People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-10-14
HAY FEVER.
Interesting Notes In References to This
Periodical visitsnt.

showing decided tendency at least to
keep pace with the increase of popula'
ton, is certainly possessed Of sufficient
Importance to interest the general
reader Hay fever, the name by which
this singular malady is generally
known in the United States, although
looked upon as a new disease and but
recently even admitted to place in the
textbooks on general medical practice,
is possessed Of more titles than many OF
Its predecessors that have been known
for hundreds of years. The basis Of
nomenclature is quite varied, being de-
pendent upon the time Of the year, the
prominent symptoms, the pathology
and the supposed cause, relating to the
ailment 1t is necessary only to men,
ton that hay fever, hay asthma, rose
cold, pollen catarrh, peach cold and
summer catarrh, few Of the names by
which this disease Is recognized, are
synonymous terms, without allusion to
as many more, of a technical character
which the specialists seem in duty
bound to add when writing upon this
subject.
This disease is really not as recent an
intruder upon the peace of mankind as
is generally supposed. As early as 1919,
Bostock, London physician, himself a
sufferer from periodical affection of
the eyes and chest" gave the first de.
tailed account Of hay fever. Since his
time numerous writer's as Gordon in
1929, Elliotson in 1881, Cazenave in 1887.
Swell in 1852, Drake in 1854, Laforgue
in 1859, Phebus in 1852 and Hemholtz
in 1859, mostly European observers
have given accounts Of well-marked,
but usually single cases, occurring in
each individual practice. In 1892, how
ever, the first work of any extent on the
subject was published by an American
physician, Dr. Wyman, a lecturer at
Harvard. He clearly defines the two
Summer and autumn) forms of hay
fever, the former corresponding to our
so-called rose cold, which occurs in May
and June
In 1873, DR.. Blackley of Manchester,
England, produced a book that is pro-
nounced by the late DR.. Mackenzie, Of
London, model of scientific investiga-
ton. by most ingenious and care
fully conducted series Of experimental
proved that, in his own person at least,
the pollen Of grasses and flowers was
the sole cause of hay fever, and that in
the case Of two other patients the sever
ity OF the disease bore direct relation
TO the amount of pollen in the air. His
subsequent observations make il ex-
tremely probable, indeed almost GER
tain, that though transient irritation of
the mucous membrane may occasionally
be caused by simple dust, pollen is in
fact the true mdteriSS morJi of summer
catarrh."
In 1876 the late Dr. Beard, of New
York, gave to the world carefully pre-
pared report of & large number of hay
fever cases. The result of his investi-
cations led him to announce that "a
large proportion of the sufferers are Of
nervous temperament, and that nerve
tonics are of considerable value in the
treatment of the affection" Since then.
however, with the increase in the num-
Der of cases and better facilities for OBJ
servation, the exceptions found to this
rule are quite numerous In 1877 an
important essay was read before the
State Medical Society of New Jersey, by
DIR. Marsh, in which were evolved inter
esting comparisons between effects of
poison ivy on the skin and pollen on the
mucous membrane The similar toxical
effects OF those agents are deserving of
wider comment from the medical pro-
fession than they have thus far received
Within the last ten years such has
been the Importance accredited this all
ment that the result has been an in
creased number Of monographs on the
subject, from the pens of earnest sciep-
tific investigators, and from those we
discover unity of opinion as to the
cause, at least, Of hay fever. 1t is now
generally conceded by all leading spe-
eialists In Europe and America that the
annual recurrence of hay fever Is the
inevitable sequence Of three factors
when acting in conjunction: First, the
external agent, which acts as the irri-
tant or exciting cause, as the pollen
from certain plants and flowers; second,
constitutional susceptibility on the
part OF the patient, and referred chiefly
TO the nervous system; and last, the
local condition, consisting of an abnor-
NAL, or at least representative state
OF the nasal passages. DIR. ]. NJ Cooper.
in Chautauquan.