By E. H. MURRELL, M. D., Lynchburg, Va.
It has been asserted that life is the most mysterious problem in nature,
and that its duration is circumscribed by the laws of disease;
consequently the incessant conflict which is waged between health and
its insidious destroyer can never cease, but will ever continue to
engage the attention of the chemist and pathologist in their profound
researches of the best means of its preservation. Therefore, we need not
be amazed or inquire why it is that the power of preserving life is held
in such high estimation, or that the loss of it should be deemed a
private misfortune or a public calamity.
Whatever may be the cause of constitutional debility and whenever
prolonged, it must of necessity impair the healthy nutrition of the
tissues, and lead to a low, inflammatory condition of the mucous
membranes. The uterus and its appendages constitute no exception to the
general rule, for whenever inflammation is lighted up in this organ,
functional disturbance, accompanied by ulceration and hypertrophy follow
as a natural consequence. On the other hand, it has been clearly
demonstrated that constitutional debility of the gravest import and
prolonged duration has its origin in those causes which induce
sanguineous and muco-purulent discharges, continued pain, great
despondency, and a general inability to partake of the accustomed food
and exercise.
In the consideration of uterine diseases, including leucorrhœa,
dysmenorrhœa, suppressed catamenia, menorrhagic and vaginal
inflammation, it is proposed briefly to allude to the efficacy of the
Bedford Alum and Iron Springs Mass as a curative agent, and to call
attention to its tonic properties, which act most beneficially in their
healthful restoration. By reference to the analysis of this Mass, it
will be seen that it contains all the constituent properties most
essential to the relief of morbid disease, namely by restraining the
secretion while combining the tonic properties alike conducive to the
improvement of the circulation and removing the causes which influence
constitutional debility. For this reason, the water appears to exert a
specific influence over the female organism, and often displays its
wonderful power of relief after the unsuccessful employment of all other
remedial agents.
A brief synopsis of the treatment of suppressed catamenia by the Bedford
Alum and Iron Springs Mass which came under the immediate attention of
the writer, will suffice to attest its virtues:
Miss. J. S., a resident of this city, aged 20 years, of delicate
constitution; had for months suffered from suppression of the catamenia
which resulted in anæmia and great emaciation, attended with extreme
nervousness, loss of appetite, constant cough, pain in the chest, night
sweats, closely bordering on phthisis pulmonalis. After the exhaustion
of numerous emmagogue agents which had been employed for months
unsuccessfully, medical counsel was sought, and apparently with little
hope of recovery. She was at once placed upon the free use of the
Bedford Alum and Iron Springs Mass, which was continued for the space of
three months, at the expiration of which time all organic disturbance
was removed, with a complete subsidence of the symptoms before detailed,
and a perfect restoration of her health, which has continued unimpaired
to the present date.
Other cases might be adduced in testimony of the great efficacy of the
Bedford Alum and Iron Springs Mass in the treatment of uterine diseases
generally; but enjoying as it does so largely the public confidence and
endorsed by the well-tested experience of the medical profession, any
additional evidence in support of its virtues and wide-spread reputation
would only prove superfluous and uncalled-for by the most skeptical.