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I.—Modern Testimonies.

1. Discussion in the Liverpool Medical Institution, Jan. 9, 1868.

Dr. H. Taylor made some remarks on the use of Sulphurous Acid in a gaseous and liquid form. He alluded to two pamphlets which had appeared on the subject, by Dr. Dewar and Mr. Pairman, from which he read extracts. They had used it in cases of affection of the throat, croup, diphtheria, bronchitis, phthisis, typhoid fever, etc.: the two modes in which it was used were fumigation and the spray. Dr. Taylor invited investigation on the subject.

Dr. Carter had made some observations and experiments upon its use. He had succeeded in curing a case of sycosis menti, but had tried it in eczema with no benefit.

Mr. Banks had found it useful in the form of spray in cases of putrid sore throat, and as a fumigation in chest affections, attended with night cough and difficulty of breathing. There was generally considerable relief to these symptoms. At first it produced cough and expectoration, but the patients afterwards passed a better night.

Dr. Gee alluded to the advantages of inhalations generally in chest affections, and had found much benefit from a mixture of chloroform and turpentine, and also from carbolic acid.

Mr. Hamilton had used sulphurous acid as spray in some cases of diphtheria with marked benefit, the severity of the symptoms being checked, and the local appearances improved. He had also found benefit from it in cases of phthisis, in relieving cough and diminishing expectoration.—(See the British Medical Journal, Feb. 1, 1868.)

2. Dr. James Wilson, Cullen, N.B., writes on diphtheria :—"From the month of August 1862 to the 11th of January 1868, I treated in all 19 individuals affected with diphtheria; of the 19 attacked 10 died." Note.—These cases (having fully 50 per cent, of deaths) were all treated in the usual way as recommended by Dr. Jenner, etc. Dr. Wilson proceeds to say, that, since the 14th January 1868, he had changed the treatment to sulphurous acid spray and fumes; also doses internally, with wine and tonics when there was much debility. In this new mode he had treated 18 cases with the following result :—2 deaths, 2 still under treatment, and 14 recoveries. "In one of the fatal cases, the larynx was thoroughly involved, and death impending before any remedial agent was employed. My patient in the other fatal case caught cold on the fourth day of his illness, when the disease appeared to be on the wane. Some of the cases included in the 14 who recovered presented before treatment most formidable symptoms. . . . I was extremely averse to Dr. Dewar's method, and somehow perversely prejudiced against it. I had made up my mind to lose at least one of the two bad cases, and tried Dr. Dewar's method from page iii mere curiosity. I was thunderstruck at the vast improvement. The whole throat seemed perfectly remodelled at the second application of the spray, and from that moment I dated the commencement of recovery and the rescue from death."—(See Banffshire Reporter, 21st February 1868.)

3. Dr. Charles J. B. Williams, Consulting Physician to the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton.—"I have found the spray (of sulphurous acid) a most useful and agreeable remedy in various affections of the throat, whether diphtheritic or aphthous, and it has proved cleansing and soothing in some cases of foul ulceration of the throat, affecting both larynx and fauces, generally syphilitic in origin, and sometimes ending in pulmonary consumption." Dr. Williams' experience as to the use of sulphurous acid in consumption is too limited to admit of any expression of opinion. But he greatly approves of the inhalation of various remedies in combination with steam, such as creosote, carbolic acid, iodine, etc., as "really useful in certain cases, chiefly those in which the larynx and trachea are much affected, and in those attended with convulsive cough or offensive expectoration." Note.—As nothing but temporary relief can be expected in confirmed consumption from inhaling either sulphurous acid, carbolic acid, or any other medicated vapours, it is much to be regretted that this eminent medical authority (perhaps inferior to none living on consumptive diseases generally) does not seem to have tried sulphur fumigation, persistently carried on in the early stages, and given the profession the benefit of his opinion as to the power of the remedy to check the disease or at least to remove coughs of long standing apt to end in confirmed consumption.—(See Dr. Williams' Paper on Pulmonary Consumption in Lancet, 15th August 1868.)

4. Dr. Henry Lawson, M.R.C.P.E., etc., of London, one of the editors of the "Practitioner."

Dr. Lawson has found fluid sulphurous acid, administered internally, of great benefit in pyrosis or water-brash. Dose: Half or a whole teaspoonfal, in water, three times daily, shortly before meals. "The very remarkable cures," writes he, "recorded by Dr. Dewar and Mr. Pairman, as having been effected by the use of pure sulphur vapour, led me to give sulphurous acid a trial in cases of pyrosis, and certainly the result surprised me. In every instance in which it has been employed, it has in a very short time completely arrested the water-brash secretion. Indeed, it has given me so much confidence in its valuable action, that I now never hesitate to assure the patient he may very soon hope for relief from at least the distressing symptoms of pyrosis." In answer to the question, "What is the explanation of its action?" Dr. Lawson thinks it is in its power of destroying parasitic germs. "The reason why sulphurous acid is so beneficial, is simply that it is a parasiticide. I have made numerous microscopic examinations of the fluid of pyrosis, and in nearly every instance I have detected not only sarcinœ: and torulœ, but huge clusters of leptothrix, and myriads page iv of vibrions and bacteria."—(See the Practitioner, a Monthly Journal of Therapeutics, Sept. 1868.)

5. Extract of a Letter to R. P., dated "Glasgow, 28th Dec. 1867."—"Having read in your pamphlet that the gas was beneficial in cases of ulcers, and knowing a man who had been laid up for a long time with a 'bad leg' of that kind, I thought I would try it. The nest time I went to visit him I took a box of sulphur pastilles in my pocket, and, as both the man and his wife had severe colds, burned one of the pastilles while there, making them inhale the fumes, and left another, with instructions that the man should hold his leg over it while burning. I also told him to get some common flour sulphur, and use it in the same manner. (I find that he did not get this to burn, having mistaken the way, so that the cure is altogether through the pastilles.) This was on Tuesday the 17th inst. Last night I went back to see him, and found that since he had used the pastilles his sore had completely dried up. It had never been so since the month of February. The colds also had quite disappeared."

6. Antagonism between Sulphurous Acid and Fever Poisons.—A rector in the Episcopal Church of Ireland writes me (Jan. 28, 1868) that the parish of St. Mary, Kilkenny, (of which he was for eight and a half years minister,) is out of sight the poorest, most dirty, and most wretched of the whole town. But instead of that parish being a hotbed of fever, as one would naturally expect, it is in a great measure exempt, even when fever is prevailing near it. This he attributes to the extreme poverty of the parishioners, who cannot afford to use the same fuel as the other inhabitants, but have to content themselves with a cheap inferior coal, the produce of the county, which is full of sulphur. In visiting the houses he sometimes "found it hard to breathe in the room with it." Nothing can illustrate more strikingly than this the importance of adopting stated fumigation in all private dwellings during seasons of epidemics.

7. Dr. Dewar writes thus :—" J. P. had been ill for weeks before I saw him, his breathing difficult, and his efforts at expectoration almost fruitless. I persevered, pumping the spray at intervals for some twenty minutes, until his chest was relieved and almost noiseless. Next day this was repeated, and in a few days he was at work."—(See Pamphlet, page 35.) Again, under Asthma and Bronchitis, page 34 :—"In whatever stage I find my patient, I at once proceed to apply the spray, which, by loosening the expectoration, facilitates its expulsion, so that the chest can be wonderfully cleared of it in a few minutes."

8. An eminent Physician in London observes :—"I find the spray very successful in cases of sore throat, especially inflammatory, giving almost immediate relief."