411 
ON IODINE AS A REMEDY FOR GLANDERS. 
By Edw. Thompson, Esq., Whitehaven , M.R.C.S. 
About thirteen years ago, Dr. Copland drew the attention of 
the profession to the appearance of glanders in man, and referred 
to some cases which had been detailed in Rust y s Journal . 
Subsequently to this, Dr. Elliotson published his very important 
paper in the Med. Chirurgical Transactions , proving the com- 
municability of glanders from the horse to the human subject. 
These notices gave an interest to the inquiry, greater than when 
the affection was merely considered as a disease of the lower 
animals; and they were followed by several important cases, 
occurring both here and abroad. Notwithstanding the interest 
excited, it is to be regretted that nothing which is practically 
useful in the treatment of this fatal and loathsome disease has 
hitherto been advanced ; every acute case that has been recorded 
having ended in death, after much suffering and distress. The 
consideration, therefore, of this disease has become a vital question 
to the medical inquirer, not only on account of the singularity 
of the disorder, but from its having resisted every remedy which 
has been applied to it, either to mitigate the infection or to cure 
the complaint. Under these circumstances, the proposal of any 
means, although it may be supported but by a single fact, is 
worthy of attention ; and I think I should be acting wrongly 
not to promulgate the following experiment. 
The disease has been viewed by most writers as an affection 
of the Schneiderian membrane, accompanied by enlargement 
of the glands in the neighbourhood, and an extension of the 
complaint, by continuity, to the lungs. In most cases it is 
communicated by contagion, and tubercles in various parts (ac- 
cording to Dupuy) characterize and constitute the disease. The 
glandular implication and disordered condition of the absorbents, 
along with the frequent appearance of tuberculous matter in this 
affection, led me to think that iodine might be productive of 
benefit; and the result, so far as a single instance of success 
goes, gives proof of its power in this untractable and fatal dis- 
ease, the animal upon which the experiment was tried having 
perfectly recovered. Having had no opportunity of conversing 
with veterinary surgeons, I have had no means of recommending 
the farther trial of the remedy ; and never having seen a case 
in the human subject, of course my experience is but small, and 
by some may be thought unsatisfactory. The value of the 
remedy, however, will be tested by individuals whose means of 
