Richmond Enquirer

COMMUNICATED.

SCARLET FEVER.

Dr. Venable, near Finney Wood, Charlotte, is respectfully solicited to give his 'Specific' for Scarlet Fever to the professional public, in that spirit of liberality which ought always to characterize the man of science.

2dly. He is likewise solicited to give his views of the modus operandi of his remedy, as they present themselves to his mind, and to point out its superiority over other modes of treatment, as it is apprehended the mode he has adopted for giving publicity to it, will limit rather than enlarge the sphere of its usefulness.

3dly. Whether the peculiar article employed by him produces, in addition to its more obvious operative effect, any 'specific' impression upon and change of condition in the diseased structure, whereby such a counteracting and resolvent power is exerted over the disease as to supersede, in its subsequent stages in all cases, a resort to other efficient modes of medication?

4thly. Does he not believe he has had in the general a moderate disease to treat, (for there are grades of it from the mildest to the most malignant; the former of which the physician need not tamper with, and the latter he most assuredly cannot cure;) and that his remedy has been resorted to in a very large proportion of mild cases, and is it not fair to infer, that it has obtained the credit of the cure very often in cases which were so very mild as would have resulted favourably if left to nature?

5thly. Is he prepared to maintain from multiplied observations and very considerable experience; from many trials, and from the observation of many, under the direction of other physicians, by careful comparative observation of this with other methods, at the same time and place, and in the same epidemic, and much more a thorough trial of this with others by the same practitioner, that his method is superior to all others?

6thly. While it is admitted to be an undoubted fact, that the fatal cases will unquestionably be found to be less numerous, in this as in all acute diseases, under some plans of treatment than under others: should the advocates of this method not beware of doing such injustice to themselves as to make any pretensions to its curing all cases, or that it is to be 'relied on with as much certainty as mercury in syphilis;' for, is it not equally certain that a certain proportion of all acute diseases, under ordinary circumstances, will always be found incurable, and that, too, under any and every method of management?

7thly. Whether by his mode of treatment the patient is relieved from the dangers of a terrible factitious disease, and is in no danger of being subjected to subsequent exhaustion or excessive morbid irritability; and the necessity of struggling both against exhaustion and a violent factitious malady oftentimes the worst disease of the two?

If an affirmative answer can be given to this last interrogatory, and clearly sustained, here I imagine will be found to reside the virtues of the Doctor's 'specific' in the present form of Scarlet Fever; for, although the disease may be inflammatory, I maintain that this state or condition is not always the same, and that Tart. Emet. and the lancet are not always the surest means of subduing it. Evidences to this fact are not wanting from numerous sources, and may be obtained from almost daily observation; and here permit me to remark by the way, without designing to condemn its use, but simply its abuse, that the lancet in this disease is as a 'sword put into the hands of a fool;' an agent of destruction and devastation, rather than an auxiliary in the management of disease: nor is this any argument against its efficacy or its want of success owing to any inefficiency in the operation itself, but to the manner and the circumstances under which it is too frequently performed. No argument with me, however, 'like matter of fact' is in a science which does not rest upon abstract reasoning alone, than which nothing has contributed more to retard its progress or lead its votaries so wide from the truth.

My maxim is, that every man's motives should be held sacred in matters of science; and if I should be suspected of imputing unfairness to any one, it will be found to be more in appearance only than reality. My only wish and sole motive is, that the high claims set up for the remedy in question may be fairly and thoroughly tested, and if its claims to superior merit shall be sustained, that the present epidemic may find 'a local habitation and a name,' and may at once be shorn of its terrors every where.

I have the highest respect for the Doctor's skill and address, as a physician, and assure him most seriously, that the foregoing enquiries are submitted in the true spirit of science, and if he is averse to suffer himself to be catechised through the columns of a public newspaper, he is respectfully invited to pay his respects to them through the medium of some extensively circulated medical journal. Truth, humanity itself, and the honor of the profession demand this of him.

MEDICUS.

Charlotte, March 23d, 1833.