The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-05-12
PNEUMONIA.
What Well.Known Medical Journal Has to
Saw About Ii.


What Well.Known Medica. Journal Has Il
Say About 1t.
The prevalence of pneumonia, its rapid
increase, and fatal consequences in many
instances, says Halls Journal of Health
have led number of our abler physi
clans to carefully investigate the pecu
liarities of this alarming disease, ane
some of them have published the result
OF their observations in a way to benefit
the public, not only by pointing out the
best methods of prevention, but likewise
of treatment, in the event of its occur
renee
DR.. John T. Nagle, Deputy Registe,
of Records Of the Health Board Of the
City of New York, has given much at
tention to the disease, and has prepared
valuable statistical tables concerning it.
ssThe prevalence of pneumonia, he
says, ':may be owing to lack of ozone
in the air, or it may be because there is
too much ozone. Sudden changes OF
weather and high winds, particularly
from the north and east, certainly have
much to do with it, and draughts Of all
kinds are bad, and should be avoided.
Smoking may be a predisposing cause,
as tobacco is certainly an irritant. Any
thing which irritates the lungs should
be avoided. If people would breathe
through the nose instead of through the
mouth, especially when in the open ali
or facing a cold wind, the lungs would
be less irritated.
"One great cause of the fearful death
rae among children from this disease is
undoubtedly the criminally foolish way
in which they are dressed. Many moth
ers seem more anxious to make their
children look pretty than to dress them
comfortably. On a par with this is
worse than folly of low-necked dresses
among women as viewed from a health
standpoint Ladies so dressed viii rush
from heated ballroom or theatre into
the open air, and then wonder that they
have colds or pneumonia. Wear season.
able underclothing, and don't remove
your heavy fannels too early in the
spring or defer putting them on until too
late in the fall. I should not advise peo
ple to coddle themselves, but one should
dress according to the season, and should
cover the body evenly. Add to this a
proper regard for the general health and
an avoidance of draughts, and one need
not worry much about pneumonia"
Prot. a. L. Loomis, in his practice
of Medicine, says: '.It is well-known
fact that the disease attacks the poor
oftener than the rich, the private oftener
than the officer, the sailor on shore
oftener than on ship, the soldier oftener
than the civilian at the same post. 1t is
unknown in the polar regions and COM
mon on the Mediterranean, increasing in
direct ratio from the poles to the equa-
tor. Elevation above the sea predispos-
es to it; north and east winds favor its
development; rainy seasons or damp and
marshy districts do not seem to influence
it. Periods Of steady and extreme cold
have little effect except upon the old,
but sudden changes are very disastrous.
The first predisposing cause is age, the
disease being most common in early
childhood, from twenty to forty, and
after sixty. The proportion of male to
female victims is as three to one. Any
general condition Of the body which de-
bilitates is predisposing cause. The
complications which render the disease
so dangerous are those which diminish
the nerve supply or weaken the muscu-
lar power OF the heart. Bad sewerage
and miasmatic influence are potent causes
of the disease" :" Q
Pneumonia usually begins with a chill,
intense and prolonged, generally at
night, and followed by a corresponding
ly high fever and sharp pains in the
sides. The disease is very rapid in its
progress, reaching crisis in from five to
six days, and sometimes causing death
within three days Usually but one
lung is affected, and often the disease is
confined to single lobe.
\ person may have double pneu-
monia, or pneumonia of both lungs,
and recover from it, but the chances are
against him. When the disease spreads
to all of the lung lobes, death is certain,
as the patient cannot breathe, and dies
of suffocation. The diseased lung, at
first infamed, soon becomes hard and
leatherv, and incapable OF performing
its natural functions, \ curious fact is
that usually no second chill occurs when
another lobe is attacked, and there APP
pears to be no relation between the
amount of lung affected and the intersi-
ty of the symptoms. All physicians
agree in saying that the disease is not
contagious, but may may be epidemic,
and it has been noticed that it is devel-
oped under the same conditions as
diphtheria-that is, the conditions which
! produce diphtheria in the young are apt
to cause pneumonia among adults.
u