The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-26
DIR. MORsE,
On Causes Of Consumption
i5 LETTER XXI.

To the Editor orfhe Native STATE Press;
SIR: In preceding letters have given descrip-
tion of Catarrh. Bronchitis, and the symptoms OF
Consumption. and now come TO the considers don
of the causes which produce Consumption. n Is on
ly BY tracing the disease back to he that the
means necessary for Its prevention can be discover
cd the treatment required for Its made plain
and Ineligible to the non-professlonal reader.
Ia consumption caused By inheritanees That 1t
10 generally regarded will not be denied. Indeed
so common Is this belief among the people that few
persons who come TO me for an examination fail 10
tell me that they know that their lungs cannot be
sected for none Of their family ever had consnmp-
tion." .ial ala Is H tNn
Now. nothing could be further from the truth than
the supposition that this disease IL the common
suit Of some faint implanted in the system BY the
parents- Thou.ands syeTy year lose their lives By
rious because their family had previously escaped
this soourge. They disregard the wsrning Of seat.
cd hacking sSaSS aSi the g .R, become asd Jh
II is too late to them What DO the istcs Of
eonsnmT ton teach usf -sy out Of every hundred
causes, while emily twenty trace 1t in their fam.
II. -Four cases out o. every I've occur without
trace q - ~ @ rim
tion amer smother. bat this does not prove that
the disease 10 necessarily hereditary II o1y proves
than Others In eighty eases in every hundred the
disease may be traced 10 ted cold or con.
hsementin IN Impure air. !" dusty Woskshop,"
rare instances consumption 1. inherited, but never
uniess mother has the disease when the child Is
aftsr birth In the zane sense ANAL box, and nfty
| other diseases are heridiAry. A mother that has
| not herself got consumption can no more transmis
II to her oGpring than she eould transmit small pox
Without having II. No parent can transmit what
We inherit nom our parents form, features, ara
ha forrn AZ nrrr
we Inherit tho liabilities which that form entails
they be tal their children viii also DO tall II one
semble one psrenr and ZONE the other. II one has
large ches and the other small one che anne DIFF
fsrencs viii be fonnd In the ehildEen whoever has
asmall chest has an inereesed liability to eonaug p
ton from this eausei children born with tis dof6ct
In their organsm are always delicate In yvuh. They
cannot run as Ear Or liftas much a. other boys Of
their co. and yet they NAV DO perfectly henltny =
They 70 on to the ar Of puberty without any sign
Of consumption. and then amer another ~ they
Why i tnsi Il 5 bsosuss when youth .uddeniy sx-
| pands into manhood and womanbood, great IN
s Rssi y %: :ss Of II: and IN
responding increase In the quantity Of air received
Il each Inspiration into the lunes. As the lungs
between the quantity Of the blood and the air. and
a. q consequence the blood becomfs impure tnber-
Giles dspo.iIed. and the pa lent fals into con
sumption. There are instances where every mem Der
Of the family are cut o6in this way On the oIher
hand whore tbs parents have paid pror attention
Ing the capacity OF the lungs. they often escape,
though having every predisposition 20 consumption
Again psrenta have any peculiar rrtahility Of the
mucous membrane Of the air passages the same win
be found In the children and this By increasn their
liability to oatarrh and bronchit's may predsposo
them to consumption; bat pres isp0sition % very
different from Inheritance. 80. 49,. :
Every person may DO said to BE- predIsposed thas
has small chest or an irritable mucous membrane.
We may inhsr there and other physical pecnllazl.
ties bal no person since the founda ion Of the world
ever yet Inherited any disease unless the parent
had that disease 1t The time Of birth
Your obedient servant, ~
1854 Fttl CHAs. MORsE, n. D., a
Phyrician Tor Diseases Of the Throat and Langs.
Once No Smith ct Portland. Ne dnoE2eE1W