The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-13
MEMBER 13, 1879
Causes Of Disease.

kant before its birth; and second Dost-na.
II or these that act directly upon the child
sftor It has been born. The first class Of
Enansnces produce tendencies to disease
from the III conduct or misfortune of some
ancestor. A poor constitution, a scrofu-
4 Ions diathesls, a strong tendency to certain
raladies. may be transmitted through sew
eral generations. Character and ability in
! child may begin to terminate and develop
l. the prenatal outset of its existence.
Nearly all able and noble men had able and
noble mothers. These remarks may show
4 hat tendencies to good or bad in morals.
Eo rood or bad in health, may nave pre-
natal causes, and that the great mortality
|of infancy may have PIE natal tendencies.
MANY infants die from having vitiated blood
transmitted to them through several gener-
stious. These several generations of ances-
tors NAV have disregarded natural laws.
|Thev NAV have been poorly nourished, ex-
nosed to hard toll and adverse circum-
stances. 4 peculiar group of maladies ex-
Ests among those who work in mines, away
from the influences Of the sun; others are
|snent in unhealthy and filthy places, in
snoorly ventilated shops, where they are
Constantly inhaling vitiated air, and are not
well supplied with digestible and nutritious
Hood. Such conditions gradually impair
health and produce an early death, or, if
he subjects live, they transmit their feeble
hess to p0sterity.
These influences leave their impress not
|only upon the men and women Of one gen
I%eration, but upon the second, third and
Fourth. and do not end here unless circum-
Stances that induced this degraded state
change. and then the return is gradual.
We often see downward changes, not only
among the poor, but among the rich, in
which degeneration occurs, having q differ
cnt but less reputable origin. Bad habits
of various sorts deterioriate the blood
Scrofulous diseases are in this group, and
the wasting diseases of infancy. They all,
and some others, indicate vitiated blood.
# this Initiated blood does not DESTROY life
in infancy or childhood, its influence is not
destroyed in after life, but introduce dis
eases in various forms. This group, too.
includes those infnnts who are really starved
to death. They eat enough, but their food
does not nourish them, so that they really
DO not eat at all. Those articles of diet
only are nutritious that are digeSted and as
simulated. and find their way into the veins
and heart, forces it into every section Of
the limbs and body.
Diseases Of the digestive organs form
another group that cut short the thread of
life in infancy. Diarrhpa, dysentery and
cholera are all marked by loo.eness of the
bowels. They all have the same general
cause.-the carnations from excremental
filth polluting the air, soil and water. The
peculiar character of cholera infantum,
cholera morbus and malignant cholera may
be induced by excessive heat. Infants are
considered susceptible only to cholera in
fantum. The mucous membrane of the
waste canal is the secreting surface to
which nature directs a portion Of the i'm
p~urities that enter the stomach but are
eliminated for lack Of use. They kidneys
and skin remove other parts, The lungs
inhale purifying gems that induce diar-
rh9al maIadies. To these germs we may
add the effect of heat that really develop |
them. Infants, not yet hardened to the
influences of excessive heat, nor able to re-
pei the germs of maladies, readily yield to
them, and they sicken and die, and pass
away like dew before the dispensing inf1u-
ences CT the summer morning sun.
Some diseases are peculiar to degenerate
families and races, and to pre- natal causes. |
These causes are not necessarily vices, but
may be excuses and im~prudences. If the
children of a degenerated parentage escape
The perils Of birth and early infancy, they
feei in all after life the effects of degener-
ated or vitiated cod Lack of proper
lood or food Il a. cannot be converted into
nutritious E.ood, either prenatal or post
natal Is a leading cause Of degeneration.
II Is the great source of ricketts, and it's as
socrates. One sad result Of adulterated
1000 Is, that the food adulterated loses it's
nutritious value. Infants need all the
laeam or tat hat milk naturally contains.
DepriVlng infants of this element, deprives
mem OF the means Of living, starves them
ana ultimately kills them. Physicians are
9iten called not as much to medicate in
ants, but to nourish them.
ROOD Is not the only thing that promotes
growth and strength. The air the infant
DIeathes, the water it drinks and the soil
oa winch 1t lives contribute largely to its |
me and rlgor. The houses in which the
tnIant spends its days and nights are often
-ull Of polluted air. Evil spirits hide them
wwNes by day but stalk abroad by night.
We nave been called to visit the palaces Of
cue Fich and the novels Of the poor and
.2uHu them full, more or less. of vitiated
-. rom the water closets, the gas burning
NGA DfIIb nAN L. Il