Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1863-09-04

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n hofg4ag LUN0S.E9 N9''0l 'D3~
The first article in recent number Of the
Atlantic Monthly contains more good sense
upon diseases Of the lungs, their causes, and
the proper methods Of treatment, than we
have before seen compressed into The same
amount of space The author, DR.. Dio Lewis
whose new system Of gymnastics has already
made him widely known, scouts the theory
that consumption is a local disease. tits, he
affirms, q general disease Of the system Of
which the affection of the lungs Is . mani
festation.t Says DR.. Lewis: se- rsr-t,g rs
, "a ships crew is seized with some fearful
malady. They hang out flag of distress.
Another ship passes near the infected vessel.
It's captain discovers the Gag of distress. A
boats crew is sent to cut it down. The cap
tain turns tohis passengers with the triumph
ant exclamation we have saved them All
signs Of distress have disappeared T. A hu-
man body is diseased in every part. A flag
Of distress is hung out in the form Of some
malady at tho surface. Some physician
whose thinking is on the surface of things,
applies an ointment. which compels the mai.
ady to 20 back within the body again, Then
he cries: - have cured him see; IL is all
gone! 1t may be said that when the dis
ease attacks the lungs, it must be driven from
that vital organ at any sacrifice. I reply il
the drug vapors which are inhaled could dis
perse the tuberculous deposit-which is inn
possible-the tubercle could not be transfer.
red to any other internal organ where il wo'd
do less harm. No other Internal organ can
bear tuberculous deposits or liberation with
less danger to life.s In 1647, two brothers,
bank officers, afflicted with chronic infam.
nation Of the eyes, came under my care. /
repeatedly prescribed for them, but their eyes
st no better. Indeed, they had little hope
of fAlief; for, during their years Of suffer.
ing, many physicians had treated them with.
out avail. At length told them there was
no hope but in absence from their business,
and such recreation as would elevate the gen
eral tone. A few months of hunting, fishing
and enjoyment in the country sufficed to re.
move the redness and weakness from their
eyes. As have argued, the disease is not
one of the eyes, but Of the entire system,
which bad assumed . local expression. This
dependence of particular upon. general dis
ease is a. common idea with the people. A
young man begins business with large cap.
ital. He falls into dissipation. In ten years
it exhausts his fortune. When at last we
see him begging for bread, we do not say this
exhibition of his poverty is his financial dis
case. His financial constitution has been ru-
ined. The begging is only an unpleasant
exhibition Of that ruin. During this course
Of dissipation, the young man, in addition
to the exhaustion Of his fortune, ruins his
health. His lungs fall into consumption
Some doctor may tell you il il disease OF the
lnnno M II 10 <>I tl,o
lungs than was begging the mans financial
malady. In either case the apparent disease
is only an exhibition OF the constitutional
malady." q at, ug= TofzEaG osafd I
!. We have long been convinced that yitiated
air and senseless models Of dress are, in our
cities st least, the chief causes Of pulmonary
disease. We have earnestly longed Cor the
appearance of some one who would preach
the gospel Of pure ART Is almost as much
needed as the gospel Of grace. Thousands
of persons, otherwise intelligent, do not.ap-
pear to know that waited air is an active poi
son. We have often felt inclined to cry out
against the builders Of tenement. houses, and
the lazy authorities who suffer filth to accu-
mulate in the streets as murderers Of men,
women and children. DR.. Lewis condemns
the common usage Of society in respect to
ventilation in unsparing terms. On this
point he says: ---------as-- 7.--.---~-
"The victims of the Black. Hole in Calcut
ia and of the steamer Londonderry, with the
thousand other instances in which immedi-
ate death has resulted from carbonic. acid,
are terrible examples in the history of hu-
man suffering; but these cases are all as
nothing, compared with those Of the million
who nightly sleep in unventilated rooms,
from which they escape with life, but not
without serious injury. As medical man,
have visited thousands Of sick persons, and
have not found one hundred of them in pure
atmosphere. have often returned from
church seriously doubling whether / had
not committed sin in exposing myself TO
its poisonous air. There are in our great
cities churches costing fifty thousand dollars
in the construction of which not fifty dollars
were expended in providing means for ven.
tilation. Ten thousand dollars for ornament
but not ten dollars for pure air! Parlors
with furnace-hcat and number of gas burn
ers leach Of which consumes as much oxy-
gen as several mem ara made as close as
possible, and party ofladies and gentlemen
spendhalf the night in them. In 1851
visited legislative hail. The legislature
was in session. remained half an hour In
the most impure air | ever attempted to
breathe. II the laws which enAnAted from
such an atmosphere Ore good, it Is remar-
kable instance OF the mental and moral rising
above a deprayed physical. Our school,
houses are, some Of them, so vile in this re-
spectthat ! would prefer to have my son re.
main:in utter erignoral,ce Of books, rather than
breathe, during six hours Of every day, 80
poisonous an atmosphere. Theatres and
concert rooms are so foul that only reckless
people can continue to visit them. Twelve
hours in railway car exhausts one, not be-
cause Of the sitting, but because Of the devi-
talized air. While crossing the ocean in the
Cunard steamer Africa, and again in the
Collins steamer Baltic, was constantly
amazed that men who knew enough to con-
struct such noble ships did not Know enough
to furnish sir to the passengers. The dis
tresses Of sea sickness are greatly intensified
by the sickning atmosphere which peryades
the ship. Were caYbonic acid black, what a
contrast would be presented between the air
Of our hotels and their elaborate ornamenta-
ton! 1t is hardly necessary to say that cv-
cry place have mentioned might be cheaply
and completely ventilated. Consumption
originates in the tuberculsv diathesis. This
diathesis is produced BY those agencies which
deprave the blood and waste vitality. OF
these agences none is 20 universal and po.
tent as impure air. When We consider that,