458 THE NEW ZEALAND FAMILY HERS DOCTOR. 
older of us can well remember two or three decades ago 
—yes, even a few years back—when it was claimed that. 
alcohol was a good and desirable remedial agent in this 
disease. This opinion had for its commendation a certain 
theory of combustion. It was claimed by the older clinicians. 
that alcohol was readily attacked by the oxygen, and the 
burning was done in the blood, or just at the threshold of 
the tissues. Some advanced a step further, and claimed that 
alcohol becomes part of the organism, or that it was. 
distributed around the tissues, and was thus burned up with 
the waste of the fats and proteids of the organism, and thus. 
checked the waste the body was so persistently undergoing. 
The aicohol theory held strong sway, so strong that many of 
the best men advocated it with earnest endeavour, and put. 
it into practice. The fact is, in some few cases the results. 
were striking, and, indeed, brilliant, and so attention was 
taken off the vast evil alcohol in large doses was doing to the 
great number who were falling all around, victims to a gross. 
error. 
Then came the next fad, that is, that the consumptive 
patient must eat plentifully of proteids. This craze got 
heavy headway under the seemingly wonderful results 
obtained by Dr. Debove, of France, who stuffed his con- 
sumptive patients through the aid of an cesophageal tube 
when the appetite of the victim was quite or nearly lost. 
Some of Dr. Debove’s cases made wonderful progress— 
One even recovered—but the fact was, the largest number 
of patients succumbed to the ordeal, simply because the 
digestive and assimilative powers of their organism were 
unable to stand the terrible strain put on them by this sur- 
feiting with rich proteid food. 
Then came the doctrine of antiphlogistics and antipy- 
retics in the treatment of consumption. The introduction of 
antipyrin and antifebrin into medical practice was soon to 
mark an era in the matter of treatment of phthisis. The 
fever was made the objective point, and all aim was to 
