The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-02-22
CHAPTER ON DISEASES.
They Are Of Two Kinds, the Phys
ical and the Mental
Sam Jones Thinks h Majority OF siek
Are Suffering from E1s of the Latter
Order-NO Sympathy for the
Hy~poChOndriac,
COPYRIGHT, 1895

are always out of tune in the mental or
physical man, and sometimes the worst
d]eformities are apparent in the moral
man. l know not how many diseases
afaict men, as to their number or viru-
lency. Most men think hat unless they
are attacked by cholera, yellow fever,
typhoid fever or small pox. their
chances for life are pretty good. But
did one ever think how few of
the race, comparatively, die with
either or ali of these diseases?
Epidemics of these diseases car
nv off Il few hundred. but it is sell
dom that an epidemic breaks out in any
community, and then it is confined
largely to IA community.
heard n gentleman say to his wife
the other day that she had studied the
almanac with special reference t the
peculiar diseases that aflict mortals,
and that she had come deliberately 10
the conclusion that she had them all;
and | have nc doubt but that many of
the physical ills in life are traceabIe to
the knowledge of diseases given by the
pages of a patent medicine almanac. l
have seen Il few people who seemed
10 enjoy their infirmities and look upon
their martyrdom as deserving a crown.
Their infirmities seemed to be their
strength. and their weaknesses their
power.
Very few men or women we meet
these dayY tell us in answer to our ques-
ton How IS your health" Il am per-
fectly we'll Almost everybody has
something, and something seems to
have almost everybody, either by hoof
or horn, snout or tail.
| believe that assafoetida is the best
remedy for a large majority of the ills
of life. l know some persons whom !
think ought to take a pound Il day on an
average. Woe be to Il man the day he
finds out he has got a liver! He will
jump on it with both feet and pound the
life out of it. and die at last from old
age and exhaustion.
Heart troubles are coming in for
their share these days. Everybody that
has palpitation of the heart from over
eating, O~vcTsmOking or overwhelming
or overcNertion conclude they have Or
ganic heart trouble and are liable TO
drop off any minute. know some PEI o.
pie who have been expecting to die
hourly for nearly a hundred years, and
yet they still live, n nuisance in their
families and the laughing stock of the
community. 1t is not very honorable
for men to die with heart trouble.
Every old burnt-out whisky sot that
has died in the last Is years from al
coholism, If he dies with good clothes
on and belongs to a respectable family,
his disease is labeled heart trouble"
without any reference to the thing that
made his heart fail.
Kidney trouble Ia multiplying these
latter days. and it doesn't take the
victim long to persuade himself that
he has a genuine case of Bright's dis
ease. and he dies many times before his
death.
Catar, h. pleurisy, corns. swinney and
blind staggers" take off not a few
of our race. but they take them slowly.
Christian scientists tell us that it
is all in the miud-that il we think
we are well we are we'll. l suppose it
is true on the other side of the question,
that if we think we are sick we are
sick. How much the mind acts on the
body and the body counteracts on the
mind is Il question which scientists
have not settled. But we know that
hypochondriacs have multiplied and
hysteria itself is a disease.
Like the balance of mortals, l have
suffered with hypochondria, and have
died many times. and yet | am still
living and a-kicking. / have suffered
from nervous dyspepsia, insomnia,
~feebIeness of mind and body both for
many years, and yet l weigh more to-
day and work more than at any age of
my life.
But all these things make a living
for a large and honorable profession
known as doctors of medicine. Some
men have been made millionaires out of
patent medicine. The world has been
| drugged and dosed and dosed and
drugged until half of humanity cannot
live without both. / have been there
myself. For IS years of my life
thought if l didn't take alternatives, and
so on, | would have a bilious attack;
and / have kept my system out of good
working order two-thirds of the time
trying to prevent the very thing that
l was bringing about. l said good-by
to medicines several years ago. and
find either total abstinence from eat
ing. or Il very mild diet for a day OF
two, is the best medicine a fellow ever
1 took for the common ills of life. l an
sorry for a fellow who has to take a
pill after each meal. or a solution OIL
decoction of some sort every few hours
His life is a burden. and he is a fool
If every man would be his WI doctor
and take as little medicine as the av
erage doctor gives himself the world Of
humanity would feel better in a week
/ heard one of the oldest physicians il
my community say once that he hadn't
taken a dose of medicine in 30 years
although he had given thousands o
doses to others. l asked him what hC
did when he got sick. He said: "
quit eating" A horse will do that;
hog will do that. THE OK knowetl
his owner and the ass his master
quid, but my people do not know; the.
will not consider" said the Lord.
That there are really sick folks il
- ALI n-uonk vvhara Ctillnl