156 THERAPEUTICS AND PHARMACOLOGY 



system of therapeutics only became possible in the nineteenth 

 century after a knowledge of the physiological effects had been 

 gained. Berzelius was the first to recognize the presence of iron in 

 the blood. The discovery of a ferruginous coloring-matter of the 

 blood, hemoglobin, did not follow until much later. It is true that 

 in 1854 Wohler declared globulin and hernatin to be contained in 

 the blood corpuscles. But Funke (1852) and Lehmann (1853) had 

 already established the fact that the coloring-matter of the blood, 

 hemoglobin, is a distinct crystallizable substance which is capable 

 of absorbing and giving off oxygen. Hemoglobin, we may say, is, 

 to a certain extent, the quintessence of the respiratory activity. 

 This function may be destroyed by inhaling carbonic oxide which 

 enters into so close a combination with the coloring-matter of the 

 blood that its respiratory function ceases. Thus blood in such a state 

 is a menace to life which cannot be obviated by any drug, but we are 

 able since the respiratory function of the blood has been understood 

 to avert this danger in most cases by removing the poisoned blood 

 and transfusing fresh blood. 



The greatest hopes for the further development of therapeutics 

 are raised by the fact that chemical substances are capable of 

 restoring pathologico-physiological processes to a normal state. 

 Here we may cite the antipyretics, which are able in the most striking 

 manner to reduce to the normal state a rise of temperature, that is, 

 a febrile phenomenon. 



The drugs just mentioned are therefore of great importance in 

 therapeutics as symptomatic remedies. Of course, they are in no 

 way able to destroy the cause of disease, but merely alleviate or 

 avert injurious symptoms. For the physician, however, this very 

 quality is of paramount importance in the majority of cases. The 

 cause of disease may disappear through the spontaneous healing 

 process of the organism, while the symptoms are removed, which, 

 had they been left alone, would inevitably have led to the death of 

 the patient. Yes, we may say that it is one of the greatest aims of 

 therapeutics to treat disease symptomatically, for we must endeavor 

 to ease the sufferings of humanity, and the great advantage of this 

 method of healing becomes specially evident when the cause of 

 sickness cannot be destroyed by any remedy hitherto known. This 

 may best be demonstrated in the treatment of poisoning. If, for 

 instance, through a mistake, or for any other reason, a deadly dose 

 of strychnine enter the system, the sufferer will expire under the 

 symptoms of suffocation, caused by the convulsive contraction of the 

 respiratory muscles. As, however, we are enabled to arrest this 

 spasmodic contraction by means of chloroform, chloral hydrate, 

 and other drugs, we can thus give the system time to eliminate the 

 strychnine causing the illness. This being entirely thrown off, the 



