New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-21
ALLEGED DEATHS FROM HOMESICKNESS.

From The Philadelphia Medical Journal.
Two deaths from nostalgia. or inconsistencies.
In the American Army at Santiago have been
reported by General Shafter to the War Depart
ment. Both Of these cases. remarkable to say.
occurred in the same regiment. the I'd Massa-
chusetts Volunteers We presume that the dag
nosis in these carefully and accurate
ly made by the military surgeons yet we should
like more light on this interesting and impor-
tant subject.
The daily reports show that the troops at
Santiago suffering much from the climate
and various Infections. especially typhoid. ma
larial and yellow feyers. and this fact should
remind that the profound psychoscs are not
infrequently associated with or caused by some
form Of infection. Typhoid and malarial poisons
especially have been noted in this role. and so
true Is this that in order to arrive at strictly
scientific diagnosis ii would be well to be sure
whether any obscure form OF either OF these dis
eases is present In such cases.
The fact that two cases occurred in the Same
regiment points possibly also to the Influence OF
imitation or suggestion. In all the psychose3.
especially hysteria and the mild forms OF in
sanity. this factor Is now well known to he
sometimes active We need only recall the cases
of folie commun1ue that have been put on rec
ord. In these instances mental disease has
been known to be communicated from n pa
ticnt TO another highly susceptible person. In
one instance three sisters were involved, the
first having imposed her decisions upon the
others Epidemcs OF lystera too wei
known to need more than mention
The fact, however that the two cases In the
army at Santiago were rapidly fatal can
probably only be IN the tHeory tntt
the patients were possibly much reduced physi-
cally by exposure and infection. The mere sepa-
ration from home on what promised to be but q
short military expedition hardly seems SUI.
fcient in itself to have caused such untoward
results. The case In different with the poor emil
grant. who fees that all the home ties are nope
leSsly severed.
Nostalgia or homcsicknas3. Is merely a form
81 melancholia. As in all the insanites moro
than one factor usually acts as causc-hence
the necessity for knowing the heredlty and an
tccodenis Of the patient. The enforced absence
from home may simply act az an exciting cause:
thee may be far deeper seated causes. such as
grave constitutional defects that &C: as the real
la Iis for the disease This Is especially true IN
cases In which the reason Is permanently lost
or life Itself sacrificed. Some races. or peoples
are supposed to be especially liable to this dis"
ease the inhabitants OF mountainous countries,
for instance. said to suffer unduly. Hence
the Swiss are said to furnish many examples.
So also rustics are more prone 10 suffer than the
inhabitants Of towns.
The observation II nostalgia among soldiers
Is by means new or recent Baron Larrcy
the eminent military surgeon Of the Napoeonlc
wars. wrote On th,s subject in his surgical me-
YIuirs. In country observations were
made in the late civil War. Calhoun wrote on
nostalgia disease Of field service and Peters
noted this affection among the evils of youth.
iul eriIstD"ntS.
Il is a remarkable fact that the somewhat
extensive literature If nostalgia is almost en-
tircly French. Many monographs have been
written in tina. language on this subject The
American Enelish and even German literature
Is con. IA ratIvcly m"agre. This viii seem TO be
a proof 10 some readers that the French havo
more of the NAL du pays than other nations
hay"-just AZ they are said to have more OF inc
other psychoses. But to mind ii is rather
activity among the curiosities Of medicine.