Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-04-03
WHOLE NO. 1877.
Causes Of Disease.

causes of disease, ii is necessary to
give general description of the sup
ply and waste of the body IN health,
to enable person to comprehend it's
diseased condition. A man of lao lbs
weight receives annually into his lungs
900 TBS of Oxygen ; into his stomach
1900 lbs. Of water, and 500 Tbs. fsolid
food 5000 TBS, or over one and a
half tons. This one and half tons
is discharged from the body through
the intestinal canal, kidneys, lungs,
skin and mucous membranes. During
the passage ofwater and food through
the intestinal canal, the nourishing
portions are absorbed by the Iacteals
into the thoracic duct, and is emptied
into the blood before it enters the
lungs. The Oxygen which enters the
lungs at every inspiration is absorbed
into the blood, and the Carbon in the
blood is given off to the atmosphere
at every expiration. The blood then
returns from The lungs to the left ven.
tricle, laden with all the materials for
supplying the tissues, and is distrib-
uted to every part of the body.
During the disposition of this
amount of nourishment there has an
equal amount OF matter which formed
part of the body been decomposed,
and carried in the blood to the lungs,
kidneys, bowels and skin, for removal.
In youth, the supply is greater than
the waste, and the body increases 10
weight In middle age, the supply
and waste is about the same. In old
age. the waste is greater than the sup.
ply, with few exceptions. The per-
verted action of the waste and supply
of the system is its diseased condition,
and pain is the result. The approx.
mate and remote causes of disease are
numerous, and the work Of man, not
his maker. In support of this asser
ton, it is only necessary to refer to
final causes to establish the fact that
pain, sickness and premature death
were ends contemplated in the crea.
ton, is . superstition with all that ma
ture elsewhere teaches of the benevo.
lence Of the Creator, from the fact
that wild animals and reptiles are al
most or wholly exempt from disease,
although many of them inhabit regions
more filed with miasmCD than any
of the abodes of men, Tanner animals
subjected more to the Influences of
mans mode of life, are liable to some
few diseases.
Instance, fowls and pet animals, as
deer, rabbits, &c. The most highly
domesticated are subject to the most
numerous and fatal diseases, and to
some, even that are contagious. In
stance, horses, cattle. sheep, dogs, &c.
And the maladies of the human race
are found to surpass those of the
brutes in number, complication and
fatality, to degree fully as great as
that in which mans habits are more
artificial and unnatural than theirs.
Still further, those among the human
species who lead the most artificial
life, are ever the most subject to dis
ease.-There, then. is proof written
in sunbeams There we have regu-
lar series of results,-step by step de
parting from the condition of simple
nature; and by the same steps, de-
parting from the highest strength and
and sinking into an atmos-
phere of pain and premature death.
Diseases then are not chargeable on
''chances," or MATURE" or "Provi-
dence;" they are the results Of unnat-
ural habits and conditions OF life. Man
brings disease upon himself from mat
tent;on, recklessness or ignorance on
the part OF himself or parents. God
does not willingly give his children
pain, therefore disease comes not from
Him. OF the most unnatural habits
and conditions, we will enumerate
the most important.
Over taxation of the body or mind,
in the form of excessive mental la.
Dor, the anxieties, hurries, perplexi
ties in business, anger, excitements of
the feelings, deep emotions, excessive
indulgence of the passions. This last
cause produces more Incompetence
for successful exertion and leads to
more diseases, hundred fold more.
than is ever dreamed of by the mass
Of community. The person who
abuses the gifts God has given, IN
dulges to excess, frequent in fits of
passion, easily angered, without pa
thence fails to control their temper,
must perish prematurely. For all
these wear out, consume, and subtract
from the powers of life faster than by
rest and by nourishment, we can add
to, repair, and reinvigorate them. In
dolence, or war; of due exercise of
the entire body, Or of certain limbs or
organs. To ovegtax some parts, and
undertax others at the same time. is
doubly to invite the inroads to dis
ease. Mechanical causes-Of these.
by far the most prolific of evils is an
unnatural mode of dress. This may
injure in numberless ways-by cramp.
ing the organs, COMPRISING limbs,
overheating some parts, exposing
others to cold, dragging upon weaker
parts, checking respiration, and free
motion, and forming unnatural pos.
lures, narrowness OF chest, aud every
species of deformity. Hereditary pre-
disposition, or the transfer of diseased
from parent to child. II
is through this, in good degree, that
all along the pathway of infancy and
childhood portion Of our whole ex.
istence, naturally the brightest, the
fullest Of promise, our dear little ones
are made to drop suddenly from our
grasp, and people our grave yards
with the dead before their time Con-
suming too much food, overeatinp.
another important cause for disease,
most eat too much, and by it life is
made a burden, q torture, living
death. Some eat to live others live to
eat. Gluttony kills hundreds. Bad
air, useless exposures to heat and cold,
become the causes Of deep De lated and
fatal diseases. We treat exclusively
diseases Of chronic nature, such, as
affections of the Throat, Lung, Liver.
Heart, Kidney, Stomach and Blood.
And cure such diseases If durable.
without medicines injurious to the
constitution, the necessity of abandon.
ing business or involving great ex-
pense. Many object TO call on as be.
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