Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-23

which last leaves degree of paralysis
and want of all sensation in the nerve SO
treated. The hypodermic use of anti
pyrin for neuralgia and soiatica is also
highly commended. Doses of fifteen TO
twenty-five grams injected at a time,
only Ave grains in one place, rendered
the skin insensible for fifteen to twenty
four hours and gave great relief.
The persistent headaches of children,
accompanied with sluggishness of mind,
nervous irritability and nightmare are
due to overpressure and bad ventilation
in school, errors of refraction in the eyes
and nasal disease. DR.. Corning wisely
advises the treatment of chorea by giving
the patients as much sleep as possible,
and in many cases they can acquire the
habit of sleeping sixteen hours day. If
natural sleep cannot be obtained, by
warm baths and quiet, bromides should
be used. The value of this simple nat
ural treatment in many forms of nervous
diseases is beyond question.
The report OF mental diseases has sin
gular interest. The census shows ac
cording to DR.. Andrews, that we have
one insane ont of every 618 native born,
while the foreign population has one in
sane in every 250, figures which should
I6COlfO GuOuSuIlul hO
census shows in 1880 nearly forty thous,
and insane in asylums and hospitals
now increased to upwards of sixty thous-
and. As to restraint necessary for the
insane, Dr. Savage of London, the orig
inaI Bedlam, says that she hopes no one
will be listened to narrow minded enough
to say it is impossible that restraint
should ever be necessary, - and declines
himself to be bound by any principle ex-
cept of humanity and humane treatment,
which if it means anything means the
use of every method likely to restore
health. Hypnotism, while proving of
value in certain cases, like the insanity
OF persecution and moral perversiOn,
where the patient develops incorrIgible
viciousness, is still too mysterious to be
depended upon. AS to the recovery of the
insane, statistics would show that insan-
ity over one YEARS. duration is well nigh
hopeless, but this is evidently due to the
want of intelligent methods of cure, as
recoveries are reported OF cases from
three to ten years duration. Where
there is no progressive mental weakness,
the outlook is not wholly hopeless, even
after long period. Even chronic cases
may recover and Responding views of
them are unsafe and unwise. DR.. Hack
luke, one of the first authorities on in
sanity, concludes that the influence of
the insane upon the sane is exceptional,
and as an almost universal rule those
who are so affected are neurotic or some
what feeble minded. According to Dr..
Salgo, forty-two per cent of all cases OF
insanity occur between the ages of if
teen and twenty-five, the age of devel-
opment. Faulty education, fright, fear
%, oil
causes in this large number of insane
cases in the young. a pitiful revelation
is that of DR.. Kirn of FreIburg, who says
that while one out of 5000 of the general
population may be said to have some
form of mental disorder, in prisons the
ratio runs up to one in 800. Setting aside
the irregular life led by criminals, their
diseases, etc. many OF them possess a
strong predispositiOn to insanity Unborn
or acquired.
It is curious to observe that the aver
age weight of the brain coverings and
fluids is highest in the insane, while the
weight of the brain is lower.
Strychnia has been brought into prom
inence as a remedy for alcoholism among
Russian physicians. 1t is recommended
in all forms of alcoholism, especially the
nervous varieties. The drug Methylal
described in 1889 is brought TO notice by
various doctors, who praise it for the best
sedative employed, as it does not de-
press the heart or produce any unpleas-
ant after effects. 1t is useful in delir
ium tremens, insomnia, neuralgia, in
sanity, and is the best antidote to strych-
nine, used simultaneously. Averbeck
warns US that the effect of choral on the
brain is more pernicious than that OF
morphine.
The cocaine habit takes its place be-
side the morphine habit, with symptoms
of marasmus, delusions and hallucina-
tons of frightful appearances and small
living things creeping on the skin, to-
gether with insomnia and loss Of appe-
tite. The symptoms Of cocaine poison
ing are more obstinate than those Of
morphine, and may Hast for months af-
ter the cessation of the drug. The ex-
periments of DR., Dudley show that car
bonio oxide is the most poisonous constit-
uent of cigar smoking, and more injury
results from cigarette smoking than CT
gars or pipes, because more smoke is in
hailed A wise old Oriental, who smokes
from sixty to seventy cigarettes a day,
gives the advice, "Always use cigar
cite holder. with plug of cotton wool
dipped in lemon juice, changed every
time with the cigarette. ~ The alleged
immunity OF smokers from infectious dis
ease is not a mere fancy, as it is shown
the tobacco smoke destroys microbes, or
delays their development. Attention is
called to the injury to the infants of the
poor in their crowded apartments by to-
bacco smoke, the symptoms being
suDken eyes, fistless ways, restless
nights, nausea and loss Of appetite,
which disappear on removal of the
cause. Tea poisoning is most common
with the young and an8mio though 1t
affects those with good constitutions,
toxic affects being produced by about
five cups day. The symptoms are nau-
sea, dyspepsia, palpitation, nervous ex-
eitement, and even maniacal attacks
with pains OF the heart rsdiating to the
arms and chest.
The opinions OF doctors on alcoholic
beverages have sufficient variety. La