Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-14
TheOry of Medieated inhalation
DR.. RAMSAY

No. L.
now come TO the cosideration of the
causes which produce Consumption. 1t is
only by tracing the disease back TO its
source, that the means necessary for its
prevention can be discovered, or the treat
ment required for its cure made plain and
Ineligible TO the non-professional reader.
Is Consumption caused By Inheritance?
That it is generally SO regarded, will not
be denied. Indeed, so common is this be-
lief among the people,thatfew persons who
come to us for an examination fail to tell
us that they Hnoso that their lungs can not
be affected, for none Of their family cUer
had consumption"
Now, nothing coull be further from the
truth than the supposition that this dis
e-se is the common result of some faint
implanted in the system by the parents.
Thousands every year lose their lives by
fattering themselves that their disease
cannot be serious because their family had
previously escaped this scourge. They
disregard the warning of a seated hack
ing cough, until the lungs become filled
with tubercles, and only discover their
errcr when, alas it Is too late 10 save
them. What do the statistics of Con-
sumption teach US? Why, that out of
every hundred consumptiYes, eight ac-
quire the diaease from other causes, while
only ticenty can trace it in their family.
-Four cases out of every fire occur without
a trace of Inheritance. In our own prac-
tiee not more than fifteenth every hundred
have any knowledge of the disease hav-
ing previously occurred in their families,
while eighty-fVe trace it directly TO "5leq-
leted colds" confinement in an '~inlDurs
air. "dusty workshops" or some other
source of local irritation. And in this re-
spect our experience is not materially diff
ferent from that of other physicians who
have studied the history of Consumption.
DIR. Walshe, one of the physicians
of the hospital for Consumption
in London, places the acquired cases
at seventy-nine per cent, and those aris-
ing from family predisposition at twenty
one per cent. Briquet, physician to one
of the Paris hospitals, tells us that out of
ninety-eight cases occurring under his OBJ
~servation, siztg-eight were unable to dis
cover any family liability. But it will be
answered, "Whole families arc known to
die ofthis disease, one after another" We
admit this; but does it prove that the dis
ease is necessarily hereditary? Does it
prove anything more than that some FAM
lilies are moro liable to Consumption than
others
In some rare instances Consumption is
iRheLited, but saeUer unless the mother hrs
the disease ,chea the child IS born, and then
the child generally dies in a few months
after birth. In the same sense, smallpox
and fifty other diseases are hereditary.
We have seen a child bern with small
pox postules over the whole body. A
mother that has not herself got Consump-
ton can no more transmit it to her off
spring, than she could transmit smallpox
without having it. No parent can rams
NIT what she has not.
We inherit from u parents form, feG-
fures and temperament. In inheriting the
form of our parents, we inherit the liabil-
tiles which that form entails. If they
are tall, their children will also be tall.
If one be tall and the other
short, some children may resemble
one parent and some the other. If
n has a large chest and the other a small
one, the same differ ence will be found in
the children. Whoerer has a snail chest
has an increased Liability to Consumption
from this cause Children born with this
defect in their organism are always deli
cate in youth. They cannot RIM as far or
lift as much as other boys of their age,
yet they may be perfectly healthy. They
go on to the age of puberty without the
least sign of Consumption, and then one
after another, as they reach that age, may
sicken andfall into decline. Why is this2
1t is because, when youth suddenly ex-
pands into manhood and womanhood, a
great increase takes place in the size of the
body, and in quantity of blood in the sys-
tenn This requires a corresponding in
crease in the quantity of the air received
at each inspiration into the lungs. As the
lungs are too small to admit this, there is
a loss of balance between the quantity of
the blood and the air, and, as a conse-
quence, the blood becomes impure, tuber-
Giles are deposited, and the patient falls
into Consumption. We have seen every
member of a family cut off in this way.
On the other hand, where the parents have
paid proper attention to the physical
training of their children by increasing
the capacity of the lungs, we have seen
them escape, though having every predis-
position to Consumption. Again, if par
ents have any peculiar irritability of the
mucous membrane of the air passages,
the same will be found in the chill
dren, and this, by increasing their
liability ito catarrh and bronchitis, may
predispoSe them to Consumption ;
but predisposition is very different
from inheritance. Every person may be
siad to be Predisposed that has a small
chest or an isrita6Ie nervous membrane.
We may iuherit these and other physical
pecntiarities, but 10 person, since the foun.
dation Of The 10erLd, erer yet Inherited any
disease unless the parent had that disease ut
the time of6irth.
NoTE.-Dr. Ramsay can DO consulted
at his Office, "a Public Squire, either per-
sonally or by letter upon all affections of
the Throat and Lungs. Send for the
work issued by the firm upon Diseases of
the Pulmonary Organs. Price por post,
% cents. The above letter is taken from
their Book. DR.. Ramsay will continue
this letter in next SATURDAYS issue