Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-07-22
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 two-thousand
cases at this hour in the city of New
York alone. Many are nearly down
with it who do not suspect it, and
these can bring it on by single act
of indiscretion. Ten minutes on the
street corner in a cold wind; a glass of
brandy or whiskey; late hours and ex-
posture at night; an evening in badly
ventilated church or theatre 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 hasty 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 mucous, 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 lung is over
come, the patient is often left in SO
low a condition that is impossible for
him to ralley. 1t is a 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 subjected, and to the more sedent
| airy life of women, who do not suffer
from such constant changes and such
shocks to the lungs. The best pre-
ventive against pneumonia is to keep
the mouth closed when going from a
hot place to a cold, and breathe
through the nose. 1t comes like a
flash of lightning; there is no prepar-
alton or means of averting it One
may 60 to bed healthy, to all appear
ance, and wake up with the disease
in full blast. Then it is simply ques-
ton of constitution. Medical skill
avails but little, and physicians pur.
sue but one course-to keep the pa
tent in warm, equal temper ature;
to give remedies as much as possible
to clear the lungs, and to seek to
keep up the proper animal heat. The
patient ordinarily partly loses con-
seriousness on the third day, and the
crisis is reached on the seventh. If
not dead then, there is small chance
of recovery, and all depends upon the
strength of the patient.
Pneumonia is far more fatal with US
than it was years ago. We may attri-
butte the increased mortality from
this disease to a multitude of causes.
Alcohol 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 deleteri-
Gus gas, which seriously impairs the
lungs, and renders the inhalation of
cold air positively dangerous. To
bacco smoke dries up the mucous
membrane of the throat and air pas
sages, and disturbs their healthy &C
ton. Alcohol destroys the power of
the stomach, and SO lessons vitality
that 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 &C
count for the enormous mortality from
this disease. Halls Journal Of Health.