New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-04-30
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THE BREATH or LIFE.

cannot tell how lie WAS pIeatAc9 into 80
furifv il followed. There is nothing IN the SUI,
stance Of any creature out 81 wliicn MS $3.50 ~
limit Of It'll life could be found. Apart lrem sle
higher soul Of man, there is breath OF me exeit-
| md III force on the machinery presented oy inc
structure of each living thing 4 nursing anoshsls
suddenly depressed By shock OF profound terror,
put her infant to her breast AZ me nrst arangat
AZ her milk jts limbs became rigid and Il died
The structure or the child was what II had been,
but the principle of life was gone. DAILY e&pe-
renee and practice recognize the existence Of this
vital force. we speak Of outstanding our strength.
Of powers reduced by sickness or privation, recog
nixe in some neighbors yigor Of life that enables
them to get safely through fatgues and risks that
would kill weaker men. We know the value of
this force in helping men to get over all bodily
ailments, yet, when sickness comes, the popular
superstition still is to betake ourselves to Cruel
and purgation, and all ways of lowering the prin-
ciple Of life within US that is best able to fight or
battle.
Popular superstition consists almost wholly in the
long retention by the untaught million of errors,
during many generations maintained and diffused,
abandoned by the educated few. Not fifty years
ago, Doctor John Armstrong strongly urged free
bleeding III typhus fever. 10 this day there are
many who, If they do not bleed men sinking under
typhus, have recourse to purgng or the use of an
hmony and depressing drugs. But the wholesome
rule of the profession now is to use wine, qunine,
and whatever can support the patients strength.
Marsh feyers were made fatal by bleeding and this
practice was supported by high authority, even so
! late as thirteen years ago. When bleeding was
abandoned, mercury was used. sM thousand ~ ~.
Chisholm. The mortality was very great under
this system Of depression Large doses Of quinine
are now used, and four in every five Of the lives
that would have been sacrificed under the old
method are saved II is found that pulmonary dis
ease is the chief cause OF mortality under the age
of fifty; but above the age of fifty, apoplexy.
Impending strokes of that chief associate of the
period of declining vital force, used of old to be
converted into fatal attacks by indiscriminate
Of the lancet the eupping-glass the calomel purge
and low diet. Now, these are seldom used, and
particular care is paid to the sustaining Of the
powers Of life. Violent mania used to be regarded
as display of energy to be abated by free bleed
ing, depression with tartar emetic and low diet.
!" Now says the medical proprietor Of a lunatic
asylum who has fifty years experience, eve treat
our maniacal cases with abundance of food, six or
seven meals q day of mutton-chops. beefstakes,
porter, wine, ETC., and it generally sends them to
sleep in thirty six hours or two days. They can't
stand out against the food itregularly knocks them
down; it Gains them completely, and we rarely
\ now lose a case.'
| The whole march of medical experience and
practice during our own generation has been
steadily il this direction. Once upon time sur
geons did not believe that wounds were to be heal
/ cd properly without yulneraries, balsams, and
charpies. That it was good simply to bring the
edges of wound together, sustain general health
to the utmost, and leave the result to the healing
power of nature, was simple truth, now univer-
saly accepted as a principle in surgery, but then
unknown. The tendency Of modern practice is to
| the recognition of q like principle among physie
iana. The professional patriarch who began prac-
/ tice with the belief that he had twenty remedies
for every disease, now owns that he has twenty
diseases with no remedy; but, at the same time,
his strong reliance on the marvellous construction
| of the living frame increases year by year as he
| sees terrible diseases conquered by an effort OF
nature, which he has only taken care to free from
the impeachment Of unwse meddling and to aid, as
far possible, by Strengthening the natural force
the aIpervading life itself, fighting against the dis
ease BY which it is enfeebled.
Whatever life may be, we know the conditions
of its gustenance; we know that the powers of life
are impaired by all diseases we know that eften
If not always their tendency is to curative effect
and we care only to show here, by many instances,
that the success Of this effort is very commonly
proportioned to the degree in which those powers
Of life are sustained and strengthened.
