The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1883-06-20
WHY HEARTS BREAK.
\ PHYSICIANS MATTER-oF.FACT so
LUTON OF THE vEXING PRO-

hhiipEN vi itiIs v NE-NlNG FisO-
BLEM.
"A healthy man or woman does not
die of q broken heart" a well-known
physician said "a healthy heart is
only big muscle, and nobody can have
grief enough to break it. When,
therefore, ling young widow
shows apparently inconceivable grief
ssat the death Of her husbansi, and IN a,
short time fccovers her equanimity,
she ought not to be accused Of hypo.
crisy. Neither may it be concluded
that another woman who soon pines
and dies has had more affection for
her husband than the first. The first
widow may have even more affection
than the other, but have been sustain
ed by physical health.
at Is erroneous to suppose that
,, death by heart disease is always sud.
den. 1t is very commonly protracted
for years, and exists undetected by
most skillful physicians only to be
developed by some sudden occurrence.
There was an eminent physician of
Brooklyn, in active practice. who died
within an hour of the time when he
was about TO lecture. He was so we'll,
that after examination hy skillfnl
physicians OF Il first,class Insurance
company, he was declared perfectly
sound, and a policy for $4,000 insur.
ance on his life reached his home be-
fore his body was cold. The cause of
death was a mystery until the post
mortem examination, by DIR. John G. |
johnson, Of Brooklyn, showed that a
little piece of chalky deposit in the
heart had become loQsened and form
ed 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. Amy lit
tie excitement might have done it, 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 we'll as
another may furnish the requisite cul-
mination. Medical books are filed
with instances of death by heart dts.
ease during the performance of pl as.
urable functions. When a man is
nearly dead it is easy to put on him
the finishing stroke, but it is inaecur-
ate to give the finishing touch all the
blame of his death. When a woman
loses her husband, or girl loses her {
lover, and by nervous exhaustion, loss
Of sleep, lack Of nourishment, and
yrie eewcakcns tiso action OF her hesrs, 's
he is said TO die Of a broken heart, Z
,ut she has, in fact died of a very or. :
linary disease. I
"The case of Bill Poole, living for i
ell days with ball in his heart, is 4
ften spoken of as remarkable, but a
)r. Flint records a case where a man II
ad a ball in his heart twenty years, s
nd finally died ofpneumonia. Both ?
hese men had healthy hearts, aud r
ould not have had them broken by {
,rief. Yet, in fact more women than u
men die Of heart disease. Out of J.
ixty.one observed cases, thisty-seven I
we're males. Another record showed 4
hat in sixty.two cases of rupture of
he heart, there was fatty degeneration
In other words, where fat is
substituted for muscle, the organ is
,asily broken. II any of these people c
lad been subjected 10 sudden grief, \
hey might have furnished illustrations {
,f heart-breaking. One medical OBJ !
server records one hundred cases Of {
rupture Of the heart where there was {
10 grief to account for it. In fact, !
grief is a very rare caese of heart
disease il the real cause of heart
aud the various kinds Of
disease which leads TO it are so many
that vOlumns would be necessary to
describe them. The cause of these
diseases are manifold, and are very
much under the control Of the indis.
idual. There are, ofcoursc, hereditary
tendencies to heart disease; but aside +!
from traumatic causes. these tenden-
cies may exist for years without fatal
result.
ut il u curious fact that the least Z
dangerous heart disease often creates
the most apprehcnsions. Frequently
patients who have only a functional
Or curablc disorder will not be per.
.uaded that calamity docs not i'm.
pend, although there may be no zeal
langcr. On the other hand, organic
diseases may exist unsupported. There
lre sympathetic relations between the
relations between the
mind and the heart, and disorders Of
The heart are frequently traceable to
mental excitement, either pleasurablc !
pr painful. Quick beating Of the 1
heart il no certain symptom ofdanger.
Il has been demonstrated that the
pulse may safely range from 100 to
lao per minute for many year,
An, I5I f.,.YiJ