The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-09-01
Danger OF Dense Shade About
Dwellings.


Home, says the editor. contains facts
Justly calculated to startle ard alarm,
Although not at liberty to disclose the
name OF it's author, we eau give as
surance that what he says desefoes to
be carefully considered.
The article is even moro applicable
to cities and villages than to country
residents, and contains warning that
may well be needed by all:
s'I visited to-day with an cid prac-
titioner, in an adjoining county, a fam
lily in which consumption had Tor years
claimed It's victims.
As we rose to the summit Of a COM
handing eminenee which overlooked a
wide stretch Of country, dotted WIN
farm houses, and waving with the ripe
and abundant haryests for which that
coantry is distinguished, the physician
frightened the reills, and baltea to en-
.ioy more fully the beautiful panorama.
Certainly. a fairer' or more mellow
Iandscapo never shimmered in the
rays of a September sun. The har-
yest-crowned hills heaved with gentle
unduiations the deep-green valleys,
embosonling glistening streams, pur-
sued their devious windings as far as
the eye could reach the white farm
houses, indicating wealth, refinement,
and comfort, CLEANED out OF many a
grove Of densely shading trees.
Il take it, said my old friend, as
we pursued our Journey, " that howev-
or readily we may explain the causes
Of tvphus and typhoid levers, we have
made little progress in determining the
sonrces of such an insidious disease as
consnmption. Ii any disease can be
truly considered a visitation of God, it
Is consumI,tion. \ ous must agree with
me thaf ali the conditions of high de-
,erea Of I,i,llic health exist in this COM
munitv. and vet consumption, which,
1ro,n lis very name, would seem to im-
NV The existence of poverty and want.
IS not an 1nfrequent disease over this
antira district. Indeed, ] think it Is
erraatlv on the increase, for within my
TecollSction the number OF deaths from
His cause. annually, has more than
TnadrnpIed. And what is most re-
,aarl-o6Ic to me, is that this disease
seems 10 increase with the increase of
wealth and the personal comforts ofthe
neople. lii my. experience, 1T is not
the Moor that suffer most from con-
sumption, but the rich, and OF the rich
itapuears to single ont our Oldest and
most respectable families.
at Is quite true,p | replied, shat
CONSUMPTION is an insidiouS disease,
and henea more difficult to understand;
Int vet. Ike all diseases, it must de
mend upon some perrcrsion of the con
ditions OF health. and these may al
ways be explained and determined by
careful and logical inqnirY. Certain
facts are now web established inreisard
to the eausation of Consumption, though
thew do not explain all that pertains to
its etiology. This much We know
,tamefy. that the disease occurs by
preference among these who live much
IN It damp, shaded atmosphere, as in
:tpartmentS which are close, dark, and
wet. Thus we fiast it very prevalent
among the poor III cities, and especial
IL among those living in dark base
ments and cellars, rs compared with
she same class living i'll high, airy, and
srnlighted rooms. In the country, You
know, we meet with it more often in
Eyet districts, so situated rs to have but
little exposure TO the SUM-
!" But how DO Yoa EXPLAIN said he
s'tfe action of these causes in proGtuc
ing consumption 2"
q 4 person living in u damp room
without the sun, and without ventila-
tioli.v replied, is nourishcd like Il
plant IN Il cellar; he is very succulent,
but has no stamina; he grows rapidly,
bat has no real vitality: his tissues are
weak and fall into decay by d kind OF
overgrowth. The chemistry of life
wants its chief faetor--sunlight and
hence al its processes are inpeTfectly
perfoTmed.n
:. But il strikes me-" said he, q that
your theory strikingly fails to explain
why Ia this dry, airy, and sunlighted
region VIC have consumption, and III
Increasing frequency. The soil is dali
" becoming more dry by drainage,
and the removal Of the forests has Civ
en- us more sunlight and IA much freer
circulation of air. And yet | can re-
call several old families which forty
years ago had not q faint of consump-
ton, but now are nearly destroyed by
that disease. Consumption has seem
ed to be developed i'll these families,
and with great intensity"
II nevertheless bclieve,n | answer
ed, !" that Il careful inquiry viii disclose
the fact that these families have grown
up under very different circumstances
from those which surrounded the par
ents and grandparents in. their early
life They have lived too much in
doors; in houses situated in damp To-
calities, aud perhaps enveloped i'll q
dense shade. | venture to affirm
added, pointing to q venerable gate
way leading into the dense and impen-
etrable shade of a grove, and through
the carriage way of which We caught a
glimpse of a low, moss-covered build
ing, situated upon the margin and lev
el eta wide, shallow, sluggish stream,
that if a family has been reared in
that house during the last fifteen years,
consumption has appeared in fatal
form, especially among the female
members; and through that gateway
most of the children have already been
carried to their graves victims of that
malady.n
:. y said the physician, dit is
only too true. Five times have wit
messed the professions which have
borne, mid the falling leaves OF autumn,
the female members of that interesting
family group to yonder cemetery. All
died of consumption, the seeds of
which we have believed were inherited.
fat 4,