Litchfield enquirer., 1877-01-11

doses are taking the place of large doses, in part because large doses are not need ed, and are not borne as formerlY.> ssr
 The number of those in this country who c;;,.1nt bear tea, coffee, or alcohol ic liquors Of any kind, is very large. There are many, especially in the northern states, who must forego coffee entirely, and use tea only with caution; either, in any ex- cess, cause trembling, nerves and sleep less nights. The susceptibility to alco- hoI is so marked, with many persons, that no pledges, land no medical advice. and no moral or legal influences, are needed to keep them in.the paths of tenn perance. Such persons are warned by flushing of the face, or by headache, that alcohol, whatever it may be to others, or whatever it may have been to their ances- tors, is poison to them.
 Idiosyncrasies, ln certain directions, to special substances and influences, like wise seem to be multiplying. The human system is harp of ten thousand strings and every year new strings seem to be ad- ded. A few illustrations will make my meaning clear. I have lately seen young man, otherwise in fair health, who can not hear a lecture on physiology; any thing that suggests topics relating to this branch of knowledge, causes nausea and faintness; his father was similarly sensi- tive. A medical friend told me, the other day, that in his childhood he never could go into room where there was straw berry, without experiencing nausea, and general distress; in later years, he once ate piece of raspberry pie, and at once suffered so severely in his neck and face from inflammation and pain, and from di- fficulty of breathing, that he apprehended death. He tells me that nothing could tempt him to repeat that experience. A gentleman whom I know we'll, has 8 daughter who cannot take. cat in hel lap and stroke it, without exciting symp- toms of hay-fever. The history of hay fever is crowded with analogous facts. ] have known large numbers of persons SC sensitive to the approach of thunder storms that they are attacked with nau- sea, faintness, vomiting, and sometimes are thrown into convulsions, with great subsequent prostration; this idiosyncrasy, like all others, of similar character, is likely to run in families.
 A lady whom have lately seen, cannot bear to have cat in a room; even when introduced without her knowledge she is made i'll by 1t Dr. Brown-Sequard once publicly stated, that if he touched piece of chocolate to the side of his tongue, the face on that side at once became red, hot and covered with precipitation. Such pe- culiarities have long existed, but they appear to be more abundant now, and more marked also; new and unsuspected forms of susceptibility are constantly arising, and, through the stern operation o1 hereditary descent, are spreading in soci- ety.
 All this is in harmony with the grand law of evolution, to which disease, as vel as health, is obedient. As the growing tree is continually putting forth new leaves and and branches, so the nervous system, in it's development, under higl civilization, is ever manifesting new va rieties of susceptibility. Modern nervous ness is the cry of the system, struggling with it's environment.
 3. By a comparison of the present time with the middle ages, and the few centuries preceding the nineteenth cen- tury. So far as can be learned from al the accessible sources of knowledge o1 these themes, not only were many of thu nervous maladies so prevalent, now .quitt unknown, three centuries ago; but those which are common to those eras and ours were far less abundant then that now. Al lowing all that is just for the want of ob servation on the part of the medical me1 of those dark days,-allowing also for the imperfectness of records, and the uncer talnty of tradition, there seem to be nc possible way of avoiding the conclusion that there has been an enormous develop ment of nervousness since that time. AnC in regard to the incapacity for observing, which has so often charged upon all tho physicians who were so unfortunate as tC be born prior to the last half century, may say, that even conceding the gener- al truth of the charge; as applied to the mass of the profession, it certainly does not apply to all the great leaders in med ical thought. The greatest medica minds of the last century were, to use the most measured language, the equals O. those who lead the profession of our day and were capable of observing, and did observe, and they recorded their observa tions; some of the grandest discoveries of all time were made by them.
 True enough functional nervous diseas es of various kinds were recognized in the times of which we speak; chorea and in sanity existed, and in the middle ages, the wide-spreading epidemics were com plicated, to considerable degree, with the emotional form of hysteria. But the types of hysteria and chorea, that were the basis of these epidemics. were almost entirely physical, the result, not like the majority of the cases of these disorders oi our day, of nervous impoverishment, but of untrained and superstitious minds, ac- ting on strong and healthy bodies. This type survives even to our time, and is known as servant girl hysteria
 Concerning the special forms of ner. vous trouble commonly called insanity, the evidence that it has been and is in. creasing, although it has existed fol ages, seems to be overwhelming. The increase of population, better observa- tlon, and the greater philanthropic care of our time, are considerations insuff- cient to overcome the evidence of gener- al observation or the more exact deduc- tions of statistics.
 By comparing thenervous status of the women of our time with that of her sex in past times.
 A comparison of the most superficial kind demonstrates the generally conceded fact that the civilized women of to-day Is more sensitive nervously, more liable to multiform functional disorders than her predecessor in the same station in life fifty years ago. On this subject there has been not little exaggerat1on, and therefore unjust conclusions have been derived;but the general fact cannot right ly be questioned. The infinite army of aches and pains that follow in the path of the modern woman needs no statistics to prove it's presence, even if statistics could be obtained
 This excessive exercise of the nervous system, with a corresponding neglect of muscular exercise, is in part the cause of the diminution in the increase of popu- lation in the better classes of American society. The able researches of Dr. Ma than Allen have made this point abun- dautly clear. Dr. Aliens labors in this department of vital statistics, may re- mark, will be better appreciated by and by than theyare now;they will be justified by future research, and his general con. cluaion will be accepted by those who do not accept all his 1nferences or share all his fears. The difference between an av- craze of half dozen children Tn a family.