_From the New York TRIBUNE AND FARMER, Nov. 22, 1884._
It is a well-recognized fact by writers upon longevity that the men of
the present day, both old and young, are less manly and vigorous, less
able to resist the attacks of acute disease, and not only less likely to
produce healthy and vigorous offspring, but in the majority of instances
producing a fewer number as well as a less vigorous and robust progeny.
The ratio of births to deaths has fallen off some 12 per cent. in births
in the past fifteen years. This fact, coupled with the equally startling
consideration that the mortality of infants has increased about 11 per
cent. in the past ten years, must needs fill the mind of a lover of his
kind with dismay and alarm. Although invested and thickly hedged about
by ideas of false modesty and pseudo-propriety, in reality the whole
fabric of national and individual prosperity, health, vigor and
enjoyment, as well as the very important perpetuation of our species,
depend upon perfectly strong, healthy and vigorous procreative powers.
As an oak cannot grow from a flower seed, neither can weak, puny and
debilitated parents give birth to strong, vigorous and mentally sound
and active progeny.
The subject of Procreative Pathology deserves more careful and extended
study and observation than the majority of our physicians have
heretofore been inclined to give it. Most of them have let the more
numerous and oftentimes the more trivial cases daily coming under their
notice crowd this most serious matter from sight, and when applied to
for advice or treatment by sufferers from these disorders or debilities,
have either pooh-poohed it or have given some simple (or useless)
placebo, believing the trouble to be more imaginary than real. Is it any
wonder, then, that such patients have walked blindfold into the arms of
quacks and charlatans who profess the most tender interest in even their
minutest symptoms?
We have been led to make the foregoing remarks by what we have just
finished reading in a very interesting and able work upon this subject
recently issued from the press of the Civialè Remedial Agency, of 174
Fulton street, this city. The subject matter of this book cannot fail to
interest every man, young or old, and must prove of special interest to
men just married, and to that large class of middle-aged men who find to
their surprise and chagrin that while their bodily health is apparently
excellent, their procreative powers have prematurely declined.
The fact of the establishment in this city of an original institution
under reputable business management, each department of which is
presided over by a physician of special skill and qualifications, is
something of which every citizen should feel proud. And to judge by the
class of patients who may be found in their elegant consulting-rooms,
and the very large amount of express and mail matter they are constantly
receiving, we believe that they are appreciated.
With our magnificent hospitals, second to none in the world, our large
medical colleges and dispensaries, and the establishment of so large and
excellent an institution as the Civialè Agency, the main offices being
now transferred from Paris to this city, New York may justly claim to be
the great medical centre of the United States, and sooner or later of
the world.
We maintain now, as we have always maintained, that the surest and best
way to drive quacks and humbugs from any branch of medicine, is to have
some of our very ablest and most honorable physicians make such a branch
their specialty, and such is the course now being pursued by the Civialè
Agency.
The very fact that it takes its name from and is engaged in
manufacturing and prescribing the remedies of France's most illustrious
specialist, Prof. Jean Civialè, is by itself evidence enough of its
medical value and professional integrity. Our feelings upon these
matters, _i.e._, the great importance of their bearing upon both
individual and national vigor and prosperity, the necessity for driving
from this field of practice those quacks and humbugs who entrap the
foolish and ignorant, those cheap and worthless remedies that flood
the drug market--our feelings upon these matters are, we repeat, very
strong; and hence, when we find an institution for the treatment of
these diseases conducted upon the highest moral, medical and business
principles by men of undoubted medical and business standing and
integrity, we feel that we cannot endorse them too heartily.
The _Tribune and Farmer_, of New York city, in its current issue of
July 26th, 1884, says
"AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE."
"The propriety of devoting editorial space to the subject-matter of any
medical advertisement that may appear in our columns may be doubted by
some, and indeed, were it not for our personal knowledge of the skill
and integrity of the Medical Director of the Civialè Remedial Agency of
New York (whose advertisements will be found elsewhere in this issue),
we should deem ourselves more than guilty were we to utter a word of
endorsement as to the efficacy of their system of treating that serious
class of diseases in men which has been generically termed Nervous
Debility, and which for so many years has been, and is at present, made
the stalking-horse for impudent swindlers, quacks and impostors to palm
off worthless and often injurious compounds on their suffering
fellow-men.
"Let it be understood, then, that we know whereof we speak, and that our
object is simply to furnish those who are afflicted with such reliable
information as will enable them to determine the true character of their
disease, and the best means to be adopted for a cure.
