Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-07-29

oxygen? H0S couid there be any oxygen
without air How could air settle in 9
deep boring when the pressure Of the gas
is go much greater than the air itself?
Another error in the same hue is that OF
saying, "It's going to rain; zee how heavy
the air is. The smoke all comes to the
ground" The fact is that The air Ia
lighter before or during q rain-dsmp air
is always lighter than cold air. When the
air is dry and heavy il buoys the smoke
upward, but when it is light and moist il
is nearer the weight Of smoke aud conse-
quently will not buoy it up 30 readily.
When it ONE to treating the sick and
dealing with the causes that produce dis
ease, 50 many errors have prevailed, and
do now prevail, that 1t seems q wonder
that the human race has not become ex-
tinct long ago. Take the so-called liver
complaints. OF course the liver may have
organic disease, just as any other organ
may have, but by far the greater part of
so-called liver diseases are only functional
and have their origin in the stomach.
When the stomach is all right the liver
will be all right nine times out of ten.
Another delusion is malaria, so-called.
The word malaria means bad air. The
diseases that are attributed to this cause
are frequently common in districts where
there is no stagnant water or anything else
to faint the atmosphere. IL will be remem-
bered that during the autumn of 1881
there wa an unusual number Of people
who were attacked by these diseases in
southwestern and west-central Missouri
and also eastern Kansas, when there had
been no rains of any consequence for
months, and that, too, in districts
far removed from decomposing wa
ter or any other substance. The
CAUSE or causes Of these diseases were
surely not in the air, consequently should
not be attributed to malaria. 1t is more
probable that during the dry, hot weather
of simmer that the heat that is radisted
and the electricity that is generated by the
sun have an enervating influence on the
system-that from the nerve centres this
Influence reaches the muscular system.
principally through the pneumogastric
nerve, and the stomach being the most
delicate and intricate of almost any of the
involuntary muscles ia the principal suf-
ferer from such enervating influence. In
digestion follows ss a symptom, and an in
crease Of bile brings what is called bilious
ness and malaria.
1 hope my medical friends, and 1 claim
many as such, will pardon the presump.
ton on my part of the discussion of q sub
ject that cones more within their province
than that of mine. But this conclusion
has been forced from observations that reach
over q period of many years az q surveyor
in the West. 1 have obverved that there
were more cases of sickness of this kind
during, or Immediately after, the season
in which there were the greatest nuIab'r
of electric showers or electric disturbances
as shown by the surveyors instruments.
l conclude, then, that heat and electricity
are the prime causes of malaria" and
that they weaken the stomach and, in q
large majority of cases, produce the dis
eases usually attributed to this cause.
1 give the thought to the profession with
the hope that it will offend none.
Another error is called to mind in this
line. 1t is generally believed that cold
water is good to apply during fevers. This
is too much like taking alcohol to increase
the strength. The reaction in both cases
is bad. At the moment OF the application
of the cold water or ice the patient feels a
sense of relief, but only for q moment. II
hot water be applied to the patient and
then q fan is used, the desired effect can be
obtained much more easily. The reaction
Fever can surely be reduced by its use.