Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1883-03-08
PNEUMONIA.

-'l"l VI IL VIII Dc hClL lOI All lncI ana women
to remember that there is such Il thing as
pneumonia that lis greatest activity has
especial regard to the time when spring sets
in with lis usual severity" and that ii is
said TO he rather more prevalent and severe
this year than is common All will do well
TO remember this: but we commend it
particularly as true and extremely mpor-
tant TO those whose years are near TO
the point OF seven times nine on one side or
the other: not bccausc Pythagoras was
right in his opinion that mans fate is gov
crncd by numbers, but because III advanced
Years the well used machinery has noe its
pristine vigor.
Pneumonia pays attention specifically to
the lungs. The lungs together are the cs-
scntial parts Of al apparatus for enccting
certain changes III the condition OF the
blood. AS Il chemist PASSES fluid through
some given medium to free it from one cle-
mcEt or charge ii with another. so The blood
must be constantly uut i'll contact with the
air, in order that it may free itself from car.
bonic acid and acquire oxygen, and the lungs
are the apparatus in which the blood is thus
brought into relation with the air
They constitute an apparatus ofindescrib-
able delcacy. lii its countless myriads Of
microscopic sacs or air cells, i'll the infinite
intricacy ofthe capillary blood vessels by
which the blood is brought in blue and car
ricd out red. and in its system of vasomotor
nerves, more readily TO be comprehended
logically than to be observed even micro
scopicaIly, there is Il deicacy and accuracy
of structure in the various parts of this ma
chincry by comparison with which the most
highly perfected pieces OF metallic machin-
cry are rs so many cartwhccls compared
with the wheels OF the daintest watches.
Through this extremely delicate apparatus
all the blood in alluman body is passed about
once every five minutes, more or less, for the
whole of 4 mans life; that is to say, under the
influence ofthc pumping force which deter
mines the circulation the whole current of
the blood is driven through this delicate ma
chincry for the oxygenation of the
fluid nearly three hundred times in Il
day, say for eighty years in the case of one
who lives till good old age. five 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. ana remember how
absolutely impossible il would be to
make any piece of machinery that would 60
on for such IL period, and if we reflect upon
the many facts ii life that may and con
stantly do dcrangc this delicate apparatus
facts OF mere temperature or facts ofvaria-
ton in the quality of the fluid that passes
through--it cannot be difficult 10 understand
why III about that time III life when use goes
on and repair begins TO fail tho suscepti-
bilitr 10 arrangement beyond remedy is very
great. But in AL the delicacy Of this struc-
ture there is one part more delicate than
the rest. This is Il set oi nerves capable of
diIating or reducing the caiibre Of the blood
vessels they are modiiiers Of the current.
While they are in easy and healthy opera
li0n all goes well but It change in their con-
dtion changes AL else. They may be stimu-
lated or depressed or absolutely overwhelm-
ed so that their action fails altogether. and
rs their action fails the whole operation Of
the apparatus goes desperately wrong
These nerves arc peculiarly sensitive to very
ma,,y influences relating to the condition of
the blood, and more sensitive in one man
than in another, wherefore it follows that
changes OF temperature or degrees of cold
which wonld not affect them in one person
pal,y them in another and when they
are paral yzed then the current Of the blood
through the lungs is interrupted the mod
ilicr is out ol office. and the dilated vessels
become .crgeti with blood and cannot free
themselves. and this arrested blood under
goes Il change Of ttisintcgration and the vic
tim has Il ''hcpatizcd" lung or lungs.
Now, hepatized lung is practically a SOL
idiied lung. II Il man has two Of them he
cannot breathe and speedily dies. Ii he has
only ono he is still in Il very bad way But
this account oil the genesis and m0duS fdcica-
di Of pneumonia may show that it is in et-
feet an accidcnt-much as broken leg is /;
for though the cau,es which DaralyZe the
modifying nerves may be consecutive to 9TH
er diseases, yet ordinarily in acute pneu-
momia this cause is atmospheric-the victim
has exposed himself to weather too severe
III itself or comparatively too severe because
Of the diminished resistance of the system
through debility. Conseuuntly it is in a
| great many cases Il malady that the thought
! ful man may escape. One may go out on u
March night to come home with pneumonia
or stay at home and be without it.--N. Y.
| Herald.