Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-05
CAUSES OF DISEASE
How Life is Shortened and How t. Meow
Prolonged. "e

Ieu lie are two.
fold, namely, first, those hat arc nre-
natal or influences that form and do.
velop in the infant before its birth: and
second, post-natal, or those that aot
directly upon the child after it has been
born. The first-class of Influences mo-
duce tendencies to disease from the m.
conduct or misfortune of some onoos-
tor. A poor constitution. a scrofuloss
diathesis' a strong tendency to certain
maladles' may be transmitted thromnh
several generations. Character and
ability in a child may begin to oerm;n1
ate n develop at the prenatal o,,tsat
OF its existence. Nearly all ahle smd
noble men had able and noble motbars
These remarks may show hat tandan'
cies to good or bad in morals. tn COL
or bad in health, may have p%re-nata1
causes, and that the great mortality of
infancy may have prenatal tendencies
Many infants die from having vitiated
blood transmitted to them throuoh sev.
eral generations. These several ron.
erations of ancestors NAV 81
d~lsregarded natural laws. TI,.v nav
have been poorly nourished. exnosad 10y ~
naro toll and adverse circumstances.
"A peculiar group Of maladies exists
among those who work in mines.
away from the influences of the sun:
or others are spent in unhealthy and
filthy places, in poorly ventilated shops.
where they are constantly inhaling
vltlated air, and are not well sun,
piled with digestible and nutritions
food. Such conditions gradually i'm
par health and produce an early
death, or, if. the subjects live. they
transmit their feebleness to posterity
Bad habits of various sorts deterior.
ate the blood. Scrofulous diseases ara
IN this group, and the wasting diseases
OF infancy. They all and some others
indicate vitiated blood. If this vitiated
blood does not destroy life in infancy
or childhood, its influence is not de.
stroyed in after life, but introduces
diseases in various forms. This groun.
too, includes those infants who ara
really starved to death. They eat
enough, but their food does not
nourlsh them, so that they really do not
eat ut al. Those articles of diet only
are nutritious that are digested and
asslmilated, and find their way into
the veins and heart, forces it into every
section of the limb and body.
Diseases of the digestive organs
form another group that cut short the
thread of life in infancy. Diarrhma,
~dysentery and cholera are all marked
by %looseness of the bowels. They all
have the same general cause.-the
carnations from eXcremcntal filth pol
lutlng the air, soil and water. The pc
culiar character of cholera infantum,
cholera morbus and maglignant chol-
era may be induced by excessive heat.
Infants are considered susceptible only
to cholera infantum. The mucous
membrane of the waste canal is the Sc
creting surface to which nature directsa
portion ofthe impurities which enter the
stomach, but are eliminated for lack of
use. The kidneys and skin emove
other parts. The lungs inhale putri-
tying germs that induce diarrhul NAL
aides. To these germs we may add the
effect ofheat that really develop them.
Infants, not yet hardened to the influ-
ences of excessive heat, nor able to re-
pei the germs of maladies, readily
yield tc them, and they sieken and die
and pass away like dew before the dis
persing influences of the Summer morn
ing sun.
Somu diseases are peculiar to degen-
Grated families and races, and to pre-
natal causes. These causes are not
necessarily vices, but may be excuses
and imprudences. If the children of a
degenerated %parentage escape the perils
OF birth and early infancy, they feel in
alter life the effects of degenerated or
Initiated blood. Lack of proper food,
or food that can not be converted into
nutritious blood, either prenatal or
p~ost-natal, is a leading cause of degen-
GRAFTON. 1t is the great source of
ricketts, and it's associates. One sad re-
suit of adulterated food is, that the
food adulterated loses its nutritious
value. Infants need all the cream or
fat that milk naturally contains. De-
priving infants of this element, deprives
them of the means of living, starves
them, and ultimately kills them. Physi-
clans are often called not as much to
medicate infants, but to nourish them.
:. Food is not the only thing that pro-
notes growth and strength. The air
the infant breathes, the water it drinks,
and the soil on which it lives, con-
tribute largely to its life and vigor.
The houses in which the infant spends
its days and nights are often full OF
polluted air. Evil spirits hide them
selves by day, but stalk abroad by
night. We have been called to visit
the palaces of the rich. and the novels
of the poor, and found them full, more
or less, of vitiated air from the water
closets, the gas burning, and body ema-
nations and wash bowls of the one
and the cesspools and body emanatlons
of the other. Very few houses have
efficient means for the outlet OF stale
air and the inlet of fresh. They are SO
badly drained and are so poorly fur
nished with the means of removing
filth, that the fresh air once in is
quickly laden with the poisonous gases
of purifying organic matter. ouch
deaths, that might have been pre-
vented. v
After some years have passed away:
the soil adjacent to the appendices OF
rural home so arranged is saturated
with filth. The rains come now ana
+bo putrii or Dutrl-