The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-21
The English of IL.

~ NE day, early in the present
month. In a mass OF informa-
ton from camp and field. there
appeared the recent record Of deaths
among the soldiers in General Skaters
command. This death-roll from Cuba
Is at best a routine affair. The public
reads II. in the occasional obituary bull
letins that come from the front.
OF course. the American people honor
their soldier dead. yet the average man,
not expecting to come upon the name
of any soldier whom he ever knew,
goes through the list in a p~erfunctory
way. In the list of death reported
from General Skaters camp, this en-
try appeared: Harvey watkins, Com
pany I. Second Massachusetts. July 25.
nostalgia"
That was a very remarkable report.
DO you know what nostalgia is? Home
sickness, pure and simple. According
to the official report. this soldier died
Of Inconsistencies. The record was in
teresting enough to prompt a search
among the authorities, TO see II they
mention any presidents. The average
library lacks information
about nostalgia; the Standard IL in
debted TO Or. J. F. Spellman for refer
ences TO medical authorities or the
subject.
1t appears that. before Harvey Wat
kins' time. soldiers have died Of nos
talgia. The malady Is the variety OF
meIancholia in which there is intense
longing for home or country. 1t APP
pears that in olden times It was a
recognized ailment extensively dis
cussed in the medical world; the books
quote many physicians, some remem-
bered some long ago forgotten. who
wrote at length, with nostalgia for
their theme. For whatever reason. the
inhabitants Of cold countries-the Lap
landers and the Danes, for instance
are said TO be most susceptible TO the
malady; some writers refer to its In
tensity and frequency among the
Swiss, and they give the data relating
to numerous cases of suicide as the re-
suit of this afliction among these
hardy mountaineers, particularly on
hearing the mountain song OF their
homes"
Excellent authority says that nos
talgia has always been recognized as
a factor In mortality in European
armies" Record has been made OF the
ravages. among the young Bretons who
were with Napoleon I, of suicide re-
sulting from nostalgia. The malady
has frequently been recorded in hos
pital wards. Moreau speaks of a young
soldier I'm a foreign army and country
who fell into hopeless melancholy when,
by accident, he heard his native tongue.
An American medical publication rec
ords two cases OF fatal nostalgia-one
OF the victims was a Union refugee who
went TO Kentucky from his home I'm
Tennessee: "he died talking about his
home and pining for IT," The second
patient was a member OF a regiment
OF colored infantry. BY the way, on the
testimony OF two or three high author
tiles, women are less subject to nos
talgis h a men.
Homesickness; who has not felt its
pangs! Yet not many Of us. the Stand
ard presumes, had ever fancied that its
attacks have proved to be the direct
and melancholy cause of mems exit
from this world. Turning from the
medical text books and recalling the
immortal Scripture verses In the four
teenth chapter OF Johns gospel. those
of us who know now what nostalgia
Is can appreciate the impressively elo-
quent words OF Alden. who wrote
"what a world OF meaning, relieving
the nostalgia Of the whole human fam
fly. is oun in that one phrase-In my
Fathers houser'"