"The method of treating diseases of the Genito-Urinary organs by means
of the urethral canal is in the first place no new-fangled experiment,
but is identical with the system which has been employed for the past
fifteen years in the leading hospitals of France, and more especially
in Paris, as the standard treatment, and one that gives uniform
satisfaction; and in the history of medical science there are perhaps no
two physicians who have done more for the alleviation of human suffering
and the cure of Sexual and Seminal Diseases than those eminent French
Surgeons, Prof. Jean Civialè and Prof. Claude Lallemand, to whose joint
studies and endeavors this system owes its origin.
"We believe, in fact, that this theory and practice of medicine is
an advance in the right direction, and we predicted, from its first
introduction in the United States some time ago, that the people would
readily see its truth and accept the wonderful benefits of its practice.
And the result has certainly borne out our prediction, for thousands of
sufferers from such ills as Impotence, Spermatorrhoea, Kidney, Liver and
Urinary troubles have been cured by these remedies."
{Illustration: ONE VIEW OF THE HOSPITAL OF THE HOTEL DIEU, PARIS.
This celebrated hospital of Paris, the oldest as well as the largest
and finest in the city, covers 22,000 square metres of land, has over
1,000 beds, and a corps of over 100 physicians on its medical and
surgical staff. It is situated on the _Ile de la Cité_, near the
famous church of Notre Dame. It was here that both LALLEMAND and
CIVIALÈ studied under the celebrated DUPUYTREN, one of France's
greatest surgeons, until, in after years, they themselves became
sufficiently great to become its Consulting Surgeons. In France,
honors are gained by ability alone, and not, as here, by political
influence and wire-pulling.}
The following is a list of the French Hospitals with which Civiale and
Lallemand were connected during their lives.
HOTEL DIEU. LA PITIE. LA CHARITE. LARABOISIERE. St. ANTOINE. HOPITAL
NECKAR. HOPITAL COCHIN. HOPITAL St. LOUIS. HOPITAL Du MIDI. HOPITAL
LOURCINE. La MATERNITE. HOSPICE BICETRE.
We next give extracts from Appleton's Cyclopedia, to which reference has
already been made.
LALLEMAND, CLAUDE FRANÇOIS, a French physician, born in Metz, Jan. 26,
1790, died in Marseilles, Aug. 25, 1854. After serving as assistant
surgeon in the armies of the Empire, he studied in Paris at the Hotel
Dieu under Dupuytren, and, from 1819 to 1845, was Professor of Clinical
Surgery at Montpelier, with the exception of three years, during which
he was suspended for his liberal political expressions. His most
important work, _Recherches Anatomica Pathologiques sur l'Encephale et
ses Dependances_ (Paris, 1820-1836), established his reputation, and was
translated into many languages. In 1845 he was elected to the _Academy
of Sciences_, removed to Paris, and was consulted by patients from every
part of Europe. He bequeathed 50,000 francs to the Institute.
--[_Appleton's Cyclopedia, vol. x, p. 144._
{Illustration: Prof. JEAN CIVIALÈ.}
{Illustration: Prof. CLAUDE F. LALLEMAND}
CIVIALÈ, JEAN, a French surgeon, the originator of the operation of
Lithotrity, born near Thiezac, Auvergne, 1792, died in Paris, June 13,
1867. At a very early age, while a pupil of Dupuytren at the _Hotel
Dieu_ hospital in Paris, his attention is said to have been attracted
to the subject of his future discovery; and, after many years of
perseverance, he succeeded in perfecting and introducing to the
profession his new operation of lithotrity. Before that time the only
means was the serious and often dangerous operation of lithotomy (SEE
STONE). He was the teacher of several generations of lithotriptists,
became a member of the MEDICAL ACADEMY, and an officer of the LEGION OF
HONOR. His principal publications are: _De la Lithotritie, ou brolement
de la pierre_, (_Paris_), 1827); _Lettres sur la Lithotritie, &c._
(1827); _Traite pratique et historique de la Lithotritie_ (1847);
_Resultats Cliniques de la Lithotritie pendent les Annes_ 1860-64
(1865). --[_Appleton's Cyclopedia, vol. iv, p. 618._
We also take pleasure in referring--not as patients, but simply as to
standing, probity, business capacity and the ability of our Consulting
Staff--to the following firms or gentlemen in this city:
WEST SIDE PHARMACY, dealers in Drugs, Chemicals, &c., corner Hudson and
Charlton streets.
COFFIN & ROGERS, 85 John street, New York.
AMERICAN DRUG COMPANY, Islip, Long Island.