Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1884-12-27

secured much Of = foothold5 here. Dur
ing the past winter there have been
some cases, but very fewof them have
been fatal. The absence!of scarlet fever
! consider quite remarkable. I have
never seen a case since r have been
here. I have heard of a few cases, but
the c%ontagion has had no chance to
spread. Fever germs are very soon
killed, by, our air. As q matter OF fact
there ought not to be any dlphtheria
here at all, and in a few years, when
more sanitary precautions are taken, it
will be practically unknown. 4:
"Rheumatism, again, is a very rare
disease in North Dakota. Probably it's
absence 10 due in a great measu to the
dryness of the atmosphere. 1t troubles
man III humid climates, not in such eli.
mates as ours. H.
Dyspepsia is a complaint which pre-
walls everywhere more or less. If peo-
pie engaged in sedentary occupations in
North Dakota eat indigestible food and
take scarcely any exercise they must
expect to suffer from indigestion. But
as a matter Of fact there is very little
dyspepsia here. The climate, taken i'll
conjunction with the condition of life in
this new northwest, is not at all favor
able to the existence Of dyspepsia.
When I came here 1 expected to die
with dyspepsia. My sufferipgs were
great and apparently. mot possible of
alienation: The activity incident to the
opening up new country, and the
~clearness and invigorating influence Of
the atmosphere, soon rid me entirely Of
it. When I came here I could not eat
pork in any shape. Here / can eat it
with perfect impunity-in fact I can eat
almost anything short of, iron and
leather. We get more out door; life
than we do in the east and the absence
of fogs and humid weather makes it
pleasant. You may bring men here
from the east who are all broken down
in health; put them out on the prairie,
and they can't help getting. we'll. :.Peo-
Pile need not fear the winters. / know
no locality where the winters are so
beneficial to the health rs. that of North
Dakota.
."No, / would not advise people who
are in an advanced stage Of consump1
ton to come here unless it was during
q few months of warm weather. The
atmosphere would perhaps be too strong
Those who are in the first stage may
come without hesitation. Dakota is far
better for people with. lung troubles
than Florida. From what I now know
l would, if practicing in the east, send
patients with lung affections to Dakota
in preference to Florida. 1t would be a
fine thing for eastern consumptives if
their doctors would take trips to North
Dakota, and keep their eyes and minds
open. There is no part of the world
where the climate is so beneficial in the
case of hay fever and asthma. L have
known several people affected with hay
fever in St. Louis, for example, who
have come here to spend the summer.
They have always lost their fever IN
North Dakota.
1.-THE ordinary diseases of childhood
do not prevail here as they do in the
east. Cholera infantum is by no means
prevalent. In the hottest weather the
ordinary diseases of childhood are easily
managed. In four years. practice in
one North Dakota city I have only lost
three. cases Of young children from in.
ternal complaints, and they were deli.
cate children and would have died any.
how. With ordinary precautions,
children in fair health seem as though
they can't die. We have hot days in
the summer time US the inhabitants OF
the east do, but our nights are always
cool. We don't get the prolonged heat
which is so destructive and weakening.
"Then again in surgery, wounds Of
all kinds mostly heal by first intention
that is to say, they heal without sup.
duration and without matter FORMING
This is to be attributed to the general
health of the people and the lack OF
disease germs in the air.
"This Is prominently the country
for healthy people. 1t is their own
fault if they are sick. The fact is, North
Dakota people find it easier to keep
well than get sick. If you take a local.
ity where it is twenty degrees above
zero one day and twenty below the next
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