On the curative effect of carbonic acid gas or other forms of carbon in cholera, for different forms of fever, and other diseases / by C.J. Lewis.

  • Lewis, C. J. (Charles James), 1875-1937.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the curative effect of carbonic acid gas or other forms of carbon in cholera, for different forms of fever, and other diseases / by C.J. Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    47/56 (page 43)
    IN CHOLEEA, FEVEE>S, AND aerobic cultures. Here lies work for future experiment, to olAain the toxin in virulent phase, treat it with carbonic acid gas, and compare the effects of the pure and of the carbonised toxin. So far only tlie administration of the <^as by the mouth has been referred to in this discussion of laikin s treatment. Of the other methods, rectal injection of tlie gas in suitable cases may possibly be helpful, but gas passed in per rectuni is haidl} likely to reach high up the intestine, owing to the frequent diarrhoea and downward peristaltic movements. In addition, the difficulty of adminis- tration would, in acute cases, be consideralde. Inlialation of the gas offers no particular advantages, nor would it be likely to be of nnich use in cholera unless the gas were found to be antagonistic to a toxin produced by the organism. On the whole, then, one may conclude that carbonic acid gas may be useful in cholera, though I am not sanguine enough to expect that it will cure aU eases of the disease, or even ameliorate them. The difficulties of achieving a high concentration of the gas in the intestinal lumen detract very considerably from the possibility of benefit. If one may judge from laboratory experiment, minor quantities of carbonic acid gas, such as might be more easily achieved in practice, have small effect on the growth and vitality of the organism. The bactericidal action of carbonic acid gas on the cholera organism suggests a possible explanation of the very remarkable experiments of Hankin on a similar action of the waters of the Jumna and of the Ganges. He shows that these waters contain a bactericide which is inimical to the comma bacillus. This bactericide is volatile, and is injuriously affected by heat or the addition of alkali. No mention is made of obser^^ations as to tlie gases present in the water, but the characters noted of the bactericide, and of its action on cholera organisms, suggest that perhaps it is to the presence of carbonic acid gas that the water owes its destructive power over the comma bacillus. Though not quite germane to the therapeutic qualities of carbonic acid gas in cholera, there is another consideration which merits suggestion in connection with the infliTence of carbonic acid gas on the Vibrio cholerns. The conditions of life of the cholera liacillus in soil have mainly been studied in relation to the moisture of the soil and to the height and variations in level of the ground water. Also the condition of the soil as to organic impurity has been mentioned in relation to cholera epidemics. But nowhere have I found reference to tlie amount of carbonic acid gas in the ground air as influencing the vitality of tlie organism. The impurity of the .soil and the amount of carbonic acid gas are supposed to be cor- related, but, apart from tliat, there is no special note as to tlie latter. Now the amount of carbonic acid gas in the ground air is often consider- able, and largely exceeds that in the atmospheric air. Moreover, the temperature of tlie soil is not that of the human body, and the iiiHuence of carbonic acid gas on the cholera organism is much greater at 15° C. or lower temperatures than at 37° C. Carbonic acid gas in the ground air may reach 3 to 5 per cent., and possibly tins is insufficient even at low temperatures to be powerfully bactericidal, but in future experiments on the viability of the cholera bacillus in soil, 1 think it would be well to ascertain the percentage of carbonic acid gas in the ground air, or to supply to the soil under expei'iinent air containing the percentage of carbonic acid gas which is natural in the soil at the ])lace from which the sample is taken for experiment. Fever.—With regard to the large number of other disea.ses in which