Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-06-30
NUMBER 47
TIPS on HICCOUGHS.
HOW THEY ARE CAUSED AND HOW
THEY ARE TREATED.

There Are Three Varieties of This Dis
tressing Afaiction. Namely, Irritasive.
Specific and Keurotic-Frights, Incanta-
tions and Spells as Remedies.
Hiccough or singultus (the medical
term) is interrupted inspiration produced
by sudden and spasmodic diaphragm in
closure Of the glottis in the midst of in
spiration. Singultus, like all Gaul Is
divided into three parts. All hiccoughs
may look alike to the uninitiated, but to
the learned they group themselves under
the heads of irritativer specific and neu-
rotic. They all come from disturbance
of the nerves of the diaphragm, but that
disturbance must be referred to some pri-
mary cause.
Irritative hiccoughs may be caused by
swallowing very hot substances or by any
gastric or intestinal disorder The O'Clock
in the morning hiccoughs are an instance
of the effects of hot stuff, and hiccoughs
following eating can be classed as irrita-
tive and set down to digestive derange-
ment. Specific cases are the result of
some constitutional disorder, such as gout,
diabetes or Bright's disease, and neurotic
hieeoughs have their primary causes in the
nerve system, often accompanying a nerve
shock, hystcria or epilepsy. OF the three
varieties the irritatiye hiccough yields
most readily to treatment, and the neurotic
is the most obstinate Almost all cases of
persistent hiccoughs are neurotic, and
nervous hiccough has even been known to
become epidemic.
The number of remedies for hiccoughs
is legion, and the medical profession hasn't
monopoly of them. An obstinate case Of
hiccoughs in the family must be nearly as
exciting as fire, for as soon as tho disease
assumes serious character the newspa-
pers notice it and comments upon it go
out through the country. Then letters and
kilograms begin to pour in upon the vic
tim. In every out of the way corner of
the country is some one who has sure
cure for hiccoughs and is charitable enough
to want to relieve the sufferer. During
recent serious case of hiccoughs near New
York hundreds of suggestions were re-
ceiyed from unknown people, and the list
of prescriptions was intensely funny,
though the family was too anxious to ap-
preciate the humor However, the remedy
that was most often recommended, even
by those outside the medical world, was
Rmyl nitrate, which is one of the hiccough
medicines most valued by physicians.
Medical science recognizes various classes
Of treatment for hicooughs, and doctors
talk profoundly Of antispasnodic, enpir-
ical and physiological methods, but In an
obstinate case all three classes of remedies
are tried with beautiful impartiality, and
even the unscientifc suggestions of old
ladies are not scorned Antispasnodic
remedies include chloral, amyl nitrate, CO.
caine and morphine In case of inflam-
nation local bleeding, leeches and ice ap-
plications are tried, and if the trouble is
due to gastritis, bismuth, magnesia and
cocaine are valuable If tho hiccoughs are
of the irritativc variety, the necessity is to
remove the cause of irritation. That is
! not always so easy as it sounds, but it is
safe thing to give dose of castor oil on
faith.
Neurotic hiecoughs, being a nervous af
fection, require nerve treatment. Valerian
and asafetida are given, but one of the
most common methods of treatment is to
raise the patients arms above his head
and then bring strong pressure to bear on
the phrenic nerve, which is located near
the collar bone 1t is frequently the case
that where all deeply scientific treatment
fails some one of the simpler empirical
remedies will effect euro, and one of these
remedies has had long and honorable
career, for one finds mention of it as far
back as the time of Plato
Hiccoughs are not respecters of persons
and evidently did not hesitate to attack
even the noble Athenians, for in Plato's
symposium one reads that the physician
Eryximachus recommended to Aristo
phanes, who had hiccoughs, that he should
hold his breath or gargle with cold water,
and if the hiccoughs would not yield to
that treatment he must tickle his nose un
til he sneezed. Two sneezes were warrant
ed to rout the enemy.
Those same old remedies are still used,
and only short time ago pinch of snuff
and the resultant sneezing cured a persist
ent case of neurotic hiccoughs which had
for ~ days defied all scientific treatment.
Raw whisky and hot brandy are among
the hiccough remedies; so are salt and
vinegar, salt and lemon and red pepper
tea, which is given on the principle that
to lose ones breath is the same thing as to
hold it.
Some physicians advise ''rhythmical
protrusien of the tongue, which, being
interpreted, means repeatedly sticking out
ones tongue as far as possible and draw
ing it back again. Considerable satisfac-
tion as well as hiccough cure might be had
from that treatment if the patient could
have his dearest foe in front of him.
Continued and rapid swallowing is an
other remedy, and after holding the breath
is perhaps the one most universally known,
"15 swallows of water without breathing"
being invariably tried in a light case of
hiccoughs A mustard plaster over the
stomach is sometimes good for hiccoughs;
a severe fright is heroic remedy, and out
side of the province of medicine, there are
incantations and spells which are infal-
lible
If one will but hold his left arm above
his head and say slowly: "Hiceough, hic-
cough, I'm your brother. Leave me and
take another the hiccough's chances are
poor and if one puts his fingers in his cars
and chants: De debbil done glib me desc
hickups, but de Dressed Lawd gOin skeer
'em away Come Lawd, come snatch
'em,'' the curse will depart in haste
There are Afro-American traditions how
ever, of cases whore tho OWL spirit departed
in mons 'rous fits, " SO there's danger in
that experiment
The number of cases of hiccoughs end
ing fatally is not very large, and even in
those cases the death ism t charged up to
| hiccoughs, for physicians explain seriously
that the people don t die of hiccoughs, but
of the exhaustion caused by hiccoughs.
That is an interesting distinction, but 1t
doesn't make much difference in the situ-
alton of tho victim. Now York Sun.