Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-25
WHY HEARTS BIZ .K.
A Matter-of.Fact-So luton of Senti-
mental Problems.

gZENtaH iFM-Hr ta-a -~ I-E-H
"A Matter-of.Fact-so luton of senti-
mental Problems.
From the New York Sun.
ga healthy man or woman does not
die of a broken heart" a well-known
physician said. ga healthy heart is only
a big muscle, and nobody can have gries
enough to break it. When, therefore, q
blooming young widow shows apparent
ly inconceivable grief at the death of her
husband, and in a short time RECEIVERS
her equanimity, she ought not to be ac-
'cused of hypocrisy. Neither may it be
concluded that another widow who sou
pines and dies has had more affectioH
for her husband than the first. The first
widow may have been more afectionate
than the other, but have been sustained
by physical health.
ut is erroneous to suppose that death
by heart disease is always sudden. It's
very commonly protracted for years,
and exists nndetected by most
skillful physicians only to De
developed by some sudden occur
rence. There was an eminent physi-
clan Of Brooklyn, in active practice,
who died within an hour OF time when
he was about to lecture. He was SO well
that, after the examination by skilled
physicians of a first class insurance COM
pany, he was declared to be perfectly
sound, and a policy for $40, 900 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 DR.. John G. johnson,
of Brooklyn, showed that "a little piece
Of chalky deposit in the heart had be-
come loosened and formed an embolism.
The man had simply taken some speci-
mems out of his desk, and he died in his
chair without any excitement or undue
effort. Any little excitement might
have done it and then his death would
have been cited as that from broken
heart.
$50 called deaths from broken hearts
may be frequently traced in this way.
One exertion as well as another may
furnish the requisite elimination. Med
ical books are filed with instances of
death by heart disease during the per-
formance of pleasurable natural func-
tions. 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 ofhis death. When
a woma loses her husband, or a girl
loses her lover, and by nervous exhaus-
ton. loss of sleep, lack of nourishment,
and grief, weakens the action of the
heart, she is said to die Of a broken
heart, but she has in fact died of a very
ordinary disease.
"The case Of Bill Poole. living for
days with a ball in his heart, is often
spoken of as remarkable; but DR.. Flint
records a case where a man had a bali
in his heart twenty years, and finally
died of pneumonia. Both these men
had healthy hearts, and could not have
them broken of grief. Yet, in fact, more
good men than women die of heart dis
ease. Out of sixty-one observed cases
thirty-seven We're males. Another re-
cord showed seventeen males out of
t%wenty-four cases. Another record
showed that in sixty-two cases of rup-
ture of the heart there was fatty degen-
Grafton existing. One observer recorded
seventeen cases out oftwenty-four where
the heart was ruptured and where. fatty
degeneration existed. In other words,
where fat is substituted for muscle, the
organ is easily broken. If any Of the
diseased people have been subjected to
sudden grief they might have furnished
illustrations of heart-breaking. One
medical observer records 100 cases Of
rupture Of the heart where there was no
grief to account for it. In fact, grief is
a very rare case of heart-breaking.
Disease is the real cause of heart
breaking, and the various kinds Of dis
ease which lead to it are SO many that
volumes would be necessary to describe
them. The cause 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.
1t is al curious fact that the least dam
gerous heart disease often creates the
most apprehension. Frequently pa
tients who have only a 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,
unsupported. There are sympathetic
relations between the mind and the
heart, and disorders of the heart are
frequently traceable to mental excite
ment, either pleasurable or painful.
Quick beating of the heart is no certain
symptom of danger. 1t has been DEM
onstrated that the pulse may safely
range from 100 to lao per minute for
many years."