Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-08-29
DISEASE OF THE HEART.
BY JAS. G.. JACKSON, N.

than at auy period in its history..Hear
disease is found to confneitself TO those
classes of our people who for the most
part are largely engaged in oceupa'ionS
which require great mental igor, STU
dious habits and sedentary life. Many
medical mon who had to do with the
treatment of this disease, Whatever
might be its peculiar form OF maniies-
tation, came to the conclusion that u
originated in o~vertaIation OF the prain,
and was to be regarded as q reactionary
condition of the nervous system, inrolV-
ing great disturbance ofthe circulation,
as such reactions usually do. nave
had ia my practice over 2Oo cases Oh
pronounced heart disease, . majority OF
which had been declared to be organic,
but which ultimately proved to DO only
functional, the disease beings ympatnetlc
rather than structional. or these cases
the largest number were %clergymen, the
next lawyers, the next bankers or pup,
lie %inanciers, the next persons engaged
in political life, the next merchants In
large cities, the next teachers or stu.
dents in schools, the next conductors OF
public journals, the next persons, what
ever their calling, who proved to be ally
related In their domestic life. nave
found only a few physicians, and OF oil.
the women whom have had TO treat
under my direct personal oversight n
supervision / have never had but four
who had been said by physicians to
have heart disease. In rejecting upon
the subject it seemed to me that the
pradatfons alluded to above, Indicated
somewhat the liability Of persons in
these respective callings to suffer from
the disease; though | am pretty well
satisfied that in the great majority ofin-
stances where heart affections obviously
exist, they are more decidedly the product
primarily of digestive than the brain dis
turbance. Ihave noticed that where per-
sons suffer from long-continued dyspep-
sia, and metastasis of the disease takes
place, as it often does, the irritation
passes from the stomach to the heart
quite as frequently as it does to any
other organ, unless it be in the case of
s~crofulous persons who are predisposed
10 consumption. Then it goes to the
lungs. In many cases, however, | have
| found arrangements of the hearts &C.
ton not only, but structural alterations
of it, such as thickening of its walls,
thickening up Of one or the other of its
valves, general enlargement Of it, incip-
lent dropsy of It, to have been caused
by severe and loug-continued conges-
| ton of the brain. II can readily be
seen and understood blythe professional
| man, and is not difficult TO be under
| stood by the common reader, that where
the heart becomes structurally diseased
| it must have been for a long time pre-
viously deranged in its general action.
| There must have existed such a condi-
| ton of the nervous system in connection
| with the circulation as to make the
| heart do double work within a given
space Of time, or do its work irregularly
| or do it under such nervous excitement
as at length to cause an incompetency
Of natural action, thus creating a neces-
sity for the change not only in its ac-
ton, but in the very structure itself.
Where such condition has existed for n
long time, and particularly where the
brain itself has been overtaIed, it is not
wonderful that the heart should show
such deviations from the normal state
as to lead physicians to conclude that
it is organically diseased, when in truth
and in fact it is not. Taking the num-
Der Of cases with which | have had TO
deal, / have been surprised to see how
eminently successfulthe psycho-hygienic
treatment has proved. could give some
very remarkabls circumstances of reoov-
cry from supposed long-confrmed or
ganic disease Of the heart, and all this
by means which resulted in reinvigor-
alton Of the organic nervous system, and
q great improvement thereby Of the d.
gsstive and assimilatiye organs, result
ing in making much better and larger
quantities Of blood /; thus giving to the
system moro available vitality which
under the cardinal law of cure was d.
rected to the heart itself, as the chief
point Of diseased action, and so restor-
ing IL to a natural and healthy state.
I believe q chief reason of its becoming
so prevalent in our country is that those
who suffer from it not only work excess
sively but eat and drink excessively. |
look upon the use of tobacco as one of
the strongest predisposing as well rs
one of the most powerfully provoking
agents in the production Of heart dis
ease. l regard it as vastly more inju-
rious in this direction than alcoholic
liquors can ever be and next to tobac-
CO I regard the use Of brewed liquors as
exercising the largest influence in its
production. Gluttony and excessive
sexual indulgence conspire largely to
induce 1t. When in connection with all
these a man uses habitually diffusible
stimulants, he does but hasten on the
diseased condition because the more
powerful the direct waste of nervous
energy the moro powerful will be the
reactions in the shape of permanent and
fixed debility and he who uses narcot-
les in large measure, and then induces
reactions Of his nervous system by the
introduction into his circulation Of diff
fusible st%imulants, will create just that
disturbance in the circulation of the
blood, and particularly in and about the
region Of the heart, which sooner or
Il lhteT ouu III luuuSluB aisoEhSiouo III io
structure, or such impairments in its
functional energy as to render it quite
incompetent to the proper performance
of its work. II the. progress Of the dis
case among our people is not to be stop
ped we have to begin at the point where
self-indulgence centers and makes its
strongest Notifications, and that is in
the dietic and drinking and smoking
habits of our people. No mar of nerv-
GUS temperament should ever use to-
bacco, nor should be ever drink beer,
nor coffee, nor tea, o spurious liquors.
His food should be simple, and his drink
water; then Whatever other disease he
may have, he will not have heart dis
ease; for unless a man does use one or
more of these stimulo-narcotics he is
not at all likely to become gluttonous
in eating; and very few men 10 this
country out Of the whole number who
die of heart disease would ever have
had IL had they not been u~nhealthfully
related in their dietetic or drinking hsb-
its. I regard the psycho-hygienic treat
ment as greatly superior to that usually
employed by medical men, for the very
good reason as l think that the great
majority of persons who have como to
Our Home to be treated for disease Of
- 60 5000