Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-08-07
INTERESTING SCIENTIFIC
PAPER.
Influence Of Storms and Magnetic
Electricity on Neuralgia Pain.

At meeting of the National Acade
my of Science, in Washington, d. c., Dr.
Mitchell read paper on the above sub
ject. 1t possesses much that is of pop
ular interest. The points of Dr. Mitch
ellis essay are as follows:
Captain Catlin, United States Army
lost leg during the war, and since that
time has suffered from traumatic neu
ralgia, sometimes in the heel, but more
frequently in the toes, of the absent foot
He has carefully noted the effects pro-
duced on himself by changes of the
weather. DR.. Mitchell's own studies in
this case, as he says, would never have
proved successful had it not been for the
unusual ability, interest in the task, and
perseverance of the accomplished gentle,
man who has obliged me by making his
own torments useful in the solution OF
the question of how far weather affects
the production of certain kinds of pain.
The hourly observations cover period
of five years. For the first quarters of
these five years there were 2,471 hours
of pain; for the second quarters, 2,1O2
hours; for the third quarters, 2,056 hours
and for the last quarters, 2,221 hours.
The best yield of pain is in January,
February and March, and the poorest in
the third quarters, July, August and
September. During these five years,
while the sun was south of the equator,
there was 1902 hours of pain, against
4,15S hours while it was north of the
equator; and the greatest amount of
pain was in the quarters beginning with
the winter solstice The average dura-
ton of the attacks of the first quarters
was % hours, and for the third quarters
only 17,9 hours.
By taking the four years ending JAN
uary l, 1879, it is found that of 537 storms
charted by the Signal Bureau, 298 belong
to the two winter quarters, against 239
for the summer quarters. Hence we
have che ratio of the number of storms
of the winter quarters and summer quar-
ters corresponding to the ratio of the
amounts of neuralgia for these respective
periods, and the ratio of average duration
of each attack for the same time CORES
ponds closely with the ratio of the re-
spective total amounts of neuralgia for
the same periods. The average distance
of the storm center at the beginning of
the neuralgia attacks was $50 miles.
oUOTInS coming IOm Tile 1dclHc coast
are felt farthest off, ''very soon after, or
as they are crossing the Rocky Noun
tains," while storms along the Atlantic
coast are associated with milder forms
of neuralgia, and are not felt until the
storm center is nearer. Rain is not es-
sential in the production of neuralgia.
1t was found that the severest neural
gic attacks of the year were those ac-
cOmpanying the first SHOWS of November
and December. One of the most inter-
eSting and valuable results of this series
of observations is thus stated: Every
storm, as it sweeps across the continent,
consists of a vast rain area, at the CEN
ter of which is moving space of great
est barometric depression, known as the
storm center, along which the storm
moves like bead ON a thread The rain
usually precedes this by $50 to 600 miles,
but before and around the rain lies a
belt which may be called the neuralgia
margin of the storm, and which precedes
the rain about $50 miles. This fact is
very deceptive, because the sufferer may
be on the far edge of the storm basin of
depression, and seeing moth
ing of the rain, yet have pain due to the
storm.