The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1896-01-19
CHAPTER ON DISEASES.
They Are Two Kinds, the Physical and
the Mental.
ropyl,i.uT 1904

CHAPTER ON DISEASES.
They Are Two Kinds, the Physical and
the Mental
COPYRIGHT 1895
Man is wonderfully and fearful.
ly made. Somebody has said it is
strange that harp of thou
sand strings would stay in tune so
long. But after all some of the strings
are always out of tune III the mental or
physical man, and sometimes the worst
deformities are apparent in the moral
man. l know not how many diseases
afflict men, as to their number or viru-
lency. Most men think that 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 all of these diseases?
Epidemics of these diseases car
ry off few hundred, but it is sell
dom that an epidemic breaks out in any
community, and then it Is confined
largely to community.
heard gentleman say to his wife
the other day that she had studied the
almanac with special reference to the
peculiar diseases that afllict mortals,
and that she had come deliberately to
the conclusion that she had them all;
and ! have no doubt but that many of
the physical ills in life are traceahle 10
the knowledge of diseases given by the
pages of patent medicine almanac. ]
have seen Il few people who seemed
to enjoy their inirmities and look upon
their lnartyrdom as deserving a crown.
Their intirmitics seemed to be their
strength, and their weaknesses their
power.
Very few men or women we meet
these days 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 yerybody, either ny hoof
or horn, snout or tail.
believe that assafoetida is the best
remedy for large majority of the Ills
OF life. ! know some persons whom
think ought to take n pound day on an
average. Woe be to a man the day he
finds out he has got 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. ovcrsmoking or overdrinking
or overexertion conclude they have or
ganic heart trouble and are liable to
drop off any minute. know some peo-
| pie who have been expecting to die
| hourly for nearly a hundred years, md
| yet they still live, 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 10 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 is multiplying these
latter days, and it doesn't take the
victim long to persuade himself that
he has genuine case of Bright's dis
ease, and he dies many times before his
| death.
Catari h, pleurisy, corns, swinney and
blind staggers" take Off not few
of our race, but they take them slowly.
Christian scientists tell us that it
is all in the mind-that If we think
we are well we are well. suppose it
| is true on the other side of the question.
| that if we think we are sick we arc
| sick. How much the mind acts on the
body and the body counteracts on the
mind is question which scientists
| have not settled. But we know that
hypochondriacs have multiplied and
hysteria itself is 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,
feebleness of mind and body both for
many years, and yet ] weigh more to-
day and work more than at any age OF
my life.
But all these things make a living
| tor large ana MONOGRAPHS PROGRESSION
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 | didn't take alternatives, and
so on, ] would have a bilious attack
and i haye kept my system out of good
working order two-thirds of the time
trying TO prevent the very thing that
| was bringing about. / said good-by
to medicines several years ago, and
find either total abstinence from eat.
ing, or very mild diet for a day OF
two. is the best medicine fellow ever
took for the common ills of life. l an
sorry for fellow who has to take 6
pill after each meal, or a solution OF
decoction of some sort every few hours
Ills life is 4 burden. and he is fool
II every man would be his own doctor
and take as little medicine as the nv
erage doctor gives himself the world OF
humanity would feel better in week