Favorable Fevers

Fever is one of the first weapons of the body. When an infection sets in, the old organism stokes up the furnace, heats up the blood, sends it racing round in hot haste to destroy the enemy. At one time the best medical practice believed in damping the fire, bringing down the fever. Now the viewpoint changes. Medical men are conjuring up fevers to help them fight widely different diseases. Last week Herr Doktor August Bier, head of Berlin's largest hospital, told the Berlin Medical Society about his use of fire as a curative agent. He burns the body to bring on a fever in cases of chronic diseases of the joints, obstinate suppuration, cardiac inflammation following chronic ulceration. Using the thermo-cauterizer, a scientific and delicate branding iron, he lays back the skin at the affected area and lightly sears the tissues underneath. The skin is then replaced in such a way as to allow drainage of pus and ultimate healing, thereby avoiding the scars which were the landmarks of former cauterization. The burning produces a high fever, which in turn produces a cure, according to the hundreds of cases reported by Dr. Bier.

Malarial fever has been used for many years in the U. S. and Europe in an attempt to cure general paresis. Many of the paretics inoculated with malaria have improved, but since there are occasional spontaneous but temporary improvements in this disease, it is still a little early to tell just what part the malaria has played. The outlook seems most favorable however.