News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-04-05
4 DREAD DISEASE.
The Great Activity of Pneumonia on this
side OF the sea.
From the New York Herald. |

From the New York Herald.l
Pneumonia pays attention speciticall
to the lungs. The lungs together az
the essential parts of an apparatus fo
etlecting certain changes in the cOndi
ton of the blood. AS chemist passe
a fluid through some given medium t
! free it from one element or charge /
with another, so the blood must be con
| stantly put in contact with the air, il
order that it may free itself from carboni,
acid and acquire oxygen, and the lung
are the apparatus in which the blood i
| thus brought into relation with the air
They constitute an apparatus of in
describable dcIicacy. In its countless
myriads of microscopic sacs or air cells
in the infinite intTicacy Of the capillary
blood vessels by which the blood is
brought III blue and carried out red, anC
in its system of vasOmotor nerves, more
readily to be cOmpreheDded logiCGft1
than to be observed even micrOscopicaiiy
there is a delicacy and accuracy Of
structure in the various parts of this
machinery by comparison with which
the most highly perfected pieces OF
metallic machinery are as so many cart
wheels compared with the wheels of the
daintiest watches. Through this ex-
tremely delicate apparatus all the blood
in human body is passed about once
every five minutes, more or less, for the
whole of a mans life; that is to say
under the influence Of the pumping force
which determines the circulation, the
whole current of the blood is driven
through this delicate machinery for the
Oxygenation of the fluid nearly three
hundred times i'll day, say for eighty
years i'll the case of one who lives till a
good old age. If we suppose that In the
case of man of sixty years the whole
current of the blood has passed through
this apparatus for about sixty million
times, and remember how absolutely i'm
possible it would be to make any piece
of machinery that would go on for such
a period, and if we reflect upon the many
facts in life that may and constantly do
derange this delicate apparatus-facts Of
mere temperature OF facts of variation
in the quality of the fluid that passes
through-it cannot be difficult to I'M
derstand why at about that time in life
when use goes on and repair begins to
fail the susceptibility to arrangement
beyond remedy it is very great. But in
all the delicacy of this structure there is
one part more delicate than the rest.
This is a set of nerves capable of dlating
OF reducing the cahbre of the blood
vessels; they are modifiers of the cur
rent. While they are in easy and healthy
operation all goes well, but change in
their condition changes all else. They
may be stimulated or depressed or
absolutely overwhelmed, so that their
action fails altogether, and as their action
fails the whole operation of the ap-
paratus goes desperately wrong. These
nerves are peculiarly sensitive to very
many influences relating to the cOndi-
ton of the blood, and more sensitive in
one man than in another, wherefore it
follows that changes of temperature or
degrees of cold which would not affect
them in one person paraIyzes them in
another; and when they are paralyzed
then the current of the blood through
the lungs is interrupted; the modifier is
ont of office, and the dilated vessels
become gorged with blood and cannot
free themselves, ana this arrested blood
UndergOes change Of dIsinte9ratlOn
and the victim has 4 " hepatiZed " ling
or lungs.
Now, hepatized lung is practically a
solidifed lung. If q man has two of
them he cannot breathe and speedily
dies. If he has only one he is still in a
very bad way. But this account of the
genesis and U10duS taciendi of pneumonia
may show that it is in effect an ac-
cident-mIch as a broken leg is; for
though the causes which paralyze the
nerves may be consecutive to
other diseases, yet ordinarily in acute
pneumonia this cause is atmOsp heric-
the victim has exposed himself to weather
too severe in itself or comparatively too
severe because of the diminished resist
ance of the system through debility.
Consequently it is in a great many cases
a malady that the thoughtful man may
One may go out on a March
night to come home with pneumonia,
or stay at home and be without it.