The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-08-22
AN ARMY OF INVALIDS.
The Lasting Effects Of Sunstroke
and Heat Exposure.

and How the Victims Suffer Partial
or Complete Transform alton of Men
tai or Physical Condition.
copyright, 1892, by American Press Associa-
toni
Something not generally thought OF
IS we read the long lists of prostrations
by the heat in summer is the fact that
nearly all Of those who recover from the
immediate effects of sunstroke will
join the army of patients who frequent
the hospitals, dispensaries and ply
sicians' Offices, suffering from chronic
and incurable troubles, whose cause may
be traced to an attack of this kind.
These troubles are not confined within
narrow limit of disease, but are widely
distributed and various, and the reason
is not hard to explain.
All of the vital unctions-digestion,
respiration, the beating of the heart,
etc.-receive their impulse to activity
and have their source of control in GER
tain nervous centers situated in the
brain, spinal cord and in what are known
as ganglia or bundles of nervous sub
stance in the region of the stomach,
heart, lungs and elsewhere.
Among these centers is the great heat
regulating center, located in the upper
part of the spinal cord, where fbers
cross from all parts of the brain. It is
the business Of this center to keep the
temperature of the body at about 931S
dogs. during the entire year, winter and
summer alike.
Now, consider that the proper working
of all the other nerve centers in the
body depends largely on the right
amount Of heat being distributed to
them through the blood, and we can see
how any great upset in this heat regu-
lating nerve center or any breakdown
in its mechanism will cause disturbances
in almost any or perhaps In great
many of the other centers of nerve in
fluence. Thisis what is meant by sun
stroke being a disturbance Of the Seen
trail" nervous system.
The center which controls the hearts
action and that regulating the flow Of
blood in the smaller vessels at distance
from the heart are the ones most likely
to suffer the long lasting effects Of
trouble Of this kind.
Besides these disturbances Of nerve CEN
tiers are changes in the tissues, especial
ly in the walls of those exceedingly del
icate blood vessels. hundreds of thou
sands of which ramify in fine mesh
work in the substance of and around
the brain. This accounts for the most
common form of lasting trouble from
sunstroke, headache, attacks of which
come on during almost every heated
term. These headaches sometimes last
for weeks, the patient grows dull and
stupid, the mental faculties are blunted,
the memory impaired. Sometimes there
is constant desire to sleep, and the pa
tient becomes morose and fretful. At
other times, later on, there is great mus
cular weakness with the decline in
mental powers; the legs tremble in
walking, and there may be paralysis of
the bladder, attacks of dizziness, ring
ing in the ears, double vision or blind
ness and difficulty in speech.
1t would almost take book even to
mention the long list of ailments trace
able to the overeffects Of heat as their
first cause. Our asylums could tell their
story and point to cases OF insanity OF
every degree resulting from sunstroke.
Many an unfortunate epileptic, too,
looks back upon being overcome by the
heat as the cause of his present malady.
In this disease the seat of the derange-
ment is in the same region as the loca-
ton of the great heat regulating center,
and the connection is therefore easily
seen.
A sunstroke will sometimes cause a
complete alteration in the disposition of
an individual, transforming sweet and
gentle Ophelia into a shrewish Kate, or
q kind and loving husband into an irri-
table and unbearable crank. Cases of
this kind get very little sympathy, but
such disposition is as much subject
for medical treatment as is a disordered
digestion.
Time and space forbid speaking Of
paralysis Of various degrees, chronic
sleeplessness, liability to bowel troubles
in summer, chronic dyspepsia and de-
rangement of the liver, and the many
other ills that follow exposure to exces'
sive heat.
It only remains to draw the usual les
son and give the warning which to the
wise man is sufficient: Lookout for Old
Sol in the summer time.
JOSEPH M. WOODRUFF, NJ D.