The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-24
DISEASE DUE TO THE PHONE.
Causes and Symptoms OF Telephone
Tinritus.
From the NelO York Times.

disease, at least IN Europe. It is disease of
tbe ear and reacts on the spirits, and then
indirectly affects the general health. We
are indebted for the discovery of this dis
der due TO civilization to a Frenchman,
n. Gelle. He has observed, not only in
women, but in strong-minded and able
bodied men, symptoms of what may be
called "aural overpreSsure," caused by the
condition of almost constant strain of the
auditory apparatus in which persons who
use the telephone much have
IN spend considerable portion
Of each working day. In some cases,
thealso. the air has seemed to be irrltated by
the constantly-recurring sharp tinkle of the
he'll. or by the nearneSs of the sounds con-
veyed through the tube, into a state Of
sver-sensitivenesss which made it intolerant
Of sound, as the eye, when infamed or
irritable. becomes unable to bear the light
The patients suffered from nervous excita-
bility. with buzzmg noises in the ear. gid
diness. and neuralgia pains. In addition to
these subjective symptoms, NJ. Geile in
some cases found objective LESSONS, such as
a sul-infammatory condition of the men,
brana tYmpani.
Commenting on this discovery, the Lon
don Medical Journal remarks that a sim
liar condition Of things sis often seen in
persons who spend large portion of their
lives amid the jar and crash of machinery
All the trouble speedily vanishes if the ear is
allowed suffice t measure of physiological
rest: this it can only obtain by the cause of
theevil being with6faGyn The victims of
telephone tinnitus, if we may so baptize this
latest addition to the ills that flesh is heir
70, seem all to be Of markedly nervous
organization, and tie moral may be drawn
that such persons should not use the tele-
phone. Mr.. Edison has already done some
thing to increase the plague of nerves
which atliicts our generation, and, if his
brilliant career as an inventor is not cut
short, there can be little doubt that he will
do yet more"
The subject has been taken I'D by the
London Standard also, which remarks that
persons of extremely highly strung consti-
buttons are apt to be affected by almost
anything out Of the ordinary track of their
experience. There are plenty of indi-
Tiduals, it says, "who sicken at the smell
of cheese, and Others who, like Erasmus,
experience febrile symptoms at the signt of
fish. Scaliger turned pale when water
crosses met his eye, and Sir David Brewster
always felt an electric shock when a cat
entered the room. The famous BOYLE
swoOned when he heard the splashing of
water, and he knew a young man who
tainted when his room was swept. The
Duke Of Epernay fell into sYncope on
seeing leveret, though hare did not
produce the same effect; and Tycho Brahe
could not endure the sight of fox, or
Marshal d'Albret the face of a pig. His
tory records how James l. felt all in a
qlalm' at the sight Of naked sword, and
Hippocrates tells US that 'one Nicanor'
suffered dreadful agonies whenever he
heard a hute-a circumstance not. how
ever, so unusual as the Greek physician
appears to have imagined Vincent. the
french painter, was always seized with
vertigo If roses were in the same room
with him, and Amatus Lusitanus asks us
TO believe that monk of his acquaintance
so regularly tainted at the sight of this flower
that he never quilted his cell while it was
IN bloom, while military friend of Volpi
was thrown into convulsions in consequence
of pinks being placed in the same chamber
with him.
"These, and many similar cases which
might be quoted, merely serve to prove
the excessive sensitiveneSs of some nervous
for the persons affected
were otherwise in sound health and were
III no instance of feeble intellectual powers.
On the contrary, many of them were great
scholars, soldiers. artists, and statesmen.
How they would have been affected bv the
strain of modern civilization, and by the
novel agencies which it brings to bear on
mind and body, can only be imagined by
the effect they have on those of less distin-
gulshed individuals. Insanity, which in
various continental towns seems to be tax
ing an almost epidemic form, is attributed
to this worry and excitement, and, unques-
tionably, in times of great COM
mercial depression or initiation war,
political fervor, or the like, many
forms of brain disease increase. Railway
travelling sometimes has on people of much
more stolld temperament remarkable in
iiuence. They feel peculiar nervous rest
lessness, and even faintness, which, how
ever, passes away when the train is in
motion, but returns when it stops. Some
people are giddy. or half unconscious, while
seated, and the late Charles Dickens, after
being in the Staplehurst accident, was
seriously annoyed at these aud similar
effects which railway travelling produced
upon his nervous system. The jolting
movement is now known to have prejld
cal influence, and in certain cases is sus-
pected OF leading to paralysis.
Another deduction from the advantages
which scientific discovery and invention
are comforting upon us is that special form
OF opnthalmia which the use of the electric
light has created Men following peculiar
caIllngs have, of course, always been SUBJ
JecC TO the appropriate diseases. Painters
are VIGOROUSLY prone to lead poisoning,
owing 10 the careleSsness with which they
allow the material on which they are work
ing to touch their food, and not many years
ago a famous scandinavian artist died of a
'Lsease which was confidently attributed to
a haolt he had got into Of holding his spare
brushes IN his mouth, and in this way con-
Neylhg INTO his system some OF the poison
gus ingredients entering into the compost
tion OF the colors used A still more remark
aoie form of the same poisoning occurred
sumo tlne ago, under circumstances which
entltle 1t to be called malady of civiliZa-
uloh 1t was noticed that many of the
women employed in counting greenbacks'
~ Ihe treasury department at Washington
1o9Ked IL, and had 8 res upon their hands
enu heads The symptoms were those of
o.senlcaI poisoning, and were ultimately
aNVvrIouted to the fact that the clerks wetted
t thumbs and forefngers to assist in
vIIL!nlIng over the notes, the green color of
"nicn was due to the mineral mentioned,
tL Ohen touched their faces or liDs with
sue poisoned fingers. Players on wind
luSUruments are often troubled with empty
Sould, consequent on the air vessels of their
oyertaxed lungs giving way. Similar
easeS IN point are the clergyman,s sore
suroat, the housemaid's knee, the'hummy'
o w Ihe back of the deal pUrter's neck, the
iaIOsity on the pitman's thumb and fore
niger, and the corns which are so frequent
- se Sne Ieet OF persons using tight shoes.
~ lne coal miner inhales the fine particles
- oar Don, the knife grinder the steel dust,
,l ne cigar and snuff maker the powderv
"Oi u, the sandDaper maker the minute