The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-12-13
A FATAL NEGLECT.
How Careless Oversight Brought..About
the Most Serious Results, and How
it Might Have Been Avoided.
The Importance Of Attention to the Details
Of Life.

VI ullts Ha
Early last spring the elegant mansion
of one o New York's wealthest CAPT
talists, situated on a beautiful hill il
New Jersey, was turned into a house o
mourning. 1t had been constructed Oh
the most approved sanitaryand scientific
principles. Thousands of dollars hat
been expended in the drainage, plumb
ing and ventilation. The surrounding
we're healthful, the air was pure, ar
. yet an epidemic Of diphtheria sweep
away a family of young beautiful child
rem. 1t was the theory Of the physician
that the house was filled with malaria
which always invites ~diphtheria, and
skeptical as the father was, he institut
ed a rigid examination. Every closet
pipe and dram was found to be perfect,
and they were about to give up, baffled,
when by accident they examined the
furnace fresh air box, and a few feet
from its opening, in a neighbours lot,
they discovered a mass of putrefying
garbage! The mystery was explained.
The malaria had found an entrance
through tho "fresh" air lue, and three
loved ones persisted because ''somebody
had blunderedl" The same result was
seen at Princeton college, seven students
losing their lives by the faulty drainage
of the college grounds. These occur
rences were neutrality-suspicious. OF Provi-
dence," they were the result of plain
careleSsness.
Life is a constant struggle for exist
ence, and as the tittest always survives,
IL is the duty of every man to acquaint
himself with the methods of prevention
and cure of influences which would
hurry him to the grave. There is much
doubt nowadays as to what, for in
stance, causes malaria, but there is no
doubt that it is the basis of the most
| obstinate chronic disorders. Not many
| years ago a celebrated physician of Lon
| don discovered what is known as
Bright's disease of the kidneys. While
| most of the characteristics of this
dreadful malady have been known, yet
| one of its NEST peculiar features is of
recent discovery, i. e., that it produces
general arrangement of the tissues, and
involves other organs Of the body long be-
fore the kidneys themselves seem to be
affected. There is no pain in the kid
Deys nor In their vicinity. The water
may not be albuminous; there may be
no casts, and yet Bright's disease may
| exist and disorder the entire system.
Prof. VIM. H. Thompson, M. D., of
the chair of Materia Medica, in the
university of the city Of New York, in
a recent lecture before the students of
Bellevue college hospital, says .'Bright's
Disease has no symptoms of its own,
but has the symptoms of every other
disease you a think Of" Albumen
and casts may or may not be present;
nor is the specific gravity an absolute
and infallible test. DIR. Thompson says
kidney disease is probably the common
est cause of death IN this climate among
adults. more so even than consumption,
but il is a very deceptive disease. II a
man breaks a limb he will expect pain
in the injured member; if a bullet crash
es into the body he will at least suffer
pain in the wounded part, but in dis
eases of the kidneys he will suffer most
In the other organs of the body. These
sufferings are only the effects, the cause
is behind them, and if that cannot be
removed there can be no cure Of the de-
fects. Some of the commonest ailments
of humanity are the sure symptoms of
Brigbt's disease. When the kidneys
have been diseased for a certain time
there will occur strange disorders in the
head, throbbing disturbed headaches, Wis
ion; the memory loses its power. These
are secondary symptoms. OF Bright's
Disease.
Again, the lungs are q favorite field
of operations, and diseased kidneys pro-
duce pleurisy, bronchitis, with or with
out cough, great p~aleness, sudden and
strange attacks of asthma, and splitting
of blood. These are secondary effects of
Bright's Disease.
The heart, in the effort to force blood
into the diseased organs, which are
swollen by reason Of kidney disease, be-
comes exhausted, hardened or enlarged,
or v~alvular disease follows, with great
distress under the breast bone. These
are secondary symptoms of Bright's
Disease.
DR.. George johnson, a greatauthority,
over 20 years ago pointed out that what
ever disease affects the Kidneys produces
the saSoe effect in the liver, and the
purginl of blood, nausea, vomiting of
bile ard food, indigestion, constipation,
piles, dizziness, persistent diarrh0a
coming on suddenly to a person who
has alwevs been robust are certain sec
ondary symptoms of Bright's Disease.
Having male a tour of the body and
Ending no o6her organs which 1t a
destroy, thea the disease returns to the
kidneys; 1ne back aches in~tolerably, the
urine is dark, full of brickdust and
ropy; casts appear, albumen is abund-
ant; then come great muscular relax
ahon and nervous prostitution; great
puffs appear under the eyes, the count
enance is pale and wears an appearance
Of fright, commissions ensue, the fatal
diirrhna or pneumonia sets in, and
delth is the md. These declarations
axe the warnings of men of high auth
GRITTY in medical science, whom we can
not dispute if we would. We expect,
when our physician visits our bedcham-
Der, he will come with the possibility of
healing, but there is no disease which,
he approaches with the certainty Of
failure like Bright's Disease. Is there
no hope of curep Must this great ma
lady increase the number of its victims
at the rate of % per cent. a year, and
we be powerless to PREVENT DR.. Hol-
land says all medical practice is expert
mental, and that any remedy that cures
is entitled to the confidence and patron
age of the people. The only criterion
of excellence is success, and, he says,
this is the basis Of popular judgment.
The doctors admit they can do nothing
for a person in the tolls of Bright's Dis
ease; but happily, the oftimes wiser
school of independent investigators has
not so failed. A few years ago a well
known medical practitioner found the
vegetable elements which diseased kid
neys and liver needed as a food and re-