The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-04-04

be especially careful to keep her health viz
orous and sound, and if she be decidedly
scrofulous it may be doubted if a proDer re-
! gard for the welfare of the child do not de-
mand that it have, wherever it Is possible. an
other and 4 healthy nurse. Each one must
Judge for himself how far the hereditary char
acter of scrofula should influence the choice
of partner for life. The children of two
strongly scrofulous parents will be almost GER
tain to die early of scrofulous disease. Where
one of the parents is free from the taint, the
danger, though still considerable, will be
much less. The fact mentioned above is one
of many reasons why the intermarriage OF
blood relations should be deprecated
| have already mtimated the opinion that
scrofula sometimes arises from other causes
than hereditary faint. Unless it has been
specially visited on mankind, il must have so
arisen originally, and from its general preva-
lence it IS certainly probable that causes are
all the while at work to produce it in constitu-
tons not prcdlsposed thereto. But We have
more positive evidence than this. If YOU shut
up an animal in cold, damp, dark and mar
row place, and feed him on food not natural
or suited 10 him. and especially on innutri-
tious food and after few months kill him,
you will find the body full of the evidences of
scrofulous disease. The experiment has fire.
quently been tried on rabbits and other ami
mails, and there is no reason to doubt that the
same results would follow in man. This dis
ease is the most common cause of death in
those miserable animals which are taken
from their native hauntS and shut up in cages
in Geological collections; while among ami
mails that are free in the forests and fiekis
It almost never occurs. But we do not need
to resort TO the argument from analogy. We
often see the experiment tried, in the conrSe
of fortune, upon members Of the human ElnIi-
". Scrolilla is almost unknown among the
negroes in Africa, but when they are trans
terrcd to this latitude it IS mora common and
fatal among them than among the whites
The sudden dcycloPemento OF scIofulous disease
under unf;torable circumstances is often stri-
kingly seen in prisons. Every one familiar
with prison history knows how often it hap
pens that a criminal, apparently in perfect
health when he arrives, falls victim in a few
months to scrofulous disease in some Of its
numerous forms. Under the influence OF
| impoverished diet, dcbarment from exercise
pure air and light, and sleeping in cold
damp cell, 4 crop OF tubcrcles Ga scrofGlous tie
| post, the reader will remember,) IS generated
in the lungs or other organs, and the unhappy
victim soon succunlbs. The intelligent gen
| tleman, formerly a resident in this town, who
has lately had charge OF the Sing Sing prison,
informs Inc that his own observation there
strikingly confirms this statement. Indeed, so
common, and 50 rapidly, fatal is consump-
ton in that establishment, that he has sap
posed that there IS something peculiarly ia
vorable to its devolopemcnt in the air Of the
place but undoubtedly this bad influence Is
confined within the walls of the prison. i
single fact will illustrate the effect Of prison
life, and the speedy change which more
healthy influences will produce.
"a number of male prisoners, chiefly vcune
men, became affected with glandular swelings
OF the neck. after incarceration for some time
| in TIE Peni;cntiary at Ni.bank, (Engiand.l
The circumstances of their health led to 4 re-
lana ion of their Iunishmcnt. Instead of BE-
ing kept in solitary confinement, in goldfish
cell, and on the prison diet they were permit
ted to work, for several hours daily, in each
others company, in the garden of the estab-
lishment Some JOrer was al the same time
given them, and their allowance Of meat was
increased. The improvement in their oondi-
ton was rapid and striking. Here We have
the disor. Ter terminating unilcr one set 0! OK
ternal circumstances, and checked in:medi
ately under the opposite state"
The same causes that produce scrOfuia in
the healthy individual, dcvclope it also i'll |
those prctiispOscd TO scroiulous disease from |
hereditary faint. Tlese causes, it viii be Ok |
served, so far as they have been mentioned, |
possess one common characteristic they are |
all dchilitatinc,- depressing TO The powers o. |
life The same IS true of all the others which /
have not been mentioned. They arc, NM
versally such influences is reduce the eHer-
4 ~ = Il. l. l.
Poor and insufficient nutriment, especially II
childhood and youth, when the constitution i
forming; cold and dampncss; defective cloth
ing confinement in close, ill-ventilatcd, ILL.,
lighted habitations long-continucd illness, OF
prolong and aggravated disorder Of the diecs-
tive organs. These circumstances to be efiec
tual must, for the most part, act on the ind-
vidual for a long time. 1t Is familiar 10 many
of my readers how extensive are the ravages
of scrofula among the children of the lower
classes, in the large manufacturing towns Of
the Old World. If We consider the habits OF
life of those children, we shall find that they
are much exposed to the same injurious inilu-
ences which, in the experiment above men
toned appear to have generated tubercles IN
the rabbit. They occupy small, dark, imper
fectly ventilated rooms in narrow streets.
where the air is staanant and foul: they are {
i =
protected from changes Of
The weather, from the cold and the wet by |
heir clothing and their dwellings, and then
let is poor and unsliited TO them, and often /
;canty. All these circumstances are viola !
ions of those conditions of health which are q
necessary to be observed, il We would keep
he system in vigorous state. And It Is III
wedding these influences and IN qualifying c
he system to resist them when they accident :
lily occur, that the preventive treatment OF Q
crofula consists.
The celebrated John Hunter long ago observed :
his in regard to monlies. 1t is said that the q {
affes. which at such great pains and cost have .
een carried from Africa TO this more incl, nj I,
altitude have all died of scrcfllous consumP- :
ion. !
Melancholy DeGth-Ih Cincinnati, lately, =
IRIS. Simmons went to dentist for the pur- 1