The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-05-13

APOPLEXY.-MeanS' Slrlcken 1Or1H,
description given by the Greeks, I'M
der the feeling that it was of unearth-
ly origin, The person falls down as if
suddenly struck with death There is
neither thought, feeling, nor voluntary
motion. There is no sign of life, ex-
cept that of deep, heavy breathing. 1t
comes on with the suddenness of the
lightning's flash, and with as little pre-
monition. A common fainting fit oc-
ours suddenly, but there is no breath
ing, no pulse, and the face is pale and
shrunken. In apoplexy, if the person
is not really dead, the face is flushed,
the breathing loud, and the pulse full
and strong, usually. In mild attacks,
a person is found in bed of morning
apparently sound asleep; but if SO, he
can be easily walked up. In apoplexy
no amount of shaking makes any i'm
preston. The earliest Greek writers
describe apoplexy with minute accu-
racy, which has scarcely been exceed
ed since, showing that it is malady be-
longing to all time.
To pass from apparent perfect health
to instant death on entering ones own
dwelling, or sitting down to the fami-
ly table, or while at the happy freside,
in the loving interchange of affection
ate Offices, strikes us as being perfectly
terrible. But the terror belongs to
the witnesses; the victim is perfectly
destitute of thought feeling, sensation
and consciousness, for the time being
as if the head had been taken off by a
cannon-ball. In many cases, after ly-
ing for hours and even days in state
of insensibility, the patient wakes up
as if from an uneasy sleep or dream;
but often, as many sadly know, there
is no return to life.
The essential nature Of the disease
seems to be such an excess of blood in
the brain that its appropriate vessels
or channels canot contain it, and it is
extravasated, let out, upon the sub
stance of the brain itself, and thus ar
rests the functions of life. Persons
with short necks, who are 'thickest,
corpulent, are almost the actual sub
jects of apoplexy, wher not induced
by falls, blows, shocks, and oyerdoses
of certain drugs.
Apoplexy is an ayoidable disease,
except in some cases OF accidents,
which we can neither forsee nor pre-
vent; it is, essentially, too much blood
in the brain. The blood is either sent
there too rapidly, or, when there, is
detained in some unnatural manner,
the essential effect being the same.
Whatever "excites the brain" does so
by sending an unnatural amount of
blood there; such AZ intense and long
thought on one subject; all kinds of
liquors; any drink containing alcohol,
whether ale, beer, cider, wine or bran
dy, excites the brain and endangers
apoplexy. SO will hearty meal, es-
pecially if alcoholic drinks are taken
at the same time; going to bed soon
after eating heartily, sleeping on the
back, if corpulent, may bring on an
attack any night; so will a hot bath,
after eating. The ultimate effects of
all opiates are to detain the blood in
the brain, while the things just men
toned send it there in excess.
nc BItut ptcNtHtutiNtS uio warm
feet, regular daily bodily habits, eating
nothing later than three O'Clock, r. NJ,
and the avoidance of opiates, tobacco,
and all that can intoxicate. In cases
of attack, send for physician. Mean
while, put the feet in hot water, and
envelop the head with cold; ice is bet
ter. 1t is safer to live in billy than
level country, in town than country.
Winter is more dangerous than sum
mer. The liability increases rapidly
after forty years of age, greatest at
sixty, when it gradually diminishes.
Statistics seem to show that the most
dangerous years are roRTy-naHr, FIFTY
EIGHT, sIxTY-six, while forty-sir and for
ty-niae are almost exempt. The we'll
to-do are more liable than the laboring.
Sudden changes of weather promote
attacks. Let the liable, especially,
live in reference to these well-estab-
lished faets..-HaiPs journal Of Health.
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