The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-08-24
A New Theory OF Hay Fever.

In 1872 DIR. Morrell Wyman, of Cam
bridge, Mass, published treatise on
hay fever in which he recognized two
distinct forms, namely "rose cold "
or "June cold," occurring in May or
June and corresponding to the hay
asthma of England and the continent,
and later form beginning in August
and lasting several weeks into the all,
to which he gave the name of "autum-
nal catarrh." subsequently DR.. Black
ley, of Manchester, England, puisued q
serious of ingenious researches to sup
port theory that hay fever is caused
mainly if not exclusively by the pollen
of grass. The studies of Helmholtz,
Wyman, and Blackley we refer to be-
cause, in point of time, they are among
The latest, and for tho reason thai they
have each been regarded as important
steps toward the thorough comprehen
sion of the malady. A new work on
tho subject has now just left the press,
in which all previous theories are re-
viewed, and the results of probably the
most extended investigation ever made
into the causes and nature of the disease
are placed before the public. The
author is DIR. George Mr.. Beard of New
York city, and the method in which the
inquiry has been conducted, together
with the facts elected, will commend
the work even to those who may not be
disposed to accept the theories adduced.
Following the example of Darwin and
Galton, DR.. Beard prepared series Of
fifty five questions, which were designed
to exhaust all sources of facts of which
the majority of physicians and patients
were capable of Judging. From the an
swers, critically compared and statisti-
cally arranged, covering the circumstan-
ces of two hundred cases, the author
reaches the following general conclu-
sions:
Hay fever is essentially neurosis,
that is, functional disease of the ner-
vous system. In order to induce an at
tack there is necessary, first Of all, n
predisposition, frequently hereditary, to
special and excessive sensibility of the
nerves supplying the affected parts. All
forms of the disease in all countries,
whether occurring in the spring, sum
mer, or autumn, are but manifestations
of one disease, for which the most APP
propriate name is "summer catarrh, y
which may be subdivided into an early
form, middle form or July cold, and
the latter form or "autumnal catarrh. y
As the disease is not due to any single
specific cause, animal or vegetable, as
has been supposed, no specific will ever
be found for it. The attacks may be
prevented and relieved. and sometimes
remedies will act specifically on indi.
viduals; but no one remedy will ever
be found to act in all cases. The lead.
ing indications in the prevention and
treatment of the disease are the avoid
ance Of light, heat, worry, dust, vegeta-
BILE and animal irritants, and other ex.
citing causes, fortifying the system by
touics before and during the attack, and
relieving the symptoms by those seda'
tives and anodynes, locally or generally
administered, which are found by ex
perience to be best adapted for each in
dividual case.
These indications can be met by
spending the season of the attack at sea,
or in elevated mountainous regions, OF
in high latitudes at any elevation where
the air is sufficiently cool, or at the sea
shore, or, for those who cannot leave
their homes, in quiet, cool, closed, ant
darkened rooms.
For those who, in spite of these pre-
cautions or from inability to take them
are attacked with tho disease, the rene
dies should be quinine, arsenic, iron
and electricity, before and during the
attack local applications of quinin'
aud camphor by the atomizer and TO
palliatives, any one or several of th'
great variety of remedies that expert
mcnt shows to be most useful for eacl
individual.