EH Pratt to Cary T. Grayson

Title

EH Pratt to Cary T. Grayson

Creator

Pratt, E. H. (Edwin Hartley), 1849-1930

Identifier

WWP15932

Date

1919 October 9

Description

Dr. EH Pratt offers a variety of treatments for President Wilson's condition.

Source

Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia

Language

English

Text

"The Morse"
7600 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, Ohio

My dear doctor

As the attending physician to our Presidentyou are certainly entitled to all helpful suggestion possessed by any & all of the medical fraternityAs one of such I beg to contribute my bit of personal knowledge for your consideration to be used or cast into the discard as your wisdom dictates.

My excuse for sending you my suggestions lies in the fact that for many years I have devoted my professional energies entirely to wreck raising-handling life & death cases-apparently hopeless ones & of course have gleaned many practical facts a little out of the ordinary by means of which many valuable lives have been prolonged that otherwise would have ended all too prematurely.

From Kessler & Co. of this city you will receive two instruments, equipped with rubber tubing for immediate use all ready for the attachment of the pipe of an ordinary fountain syringe containing hot water. The instruments are for the purpose of applying dry heat 1st to the urethra including the prostatic inch (10 minutes) & then to the last inch of the rectum (also 10 minutes) once in 5 days is in my experience often enough for the urethral treatment the rectal plug may be used at discretion oftener. The action of such treatment is to increase the depth of respiration inclining it to abdominal form & hence adding to the oxygen supply & also to induce an universal flushing of the capillaries thereby relieving local congestions of spine & other organs & increasing all organic activity.

Besides the use of these instruments permit me to suggest the employmentonce daily of hot fomentations of arnica water (teaspoonful of tincture to the quart of hot water) along the entire length of the spine for 10 minutes following these with inductions of Russells Emulsion of fats

If the President is constipated high oil flushings (Coles irrigator is helpful for this) in the low Trendellenberg positionsecured by pillows under the edge of the mattress to which the hips are to be drawnthe thighs being flexed over the abdomen-the body lying across the bed of coursethe chest being lowa pint of cotton seed oil is enough & after its introductionit should be worked by the operators fingers upwards out of the sigmoidup through the descending colon colon & around the splenic flexure & while holding it to prevent its descending turn the patient on his right sideremove the pillows from under the edge of the mattress & by manipulation work the oil across the body through the transverse colonby raising up on the right elbowthe oil can be carried through the hepatic flexure by two or three minutes workwhen the upright position should be assumed for a few minutes so as to secure the descent of the oil into the caecum.

The enema can be given at night & can probably be retained until morning, faecal matter will many times adhere to the lining of the large intestine like lime to a teakettle in which hard water has been boiledbowels may be regular-but auto-intoxication be caused by such adhering flakes just the same. Olive or cotton side oil ans described or a solution of ox gall used in the same way corrects the trouble

Hoping some some or all of these suggestions may in some way help to save our President whose life just now especially is of such value to us all I remain

Fraternally yours,

EH Pratt MD

Original Format

Letter

To

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/D00379.pdf

Tags

Citation

Pratt, E. H. (Edwin Hartley), 1849-1930, “EH Pratt to Cary T. Grayson,” 1919 October 9, WWP15932, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.