New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-26
THE DISORDERS OF APRIL.

Every month, 1t would seem, mas us ellolos-
cencc. OF disease as of growth, and the par
ticuar development Of ailment in April, 1t
appears. belongs to the nerves According to
several eminent medical specialists who have
lately written monographs on the subject, 1t Is
ut this season we may look for sudden de-
velopment of any latent neural diseases, or
the augmentation of those already existing
chorca in children, or the more serious mala-
dies of men and women. Ordinary observa-
ton will confirm this statement. 1t is during
these warm muggy days that the brain
workers among men, Who have gone steadily
through tho Winters drudgcry without finch
ing. find their strength suddenly collapse
their ideas refuse to come at the command OF
the pen, old forgotten anxieties or troubles
waken and gnaw at the tired brains; the
nights grow slccpless they may be the most
temperate of men, but they are ut once reduced
without apparent cause to the condition OF the
drunkard deprived of his daily dram. The
majority of women, too, who seldom perhaps
touch book OF pen, but whose brains are more
oyertaxed in the management OF family ana
house, and the daily fight with poverty, than
if they were poets or D0yeuSts, give
way Just as suddenly and unaccOuntably.
The experience of every household proves
it.. The middle-aged tough matron, on
whom the whole machine depends, grows sal
low, hysterical, has at this season headache,
backache, all the other vague symptoms OF
" growing old" which unfit her for work, but
which are seldom referred to the physician.
Bows and girls in turn, of bilious, exctablo
habit suddenly develop intoerable tenpers,
or show physical twitchings in the face hands,
or throat. Tho most common symptoms of
this general dlminution of nervous power are
to be found in tho disorders of sleep, which
ceases to be refreshing or healthy and is dis
turbed-in children by what arc known
as night terrors,n or in adults by pain at
the base of the brain, or causeess melancholy.
All these various symptoms OF the same dis
ease have long been known rs "Spring-
fever weakness to he fought on moral
grounds by people who, like Mis-. Chick, find
their religion in perpetually making some sort
of effort. More lax teachers, who acknowledge
that the body has something to do with the
matter, prescribe wine Of iron, sassafras tea,
banks of all sorts, any other indlscrlmlnate
way of fighting bile, or indigestion, or bad
blood. The oldest remedy was to have blood let
in the SPRING The new remedy is to repair the
drained system rather than to weaken 1t still
further, and that by the most simple and
natural of means. From some cause, climatic
or other, there is general loss of vital
power in the country. A little humoring of
the overworked body is surely wiser
than q stubborn attempt to urge it TO
further effort. The ambitious, emo getc
American who prevents cruelty to other
animals has little compassion for that tired
beast of burden which his brain drives so hard
every day. Let us humor the poor creature
in the Spring, at least; tighten the days work
at the Office or shop; let the house-cleaning
lay over for a few weeks; take an hours
longer nap in the cool mornings. Let the
children drop some of their lessons if they
come home with black hollOws under their
anxious eyes; and most important of all, give
the whole family, if possible, breath of fresh
country air. AS long breath as your means
will afford; but a day if no longer. If you
can go to the seacoast, all the better. What
are daily or hourly doses of iron or any tonic
to the bath in oxygen and iodine which enters
at every pore of the body and fills the lungs
at every inhalation
"The camp-cure," says one of the most
eminent authorities, is an almost certain
"rcmedy for all nervous Diseases If we cannot
go into camp let us como as close to it IA we
can. We are just beginning to understand tho
fable of the wounded giant, who every time
that he touched his mother earth gained fresh
strength and life.