The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-05-07
The Most Deadly Disease.

The most deadly acute disease from
which the people of the United States
are to day suffering is pneumonia
There are not less than 1000 cases at
this hour in the city of New York
alone. Many are LearIy down with
it who do not suspect it, and these can
bring it on by a single act of indiscre-
ton. Ten minutes on a street corner
10 the cold wind glass OF brandy or
whisky; late hours and exposure at
night an evening in a badly ventilated
church or theater any OF these may
permit the latent disease to manifest
itself.
The disease attacks the lungs, but is
not, as generally supposed, a species of
hRsty consumption. There is very
little expectoratiOn in pneumonia, and
in many cases none at all. The cold
settles on the lungs, the air passages
fill up with mucus, and death is due to
the impOssibility of breathing, or TO
the weakness which the disease brings
on, as cautious dieting is necessary.
When the trouble in the lungs is over
come, the patient is often left in so low
a condition that it is impossible to
make him rally. It is rather singular
phase of this deadly disease that the
percentage of cases is as four to one in
favor Of men. Women very seldom
suffer from it. This may be due to the
greater exposure TO which men are sub
jectej, and the more sedentary life of
women, who do not suffer from such
constant changes and such shocks
TO the lungs. The best preventive
against pneumonia is to keep the
mouth closed when going from a
hot place to a cold, and breathe
through the nose. It comes like flash
of lightning; there Is no preparation
or means of averting it. One may go
to bed healthy, to all appearances,
and wake UP with the disease in full
blast. Then it is simply a question of
constitution. Medical skill avails but
little, and physicians pursue but one
cOurse-tO keep the patient in a warm,
equal temperature to give remedies as
much as possible to clear the lungs,
and to seek to keep up the proper ami
NAL heat. The patient ordinarily partly
loses consciousness on the third day,
and the crisis is reached on the seventh.
If not dead then, there is a small
chance of recovery, and all depends
on the strength OF the patient.
Pneumonia is far more fatal with us
than it was years ago. We may attrib-
ute the increaaed mortality from this
disease to a multitude of causes. Al.
cOhol gives the disease more victims
than all else. Other causes are steam
heating devices, bad ventilation, and
tobacco smoke. The devitalized heat
of the steam pipes is most injurious to
the lungs. The action of the heat on
the iron coils sends off a deleterious
gas, which seriously impairs the lungs,
and renders the inhalation of cold air
positively dangerous. Tobacco smoke
dries up the mucus membrane of the
throat and air passages, and dispels
their healthy action. Alcohol destroys
the power of the stomach, and so les
sens vitality that a simple "cold -
speedily becomes pneumonia. These
causes-added to the absurd custom of
bundling up the throat while leaving
the feet nearly without proteCtiOn-are
sufficient to account for the enormous
mortality from this disease. -HdTS
Journal Of Health.