Connecticut western news., 1883-03-28
A CHAPTER ON HEARTS.
REASONS THEY sOMETI MES BREAK
A NIatter-Of.Fact Solution of Sentimental Problems with Little Medical Advice
 Thrown In.

"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, there- fore, blooming young widow shows ap- parently inconceivable grief at the death of her husband, and in a short time re- covers 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 affec- tion 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.
 ''lt is erroneous to suppose that death by heart disease is always sudden. It is very commonly protracted for years, and exists undetected by most skillful physi- oians only to be developed by some sud den occurrence. There was an eminent physician of Brooklyn, in active practice, who died within an hour of the time he was about to lecture. He was so well that, after examination by skilled physi- clans of frst-class insurance com pany, he was declared to be perfectly sound, and policy for BIO, GOO insurance on his life reached his home before his body was cold. The cause of his death was mys- tery until the post-mortem examination, by Dr. John G. Johnson, of Brooklyn, showed that little piece of chalky de- posit 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 1t, and then his death would have been cited as that from broken heart
 ''So-called deaths from broken hearts may be frequently traced in this way. One exertion as well as another may fur nish the requisite culmination. Medical books are filled with instances of death by heart disease during the performance of pleasurable natural functions. When 8 man is nearly dead it is easy to put on him the finishing stroke, but it is inaccu- rate to give the finishing stroke all the blame of his death. When @ woman loses Ter husband, or girl loses her lover, and by nervous exhaustion, loss of sleep, lack of nourishment, and grief, weakens the action of the heart, she is said to die of broken heart, but she has in fact died of a very ordinary disease.
 "The case of Bill Poole, living for days with ball in his heart, is often spoken of as remarkable; but Dr. Flint records case where man had 8 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 died of heart disease. Out of sixty-one observed cases thirty-seven were males. Another record showed that in sixty-two cases of rupture of the heart there was fatty degeneration existing. One observer recorded 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 sudden grief they might have furnished illustrations of heart breaking.
 "Disease is the real cause of heart breaking, and the various kinds of disease which lead to it are 80 many that volumes would beneccssary to describe them. The causes of these diseases are manifold, and are very much under the control of the individual. There are, of course, heredi- tary tendencies to heart disease; but, aside from traumatic causes, these ten dencies may exist for years without fatal result.
 "It is curious fact that the least dangerous heart disease often creates the most apprehension. Frequently patients who have only a functional or curable dis order will not be persuaded that calamity does not impend, although there may be no real danger. On the other hand, or ganic disease may exist unsupported There are sympathetic relations between the mind and the heart, and disorders of the heart are frequently traceable to men, tai excitement, either pleasurable or pain full. Quick beating of the heart is no certain symptom of danger It has been demonstrated that the pulse may safely range from 100 to 40 per minute for years.