are
proclaimed by the Chairman of the Canine Defence League, F. E.
Pirkis, Esq., R.N., of Nutfield, Surrey, and it is founded, we are
told, _on the simple common-sense principle that if poison is injected
into a person's veins the best thing to do is to get it out as quickly
as possible_. This sentence, and the reference to Mr. Pirkis for
further particulars, and the fact that there is, or was, a Buisson
Bath at the "National Anti-vivisection Hospital," bring us to the
question, What is the value of the evidence in favour of this
treatment?
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