New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-05-29
NERVOUS DISEASES md THEIR CUR

NERVOUS DISEASES md THEIR CURE.
The present warm, moist Spring weather, as
medical authorities assure us is the season
when neuralgia in this country il most active
aud difficult to managc--a question which GER
tainly concerns us all, FOR what man or woman
among us has not within the last five years
felt the nip Of its savage hngersf Yellow
fever. cholera and the like are imported
plaques, and come and go, but we have natlir-
allied this especial torture. Whatever dis
tincticn We may fail to establish at tho Cen
tennal among other nations, we at least can
boast monopoly of nervous diseases. Testing
apart, there is 10 more serious question offered
for public consideration than the rapid increase
Of this type of d-ease which, i'll its prOtean
forms, threatens to undermine tho health OF
all the women in the country, ard at least all
tho brain workers among the men. We may
lay tho blame, as we choOsc, on our unsteady,
| anxious social condition, the hurried struggle
for wealth, the use Of liquor. or The climate ;
but thc fact remains. The death oi nnc-t enths of
| the leading men in the country whom we have
lost during the last few years has been traced re-
motcly or directly to cerebral other neural dis
eases and hot only the bills of mortality of large
| cities, but the observation of every intelligent
man in his private circle, will prove that it is
the nervous system of Americans that is de-
fective, and either impairs their usefulness or
kills them at middle age. We have larger
and far more wholesome supply of food than
any other nation; information on tho simple
rules OF hygiene is more widely distributed
| aud closely followed than among any other !;
the deleterious influences OF hOt-air furnaces,
fashionable dissipation, ETC., oily apply to the
few large towns yet from the lumbernan in
| Maine 10 the missi mary in Oregon comes the
universal complaint headache, men
nights. paralysis, cerebral congestion, sudden
failure of mental power in middle age Which
of the wives of this suffering host can boast Of
"A .riDe aud head free from ache Z AS for the
daughters, when We look ut the present gen
Grafton Of fragile, r0so-tintcd little gills, with
piDc-stem waists and daily symptoms OF
bvsieria, always excited and always tired, we
cannot but reflect with pity or the condition
of future generations.
With such opportunities for study before
them, il is not surprising that tho most i'm
portant discoveries in the treatment of nervous
diseases in late years shorld have been made
by American PHI sicians. Brown-Stquard,
light upon The difficulties oi this subject, not
only for medical men but for the people, by
III, esing their discoveries as far as practicable
of technical terms, and publishing them in
language adapted to popular use. Common
serse in these busy times brings the sacred
vessels out Of every temple inio everyday
use, with 20 far most Wholesome effect.
| Women, after reading Brown-SfQuard's
essays in THE THIBuNE. or DR.. Woods
papers on Fever in NppiacoHs, will be
far less likely TO be tempted by quack
practice, or TO potter up ard down society
with private boxes of pills. Our attention was
especially called TO this subject by one of a
series of pamphlets containing lectures upon
topics Of practical and general interest by
eminent medical instructors, just published by
G.. =. Puinam's Sons. The lecture treats oil
the use Of rest in nervous diseases, which the
writer Or. Weir MitchelD regards as of
primary importance, If not certain
means of cure. We are afraid the
learned physician will have great difficulty
in substituting 80 simple prescription for
the popular one of opium, 10 which neuralgia
forced Coleridgc and De Quincy 10 resort, as
well as countless obscure people nowadays.
Tho average man has faith only in desperate
remedies, and despisos simple and slow ones,
just N Naaman the Syrian did in his day.
The rest, however, to be effective must be
absolute and entire: if limb he affected, it
must be put in splnts; it, rs in certain curious
eases of OverwOrk of the brain, there is a sudden
but permanent loss of power in the whole
body, the whole body is TO be kept totally