The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-04-21
WHY HEARTS BREAK.

"a healthy man or woman does not die
of broken heart" well-known physician
said "a healthy heart is only big
muscle and nobody can have grief enough
to break it. When, therefore, blooming
young widow shows apparently inconceiv-
able grief at the death of her husband and
in a short time RECEIVERS her equanimity,
she ought not to be accused of hypocrisy.
Neither may it be concluded that another
widow who soon pines and dies has had
more affection for her husband than the
first. The first widow may have had even
more affection than the other, but have
been sustained by physical health
''It is erroneous to suppose that death
by heart disease is always sudden. 1t is
very commonly protracted for years and
exists undetected by most skillful physicians
only to be developed by some sudden oc-
currence. There was an eminent physician
of Brooklyn, in active practice, who died
within an hour of time when he was
about to lecture. He was so well that,
after examination by skilled physicians OF
a frst-cass insurance company, he was de-
clared to be perfectly sound and policy
for SO, 600 insurance on his life reached
his home before his body was cold. The
cause of his death was a mystery until the
post-mortem examination by DIR. John q.
johnson, of Brooklyn, showed that little
piece of chalky deposit in the heart had
become loosened and formed an embolism.
The man had simply taken some specimens
out of his desk and he died in his chair
without any excitement or undue effort.
ANY little excitement might have done it.
The exertion of grief might have done it
and then his death would have been cited
as that from broken heart.
sSo-caled deaths from broken hearts
may be frequently traced in this way.
One exertion as we'll as another my furnish
the requisite elimination. Medical books
are filed with instances of death by heart
disease during the performance of pleasure
able natural functions. When a man is
nearly dead it is easy to put on him the
finishing stroke, but it is inaccurate to give
the finishing stroke all the blame of his
death. When a woman loses her husband
or a girl loses her lover and by nervous
exhaustion, loss of sleep, lack of nourish-
ment, and grief weakens the action of her
heart, she is said to die of broken heart,
but she has in fact died of a very ordinary
disease
'Thc case of Bill Poole, living for days
with a ball in his heart, is often spoken
of as remarkable but DIR. Flint records a
case where man had ball in his heart
twenty years, and finally died of pneu-
monia. Both these men had healthy
hearts, and could not have had them
broken by grief. Yet, in fact more men
than women die of heart disease. Out OF
sixty-one observed cases thirty-seven were
males. Another record showed seventeen
males out of twenty-four cases. Another
record showed that in sixty-two cases OF
rupture of the heart there was fatty de-
generation existing. One observer record
ed seventeen cases out of twenty-four where
the heart was ruptured and where fatty
degeneration existed. In other words
when fat is substituted for muscle, the
organ is easily broken. If any of these
diseased people had been subjected to sud
den grief they might have furnished illus
trations of heart breaking. One medical
observer records 100 cases of rupture OF
the heart where there was no grief to ac-
count for it. In fact, grief is a very rare
cause of heart breaking.
'Disease is the real cause of heart break
inc, and the various kinds of disease which
lead to it are so many that volumes would
be necessary to describe them. The causes
of these diseases are manifold, and are very
much under the control of the individual,
There are, of course, hereditary tendencies
to heart disease but aside from traumatic
causes, these tendencies may exist for years
without fatal result
0It is a curious fact that the least dan
gerous heart disease often creates the most
apprehension. Frequently patients who
have only functional or durable disorder
will not be persuaded that calamity does
not impend, although there may be no real
danger On the other hand organic
disease may exist unsuspected. There are
sympathetic relations between the mind
and the heart, and disorders of the heart
are frequently traceable to mental excite
ment, either pleasureable or painful.
Quick beating of the heart is no certain
symptom of danger. 1t has been demon
strated that the pulse may safely range
from 100 to 40 per minute for many
wears N Y San.