Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-05-26
HEALTH CROAKING.

The British Medical Journal says that
during the last twenty years the total deaths
of males Of all ages from heart disease have
increased from 5,746 in 1851 to 12,42S in
1871, and the percentage of deaths from
heart disease for every one thousand of
population living was 755 between the
years 1851 and 1855, and has risen to LOSS
from 1866 to 1870. This increase has also
taken place wholly in connection with the
working years of active social life. with no
change In the percentage of deaths from
this cause in males under %. Between 20
and IS years of age it has risen from 55S
to 7O9, and almost exclusively in
males, for there is almost no increase in.
the percentage of females dying from heart
disease during the twenty-five years of life
from 81 to As. The Cincinnati Gazette is
not disposed to attach much importance to
such statistics as these. 1t says: 'Every
now and then the physical as well as the
moral evils Of the present are depicted in
strong colors, reference being made invari-
ably to the good old days of our grand
fathers and grandmothers, when such
sorrows were not known, or were compare
lively Of rare occurrence. The latest horror
pitched upon, is the increase of heart dis
ease, which is ascribed to overwork, undue
excitement, and fast living. Undoubtedly
every era, like every trade, has certain dis
eases to which people under its influence
are peculiarly subject. Every prudent man,
knowing the point from which attack is to
be expected on the vital citadel, will, there
fore, take special pains to guard the threaten
ed position. Yet, on the other hand, there is
no occasion for nervousness, but rather for
rejoicing that we live in the nineteenth cen
tury instead Of the seventeenth or
eighteenth. IN those European countries
in which mortuary statistics have been Kept
long and carefully, there has been gradu-
al and noticeable, though small. decrease
in the death rate during the past two centur-
les. Drainage and ventilation are farbetter
Observation-Disclosures has been discovered
and the necessity of cleanliness entered
deeply into the public conviction since the
good old times. As a consequence, epidem
les are now rare, and when they occur, gen
orally more manageable. Two hundred
years ago, and even less, it was regular
annual occurrence for whole villages to bt
Frustrated by a low type of fever. In the
localities thus afflicted drainage has now
removed or greatly lessened the evil. Tn
New England of our day has had no such
widespread mortality as was OccaslOned II
the last century by the ''putrid sore throat,
and if the cholera first appeared in Chris.
tendon only about fifty years ago, it ha:
not been as widely fatal as was the small
box through many years of the two centu-
ries preceding our own. There are still plague
spots in the civilized world, where malaria
or other local causes, not yet removed, pu
In peril the life of all but the acclimated
but they are growing fewer. Death mus
be the lot Of us all, even if we escape cpl
Yet we are not usually in as much DANCE
as our ancestors. When we consider how
much more migratory persons are TO-DAY
than were those who lived before the discov
cry of Iocomotion by steam, the disparity o
sick in our favor becomes still more strihngl!
apparent. Accidents are far more frequen
than they should be, yet their percentage tc
betotal of travel is remarkably small. As w
have said before, every prudent man vii
repel attack whenever he has reason to an
ticipate it. Few persons are Obliged t.
work themselves to death, and none arr
compelled to eat or drink themselves int
their graves. Would it not then be bette
for everyone to respect the laws Of moral
mental, and physical hygiene, and stol
mourning for his ancestors and grievint
over his possible dangers 2"