The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-31
THE HYP0CH0NDRIAC.
EXPERIENCE OF A MAN AS HE DRAWS
NIGH TO MIDDLE AGE.


Disa.tcr-The whole List.
A man reaches the age OF 40 or Whereabouts
without having experienced any serious in
terruption in the current of his life. Some
night he is sleepless, the next day be is tired.
He has overworked, or overdrank, or over
smoked. or overworried. There Is an extra
weight attached to his forehead, his legs arc
weak and he is possessed by lassitude. lie
recalls AZ once the death of "A man who fell
suddenly in the street smitten by apopleXy.
The weakness in his legs, is not that sympto-
matte Of paralysis
He has passed his prime, and does nov
know it, He is ignorant Of the fact that lie
cannot labor as hard, drink as much and
employ his energies as before. Nature be
gins 10 sacken in her efforts at recuperation.
Night. with its rest and slumber, does not
bring him morning with all its old time
huovancy and exhlaration Noticing these
things. he commences 70 examine his condi-
ton The moment he begins this process of
self inspection he enters ON the condition of
the hypoohondriac
He catches little cold and has cough
IL il consumption. The advertising pages Of
the newspapers catch his eve, and he sees
Consumption Cured He reads it with
aydity symptoms are described, and with
a pang he feels that each one Of them applies
exactly 10 his case He hunts over the rec
ord OF his ancestors 10 find If there be weak
lungs in the descent Alas, yes His grand
mother, he recalls, with painful shrinking
Of the heart, died of consumption at the age
OF g3l And there were t.o second cousins,
both of whom, while quite young, fell vic
tim b this frightful malady. He is doomed
CANCER SURE
The cough disappears There is a sore on
his tongue. and almost instantly there comes
into the horrible vision cancerl He reads up
the encyclopedia on cancer; he takes furtive
chances into the books Of medical friends. and
everywhere no finds confederation of his be
lief. IL is cancer, sure His broken slumber
/ is filed with images of the hideoUJ tumOr,
and he listens with intense and painful inter
est to the narrations of those whose expert
ence includes the ulcer the treatment Of the
patient by the knife OF the surgeon, and the
fearful death az last Of the unfortunate vie
tim Finally he goes % the physician who,
ii he be honest, assures him that his fears are
groundless and then for brief season he i
! at ease.
There comes IA pain IN his ankle or knees
Rheumatism And now 1t moves 10 another
point. Migratory, is IT. All, it IS moving
toward his heart! 1t may leap there to-
night, tomorrow, any moment and again
he suffers the agony Of dissolution, as he an
ticipates each moment feeling the pang Of
the thrust OF the deadly dart.
He rushes hastily up stairway, and he
feels an increased action IN his heart At
once tho dread vision OF heart disease flashes
| into his line OF vision FOR months he broods
over the calamity which has oyertaken him
/ lie moves about carefully, he avoids every
thing which will produce excitement, he IS
as careful Of his heart as il 1t were a new
born babe
he has a stuiineSs in his nose or throat,
and at once he has catarrh, combined with
bronchitis. There are prickling neuralgia
pains in his muscles and he at once reads up
on the matter and finds that they are pre-
monitory symptoms II paralysis
This self indicted invalid reads the news
papers Every case of death from parcsis
afrights him. H. learns with fresh accesions
Of horror Of hcmiplegia and parapegia, and
is certain that he is menaced with one Of
these forms Of disaster. Tho age Of every
man whose death is reported exctes in him u
painful interest II tho deceased be younger
| than himself be experiences "a poignant pang
| if older, then he has a faint hope that his own
end is not yet imminent
CHOLERA SYMPTOMS
He reads that there is cholera in Nice or
! Sicily, or in the interior Of Spain Instant
| ". in his mind. ho sees the horrible pesti-
| lence creeping across the continent, over the
| channel AID Great Britain, thence Ia infect.
| ed vessels 10 the American shores On emf
| grant trains it crawL along the railway lines
and appears ia Chicago. He will be ono OF
| the very first victims. Already he feels the
symptoms OF the disease. He anticipates the
worst he already feels in Imagination the
ngonies OF the pain and sees himself cold,
/ breathless, mOribund in the final state of col
lapse.
He complains to his sympathizing friends,
and they prOffer him llimtable advice and
remedies. "A cold bath every morning,
says one "A hot bath every night" says AN
other Drink glass Of hot water when You
rise in the morning." or Drink a glass OF
cold water when you 90 10 bed, is the sug
gestiOn Of another One friend mentions O
cathartic, another a lotion, a third bitters
a fourth an Alternative. There is no human
being Of either sex that is not ready TO pre-
scribe for any ailuent Of a friend at a mo
ment's notice.
He reads tho scientific physiological pa
pers. He sees it demonstrated that alcOho
and tobacco are noxious, and he at once quit
their use, and then reads that both are bene
fetal if used in moderation, and he resume
his cigar and his beer. Elaborate essays ar
presented that oatmeal at breakfast is an in
dispensable auxiliary of health, whereupOr
he eats it regularly until time when he see
another scientific authority which pro
nounces the diet as a sure producer Of dys
pepsia. He takes his food with abundan
water for time, and then abjures it whei
another medical expert prOnOunces il inju
rious.
He j. a vegetarian, meat eater by turns
he patrOnizes the allopathic, then the hydro
pathic, then homeopathic, then the eclectic
and the metaphysical schools; and trie
drugs herbs, mind tranterence, old women