The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-11-01
Injuries Of the Heart.

The heart forces the blood into the
lungs when Il receives oxygen, or in
other words. is aerified, and thence
drives the current throughout the sys-
tenn to supply every part with nourish-
ment. and in return remove all impur-
tiles.
The heart is placed in the left side.
This is so in the vast majority of cases.
But there are those who have their
hearts on the right instead of the left
side OF the throax.
l remember seeing. a number Of
years ago, man about forty years Of
age with his heart situated on the
right side. He said he had noticed
this curious phenomenon ever since the
age Of four. He suffered no inconven-
fence nor disease from the condition.
He was at the time suffering from
some disease of the chest, but that was
not at all due to the strange situation Of
his heart. Sometimes disease of the
chest will thrust the heart to one side;
but of such cases we do not at present
intend to speak.
The heart is an involuntary muscle.
By involuntary l mean something over
which we have no control. The breath
or respiration is both voluntary aud in
voluntary. We can cause it to stop.
but only for short time. In the case
of the heart. however, we cannot check
its action. For it beats night and day,
month after month and year after year.
from birth to old age and death, with
out resting at all, and when it does
rest, but for moment, or is irregular
in its action, we consider it diseased.
Now, curiously enough, we have one
or two exceptions to the above state
ment. A well-authenticated case of
this anomaly is that of Colonel who
died not long ago in England. He
possessed the power of stopping the &C
ton of the heart and the beating OF
the pulse al pleasure. Lying down for
a short time and composing himself, he
would. to all appearance, become like
a dead purson. His heart would stop
beating; his pulse cease at the wrist; a
pallor overspread his countenance; and
the most vigorous and thorough exam
ination of his physicians could not de-
tect the least presence of life. After
a while, perhaps in half an hour, he
would recover and walk away as well
as before the experiment. | think the
gentleman finally died Of some heart
disease.
Among other things in connection
with the heart, may be mentioned its
injuries; and these, strangely enough,
are not always so fatal as tits generally
supposed.
Soldiers wounded in the heart, in
battle, or other persons injured by
sharp instruments, do not always die
Immediately. Sometimes hours, days,
months and years elapse before death
occurs; and again, the wounded may
entirely recover. / shall give below a
few remarkable but we'll authenticated
cases of wounds of the heart. A man
who was wounded in the beart by q
bullet lived for forty-eight hours. In
this case hemorrhage was gradual and
slow. A curious case is that of man
surviving for twenty days with q
skewer in his heart. A surgeon gives
US the account of boy who lived five
weeks after being wounded in the
heart; another of soldier who lived
eleven days with bullet imbedded in
the fleshy substance of the heart; and
another, six years, of a person who
lived with a wound, and died from a
disease not at all connected with the in
jury of the heart.
Even after the heart has been pierced
by sharp instruments, recovery has
taken place, or death has been delayed
for some time. A person died of some
obscure disease of the heart under
which he had labored for three months.
At his death n pin was found sticking
in his heart, wherein it must have been
for that length of time.
Let us now turn to the consideration
of another accident to which the heart
is occasionally liable; that is, rupture
or the breaking of the heart. A
"broken heart is generally regarded,
except in cases of previous disease, as
but existing in the Imagination of poets
can easily conceive how diseased or
weak heart may be ruptured by any
undue emotion of the mind, such as
fear, joy, grief or other excitement
which overstrans an already debilitated
organ. But it is very doubtful whether
a healthy human heart was ever &C.
tually "broken." Some surgeons are
so positive in respect to this point that
they consider it physical impossibility,
while others of equal authority declare
that such accidents have occasionally
happened, being due to the violent con-
traction of the heart under excessive
emotions of the mind.
If all cases of death by supposed
broken heart were carefully examined,
we might perhaps clear up this curious
and interesting subject. r. G..
Clark, in Youths Companion.