Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-08-29
HINTS FOR THE SEASON.

tract from a series of papers from
the pen of DR.. T. L. Oswald, in the
Home and Farm, of Louisville, Ky.
No sane man would nowadays
propose to treat congestive chill as
| a consequence of planetary infiu-
ences; s'coIdsv have been traced to
indoor, rather than outdoor, causes,
and the same might be said of many
socalled epidemic diseases. Chol-
era and yellow fever discriminate in
the choice of their victims. They
overtake the flying glutton; they
spare the abstemious hospital nurse
who passes her days and nights in
the presence of death. Drnnkards
die by hundreds, where their (com.
paratiyely) temperate fellow citizens
die only by dozens. There is not
a single article of diet, not mOdifi-
cation of personal or domestic habits
without an appreciate influence on
the longevity of persons exposed to
the influence even OF the sickliest
climate; and it is justified question
ii with a perfectly natural mode liv-
ing, health and longevity could not
be reconciled with almost any elm
ate of the lower ATTITUDES, though
there is no doubt that atmospheric
conditions may contribute "predis-
posing causen of disease. But so
does, in a larger or smaller degree,
every mouthful of food we eat, every
breath we draw, every tissue of de-
composing organism coming il con-
tact with our body. But, in state
of health, our own organism has
ways and means to defend itself
against such influences. The foul
worms of a stagnant pool have no
chance to propagate in rapid brook.
The omnipresent seeds of disease
terminate only in soil well prepar-
ed by vice and unhygienic habits.
The Italian physician, Campanella,
was indeed, not far wrong in his
theory that epidemics, like the flames
that destroyed the cities of the plain,
have an expurgative mission-"the
removal OF the unfit"-as we would
say nowadays. AS surely as power
ty is aggravated by wastefulness, the
virulence of contagious diseases is
aggravated by everything tending
to exhaust the vital energy of the
organism. The predispositi0n to
climatic diseases is greatly lncreas-
ed by intemperance, but still more
by our unfortunate habit of adding
fuel to the fire of the midsummer
heat.
In warm weather greasy viands,
spices, hot drinks, become not only
superfluous, but positively injurious,
or at least source of daily discom.
fort; sick headaches warn US in
vain nausea and troubled dreams
are fought with sham remedies. We
fail to take the hint of nature. In
the dogdays OF the Gulf coast we
stick to the diet of the snowbound
Scandinavians. Beer, brandy and
fat bacon sell as readily in New Or
leans as in Stockholm; broadcloth
is worn in countries where the CHM
ate makes one envy that "adermous
child" mentioned by Caesar Scaliger
TIA creature born without skin and
hairs" Instead of sleeping on plat
form roofs, like the West Indian
Creoles, our southern city dwellers
pass the sweltering summer nights
in alright rooms, wear flannel un.
dergarments, and in their lamenta-
Bile dread of the night air make their
youngsters go to bed at shutdown, at
the very time when nature awakens
from her lethargy and invites her
children to romp on the moonlit
beach.
The meaning of the word fever
(from feuere,to boil or seethe) indica-
ties the chief cause of climatic dis
eases. viz, heat, intensified to de-
gree beyond the counteracting power
of nature. Under ordinary circum-
stances our organism is able to main
tain its normal temperature in sum-
mer as well as in winter; and in
Southern Hindostan, where the
thermometer rises to 1859 in the
shade, the blood ofthe frugal natives
is considerably cooler than the sur
rounding atmosphere, just as the
blood of the fur-clad and bluffer-fed
Eskimos is warmer than the air of
their icy hunting grounds. But if
an Eskimo should peel off his fur,
shave his head and pump himselffull
of ice-water, the Arctic gales would
CONCEAL the marrow Of his bones;
his vitality would succumb to the
combined attack of inner and outer
foes. And for the same reason the
constitution of many a stout beef
eater succumbs to the summer elm
ate of our Southern Gulf States.
Single-handed, that climate would
be unable to overcome the resistance
of the vital force, but with the aid of
alcohol, pork, sausage, and flannel
shirts, its attacks become resistless
the bulwarks of life collapse. The
blood begins to ferment, i. e., the
living body undergoes process OF
disintegration. The blood changes
OF all febrile disorders are character.
lied by the symptoms of zymotic
process, a state of fermentation.
which, in yellow fever, actually dis
solves the blood into its component
parts, and thus produces that dis.
charge of cruor known as the s:blaek
vomit." A high temperature has
the same influence on milk. mush,
and other saccharine fluids. The
approach of winter, as we'll as re- |
moval to cool highland region
brings relief to fever patients, all |
indications pointing out excessive
heat as the chief cause. of climatic |
diseases.
Removal of that cause is the most |
effective Draeaution Instead IF or