Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-07-11
THE CLIMATE CURE.

THE CLIMATE CURE.
The following extracts are from an
article by Frank ID. Y. Carpenter, in
LippincoNS Magazine:
Is there climate cure for consump-
tionP The census-takers of the world
tell us that from one-seventh to one
third of its population die of that dis
ease; and it is of no little Importance 10
know if the afflicted one should aban-
don the comforts and sympathy of home
for the doubtful benefits of the health
resort, with its dispiritng society and
and its frequent funerals. Never was
evidence more one-sided than that upon
the climate cure; and its unreliability
is aggravated by the fact that the testi-
mony of the principal witness, the in
valid himself, is all but valueless. The
consumptive is proverbially blind TO his
own condition, and, imagining restora-
ton where the impartial observer sees
nothing but dissolution, blesses the eli
mate for the change,
Should visitor, having recovered his
health, hint the possibility that his cure
was independent of climate, he would
be looked upon as monster of ingrati-
tudc. And yet legions of invalids stay
at home and recover, Who has not had
friends who, after the fever. cough,
emaciation, and other symptoms of dev
cline, have regained their former vigor
without change of climate? A man
i'm Boston is brought to deaths door by
frightful hemorrhage of the lungs. He
stays quietly in the city, and afterward
enjoys the best health of all his life.
Yet he would be considered fool to at
tribute his restoration to the climate of
Boston. There are q number of in
stances on record In which people have
gone from New York to Colorado and
gained flesh. Probably an equal num-
Der could be found in the removals from
the latter to the former State, if there
was an equal emigration in that direc-
ton; but It IL doubtful if such statistics
would be cherished by tho New Workers
rs worthy of remark.
Many physicians reputation and
patent medicine mans fortune and
sanitarium's fame have been built up
on gulliblc peoples readiness to
believe that post hoe equals propter hoe.
Meanwhile, we ignore our one great
curative agent, the recuperative effort
with which nature Is eternally striving
TO restore vitality, battle disease and
counteract the effect of the drugs with
which the Invalid is fed. 1t is said that
man is born to die. MOI he j. born TO
live, and he RECEIVERS health a hundred
times before he dies one.
Down in some parts of benightcd
Delaware the inhabitants with one ac-
cord are afflicted with kind of malarial
disorder which, without any waste of
words, they call "thG bilious" Some
betake themselves to one remedy. and
some to another; but favorite resort
is to ''coniure" il away. A young man,
for example, goes into the woods, bores
three holes in tree, places three
pebbles in each hole, makes three rcvo-
lutions on his heel, says, Go away,
Bilious" three times, and 10! he feels
better Immediately, and Is completely
well in few days. Ridiculous, 81
course, but not more so than most re-
ports of cures in which the desired eff
feet follows more or less closely upon q
supposed cause. The truth is that no
one can know positively that he has
been helped by any physician, medicine
or climate, for the simple reason that
he can never know what would have
been his condition if he had not tried
such expedient There are thousand
and one secret springs of life whose
action he cannot follow. On the other
hand, il is easy to number with preci-
sion u host of those who have not been
cured by any treatment; the head
stones in the graveyard tell the tale.
In consumption, Us in other ailments,
there are fluctuations in the disease.
Sometimes the patient is better, and
sometimes worse. until death comes.
Hence il almost always happens that q
season of Improvement follows his AZ
rival at the health-resort, and this Is
beneficial, If not absolutely curative.
Granting that there is a climate cure,
where shall we find il? Advice on that
subject will be plenteous enough. Every
friend will tell of some one who went
somewhere and got better, That Il
nothing People have stayed at home
in Maine and Massachusetts and done
rs much. Some advisers are so IRA
tional rs to say that any change is bene-
fetal; but this can only bo true Of one
localhy-the unhealthiest spot in the
world, wherever that may be. All, the
mistaken kindness of those dear friends
who feel that they have left duty UNI
fulfilled if they do not ransack their
memories for some remedy or resort to
urge upon the invalid! IL he goes to
Mexico, they assure him that Manitoba
is just the place for him; If he takes
one medicine, they ask him why he
does not try some other; and in thou
sand ways they vex the little comfort
and quiet which is possible to his wan
Ing days, and then are almost offended
If he does not follow their counsel TO
the exclusion of all others. In the
fullness of their health they may know
no more of consumption than sailor
knows of theology. while the sick man
Is strangely lacking in intelligence II,
with his vital interest In the matter, he
has not learned all that books and en-
perience can teach him; but, n'importe,
none are too ignorant to give advice.
Tho oonsumptive cannot too soon dis
abuse his mind Of tho fanciful idea that
in some distant locality the veins of
earth run with some peculiar ichor, or
her atmosphere is charged with some
life-giving force, TO which he Is stran-
ger at home. Air and water are made
up of pretty much the same constitu-
ents all the world over. Bad weather
as well as good Is found everywhere.