The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-01-10
IniurIes u the Heart.

| The heart forces the blood into tn,
lungs when 1t receives oxygen. or il
other words, is .aerified, and theme,
drives the current throughout the sys
tam 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 thrcax.
remember seeing. number O,
years ago, a man about forty years O,
age,@with his heart situated on the
right side. He said he had noticed
this curious phenomenon eyer since the
age of four. He suffered no inconyen.
renee 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 viii thrust the heart to one side;
but of such cases we do not at present
intend to speak az, n
The heart is an involuntary muscle.
By involuntary / mean something over
which We have no control. The breath
or respiration is both voluntary and in
voluntary. We can cause it to stop,
but only for a 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,
fremsbirth to old age and death, with
out resting at all, and when it does
rest, but for a moment, or is irregular
In its action, we consider it diseased.
Now, curiously enough, we have one
or two exceptions to the above stale
ment. A Northumberland case of
this anomaly rs that of a Colonel who
died not long ago in England. He
possessed the power of stopping the &C.
ton OF the heart and the beating of
tho pulse a. pleasure. Lying down for
q short time and composing himself, he
would. to all appearance, become ike
a dead pursOn. His heart would stop
beating; his pulse cease at the wrist; a
paHdroyerspread his countenance; and
the most vigorous and thorough exam
nation of his physicians could not de-
tect, the least presence of life. : After
awhile, perhaps In half an hour, he
would recover and walk away as we'll
as before the experiment. 1 think the
gentleman finally died of some heart
disease. -. =, 4 !. 81 Z. -. s,
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 Z %smssss 70 re-
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 heart by a
bullet lived for forty-eight hours. In !
his case hemorrhage was gradual and |
slow. A curious case is that of a man |
for twenty days with q
'kewer in his heart. A surgeon gives
IS the account of a boy who lived five
weeks after being wounded in the /
ieart; another of soldier who lived
eleven days with bullet imbedded in
he fleshy substance of the heart; and /
mother, six years, of person who
ived with wound. and died from a
lisease not at all connected with the in
ury of the heart.
Even after the heart has been pierced
Y sharp Instruments, recovery has
AIKEN place, or death has been DELAYED
or some time. A person died of some
bscure disease of the heart under
Ehich he had labored for three months.
It his death pin was found sticking
q his heart, wherein it must have been
Or that length of time.
Let us now turn to the consideration
I another accident to which the heart
occasionally liable; that is, rupture
the breaking of the heart. A
broken heart is generally regarded,
kept In cases of previous disease, as
ut existing in the Imagination of poets
nd scntimentalists. In these cases we
an easily conceive how diseased or
eak heart may be ruptured bS sny
ndue emotion of the mind, such as
,ar. joy, grief or other excitement
hich overstrains an already debilitated
ryan. But it is very doubtful whether
healthy human heart was ever ac-
tally ''broken." Some surgeons are
positive An respect to this point that
,eg consider it physical impossibility,
lille others Of equal authority declare
lat such accidents have occasionally
appened, being due to the violent con-
action of the heart under excessive
notions of the mind. T
II all cases of death by supposed
oxen heart were carefully examined,
might perhaps clear up this curious
q Interesting subject. Or. r. c.
ark, an You'll Companion. e -
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