Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-04-07
CUSTOM, NEGLIGENCE AND PEEUMo-
MA

The rapid increase of pneumonia is
alarming the people at the East. 1t ap.
pears that more than any other disease it
has increased in its mortality records and
in the number of cases. The ratio of in
crease of the disease has been out of all
proportion to the increase of population
or of other diseases, and it makes shorter
work of its victims than ever before. 1t
is asserted that one certain custom does
much to increase it-standing bareheaded
about the grave at funerals. 1t is an
American custom, and an exacting one.
1t is the custom also to be uncovered at
great outdoor ceremonies, for speakers in
the open air to be hatless, and for societies
in open. air ceremonials to require men,
bers to remove their hats. 1t is held
that attendance at funerals in the grave
yard goes far towards sowing the seeds of
the disease, especially in moist weather
and the cases of Mrs. DR.. Beard, Mrs.
Marshall Jewell, DIR. Lewis B. Sayre and
others are cited in support. There is I'M
doubleday very much in all this worthy of
consideration. There is no sufficient rea-
son for the customs spoken of. They are
arbitrary and useless, and do not prevail
in some countries as advanced as is ours
in civilization. We agree with Rev. DR..
Potter, who moves for a reform of the
custom in the name of common sense.
In England they have portable screens
to shield those at the grave from the
wind but to keep the head covered is
equally as essential. DR.. Sayre vehemently
denounces the hatless action, and calls on
his medical brethren to warn the people
against it. But it is probable that the in
crease of pneumonia is due also to neg
igence in other matters. The people of
this day certainly do not take as great
precautions concerning drafts, heated
rooms, sudden changes, flannel wearing,
etc., as marked the time of the first half
of the century. 1t is certain that we heat
our houses to higher temperature, make
them more close, have our theaters and
halls warmer, and 60 more recklessly
from hot into cold atmospheres. That
this must be SO is proven by the vital
statistics furnished by DR.. Nagle of the |
Statistical Bureau. He reports that in
New York city from 1860 to 1869, in
elusive, the deaths from pneumonia were
Is, 526, but in the next ten years they |
aggregated %, 1856. The deaths in 1862 |
were l, LOB, in 1882, 3,4S2. The population
in 1862 was little over sos, 65l, in 1882, |
was little over l,206,5T. The
population, therefore, increased less than
80 per cent, but mortality from pneu-
monia increased over 200 per cent What
is true of New York has been proven true |
of Washington, of Philadelphia, of Chicago
and of st. Louis-in fact, of all the great |
cities where mortality statistics have been
kept. In the Arctic regions pneumonia is
scarcely known, but in our ATTITUDES cold |
waves always return large per cent OF
pneumonia, bronchitis and diseases of the |
system. This is due to care
lessness in large part with regard to cloth
ing and l.s changes in the fall and spring, |
when we seek to anticipate the season in
the one case and delay it in the other, and
to fashion this evil is largely chargeable. |
Seasonal meteorology may have close re.
lation to the dreaded prevalence of pneu
monia at the change of the seasons, as has
been intimated by the British Investigators,
but we think that the conditions of the
atmosphere have less to do with the in.
crease of the diseaze than the oarelessness
of the people,