A gentleman married at the age of so, and had
five children. Two died before the age Of 3d. as it
seemed, Of pure debility; the others appeared
likely to follow. There are many reasons for the
obvious difference in the degrees Of vital force
which children bring into the world.
When child is at the breast, it Is a common
/ household proyerb that weekly mother makes a
crying baby. Instead Of giving Dafy's Elixir and
nourish the mother well with ample food, and give
/ her all possible peace Of mind. To secure still
/ night to nursing infant there are few medicines
30 effec.ual as full dose, to be taken by the
/ mother before bedtime, of good SOUP, and some
wine or beer. A sick infant should, Of course, as
i far as possible be supplied with the requisites of
healthy life; and the first Of these is good air
child Of eighteen months, weak from its birth, and
threatened with water on the brain, was dieted
carefully without success He steadily got worse,
and was unable to digest even milk and water AS
q last resort he was taken to q watering place.
No alteration was apparent until he had turned
the angle between the river bank and the open
sea bnt the instant he had done So a change was
perceptible in his features-the haggard look of
suffering was replaced by the placid look of ordin-
airy repose. AS soon as he arrived at the lodging
taken he was ready for meal, and digested with
| perfect ease a small basin full Of bread and milk.
The vomiting and purging ceased at once, and the
recovery was complete
child, aged twenty-five months, had convul-
sions that resisted all treatment She was sent into
/ the country and they ceased immediately She
was brought back to town in few days, and thew
| returned. She was taken back into the country,
kept there for some months, and came home quite
| We have NIL read and known many examples Of
the sustaining power of hope, and Of the depres-
sion OF the vital force under despair. A man re-
caiyes hurt, which is BY accident oyer-estimated,
and his doctor says in his hearing that it must be
MORTAL He lies still in bed eating nothing, silent
ly expecting and assuring himself Of death. Some
body else, in whom he has full confidence, happen
ing to see that ne i not seriously hurt, orders him
chops and porter; his eyes brighten his tongue ID
/ loosed, and next day he is well.
/ As we have seen of the strength of mania, SO we
may ind of all forms Of ansoundness Of mind, that
hui increase OF Vital force.
lady subject only at certain times to alteration
i o. mind, with sleeplessness that was not to be
4 conquered ny narcotics, recovered by the help Of
i steel medicine, good diet a slight daily walk and
carriage exercise. An overwcrkcd young surgeon,
Il whose mind wavered, and whose sleepiess nights
i were haunted with wild visions, recovered by the
use of liberal food, steel and cod oil sister OF
4 daughter, wearied with watching by the sick whose
j eyes are darkened with black spots, and whose
ears sing takes wine, with the support of frequent
food, and IL freed from those distresses An elderly
4 lady had an attack which size feared bodied apo
plesy. The surgeon who first saw her finding he,
4 pale, weak and badly nonrished, prescribed TONES
and good living. She was wen IN week. snbse
/ quently she had a similar attack and was seen b,
practitioner of the old school, who leeched antt
1 purged her. She was dead in two days.
stout woman who had lived freely. used purg
/ atives, and suffered now and then from giddiness
/ was seized with apoplesF. There was clear de
bility OF constitution, with fainty heart TONES
/ were strongly recommended by the consulting
physician; but, on the other hand it was urged
/ that the patient was so welded to pnrga
/ tives that she would take them surreptitiously
i II they were not prescribed. They were pre-.
I scllbed, and the woman lived only fortnight.
Another woman of the same age and like con
4 stitution apoplexy being imminent was treated
only with anietand tonics and has heen for years
Fl IN perfect health. Short stout, ford man. whose
lather and grandfather had died of apoplexy was
aot heiu 70 pc the stronger for the aspect of his
isaee, was strengthened with rest. toncs and good
aleas ana recovered man of $50 pounds stead
In sank,hg under purgatiyes, recovered upon the
ressrsat OF ms treatment Seamen, after exposure
II gnft.a y.