The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-06-24
PneumatlSm.
BY AN EMINENT PHYSICIAN.

rheumatism is a disease which q
large class of croakers and grumblers
hold responsible for every ache and
pain, fancied or real which they expe-
rience. With many it forms part of
their daily salutation with their friends
and neighbors, and is the only draw
back to perpetual health. But is rheu-
matism as common disease as would
appear from the frequent mention of
it by those we daily meet? By no
means. On the contrary, it is a very
infrequent disease. The word means
"to fiow," and has no significance of
itself. Older writers often associated it
with catarrh.n AS a disease, physi-
clans limit rheumatism to the infiana-
ton of the fibrous or white tissue, in
which-it being found about joints in
the largest quantity-the affection is
more frequently located. But the same
tissue is found i'm the heart and stom-
ach, and at other points, and hence We
have rheumatism of these organs and
parts. Rheumatism results from a
specine poison, accumulating in the
blood, and depending upon faulty di-
gestion and assimilation. This poison
is thought to be Tactic acid, which, af-
ter increasing to given quantity, is
eliminated from the system, and pro-
duces the excitement and fever of rheu-
ma ism. The exciting cause is gener-
ally cold; though the disease may oc-
cur without any known cause, and in
equatorial regions. 1t may exist in an
acute or chronic form, the latter always
being the result of the former. In the
acute form it is one of the most painful
affections, the fever being intense, and
the infiamed jointes eXquisitely tender
and sensitive. 1t is a migratory dis
ease, passing from joint to joint in sue
cession, without any very definiteior-
der Or it may leave the joints and at
tack the fibrous structures of the heart,
and lay the foundation permanent de-
rangement of that organ. In chronic
rheumatism, a low grade of inflammation
continues, or is again set up in the
fibrous structures of the heart, and lay
the foundation of permanent darange-
ment of that organ. In chronic rheu-
matism, low grade of inflammation
continues, or is again set up in the
fibrous tissues once affected, but with.
out involving other parts. Acute rheu-
matism runs a definite course, and ter
inmates like a self-limited disease,
whether treated or not. Sydenham
says the best remedy for it is six
weeks Chronic rheumatism has no
limitations as to time, but comes on
whenever the person is exposed to cold
or changes of the weather, and fire.
auently continues for months. Such is
rheumatism, acute and chronic.
How unlike these diseases are the
transient pains of which people so
much somplain, and which are so uni
versally as cribed to rheumatism How
few people comparatively, are afflicted
with this malady, and yet how many
groans are uttered and sighs drawn in
its name! 1t will be asked: What is
the symptoms so generally referred to
rheumatism They depend upon va
rious causes. In the laborer the mus
cles, especially of the shoulder, are fire.
quently overstrained, and become ten
der and unnaturally sensitive. The
period when they are most sensitive is
in the morning, after they have re-
mained quiet for several hours. The
first movement of the fibres which
have been overworked are painful, ow-
ing to a diminished secretion of lubri-
eating fluid while the muscle was in a
quiescent state. They move like ma
chinery which has been for some time
at rest and unoiled. Another class
have strained their nerves and ruptur-
ed many fibres; these muscles long re-
main sensitive to changes of the wea-
ther, and are painful at times, especi-
ally after long disuse. Thousands of
persons in advanced life suffer from
fixed and also from wandering pains
much of the time. Still another class
of persons suffer from painful condi-
ton of the nerveS-a true neuralgia,
but of mild type, and due to exposure
to cold, and always aggravated by
dampness and cold. This is probably
the most frequent cause of the so.called
rheumatise of persons of feeble health
and low vitality. 1t is apparent there
fore, that all is not rheumatism which
passes under that name; that indeed,
there is but little true rheumatism
i'm any community. The complaints
which pass under that nameare very
harmless, and have no fixed condition,
In general they are easily remedied by
counter irritants, as stimulating lini'
ments, by frictions, and by hot baths
with frictions. But most important is
the precaution of protecting the surface
with fiannels against the impressions
Of cold.-HeGrth and Home.
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