Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-22
WHY HEARTH BR Z
A Matter-of.Fac Solution Of Senti-
mental Pcoblems.

die Of o broken heart" q well Known
physician said. "a healthy heart Ia
only q big muscle, and nobody can
have grief enough to break 1t. When,
therefore, a blooming young widow
shows apparently inconceivable grief
at the death of her husband, and Ill a
short time RECEIVERS her equsnimity,
she ought not to be accused of hypo.
crisy. Neither may 1t be concluded
that another widow who soon pine,
and dios has had more affection for
her husband than the first. The first
widow may have had even more atfec-
ton than the other, but have been
sustained by physical health.
at Is erroneous to suppose thai
death by heart disease is always sud
den. 1t is very commonly protracted
for years, and exists undetected by
most skillful ply sicians only to be de-
veloped by some sudden occurrence
There was an eminent physician Of
Brooklyn, in active practice, who dice
within an hour of q time when he wa
about to lecture. he was 30 wellthat
otter examination by skilled physl
clans # y first Glars insurance, no va
declared to be perfectly sound, snd
policy for $40, 600 Insurance on hi
life reached his home before the boo!
was cold. The cause of his death wa
a mystery until the pest. norton ex'
animation, by DR.. John G johnson o
Brooklyn, showed that Il lie 10 piece o
cla!ky deposit in the heart had bs
c me loos, ned and formed an embol
ism. The man had simply taken som
specimens out of his desk, and he die,
in his chair without any excitement O
undue effort Any little excltemen
might have done it; the exertion O
grief might have done it, and then hi
death would have been cited as tina
from brt ken heart.
"So.ca,led deaths from broke
hearts may be frequently traced 1
this way. One exertion as well q
another may furnish the requisite Gu.
miuation. Medical books are file
with instances of death by heart di,
cafe during the performance of pleai
urable natural functions. When
man is nearly dead 1t is easy to put o
him the finishing stroke, but 1t is In
accurate to give the tinishin
stroke all the blame of his destt
When a womsn loses her husband, {
a girl loses her lover, and by nervor
exhaustion, loss of sleep lack of noul
ishment and grief, weakens the actio
of her hearts but she has In fact die
of a very ordinary disease.
"The case Of Bill Poole, living fo
days with a bail in bis heart, Is ofte
spoken of as remarkable; but Dr.. Fill
recalls o case where a man had a bs
In his heart twenty years, and final
died of pneumonia. Both these me
had healthy hearts ard could not hsv
had them broken by grief. Yet,
fact, more men than women die
heart disease. Out OF six ono o'
served cases thirty-seven were male
Another record showed seventec
males out of twenty.four cases. A
other record showed that In sixty.tv
cases of rupture of the heart there W;
fatty d. generation existing. One ol
server recorded seventeen cases out
twenty four where the heart was RI
tured, aud where fatty degenerate
existed, In other words, when fat
substituted for muscle, the organ
easily broken. If any of thes disease
people had been subjected to suad'
grief they might have furnished illu
trations Of heart breaking. One MEG
cal observer records 100 cases of ru
ture of the heart where there vas
grief to account for l.. In fact, gri
Is O very rare cause of heart. breakln
"Disease Is the real cause Of hes
breaking, and the various kinds
disease which lead to 1t are go ma
that volumes would be necessary
describe them. The causes Of the
diseases are manifold, and are We
much under the control of the indivl
ual. There are, # course, heredits
tendencies to heart disease; but, asi
from traumatic causes, these te
denotes may exist for years witho
| fatal renult,
cit is a curious fact that the lie,
dapgero 8 heart disease often crea
the most apprehension. Frequen
patients who have only o functional
durable disorder will not be persuad
that calamity does not impend,
though there may be no real dang
On the other hand, organic disc
may exist unsupported. There
sympathetic relations between
mind and the heart and disorders
D the heart are frequently tracsable
D mental excitement either pleasure
or painful. Quick beating of
heart is no certain symptom Of dang
IL has been demonstrated that I
pulse may safely range from 100
140 per minute for many years"