The times., 1898-08-03
OF NOSTALGIA.
n REPORT From Gen. Shafter That
Has Caused Much Comruept

In one Of his health reports Gen. Shaft
er mentions one death from nostaIeta or
homesickness. Perhaps this is more fre-
quently fatal than most persons think. Ii
is especially severe OH the Swiss who en-
igrate and on all persons reared in mount
ain districts who go to the plains. The
disease is usually more frequent among
women than among men. In speaking of
the soldiers death to a New York re-
porter, DR.. r. S. Tracy, one of the lead
ing physicians OF the board of health. said
that never before had the case of the
death of a man from nostalgia come to
his notice.
"of course he said, nostalgia IS sim
ply another name for Inconsistencies
Homesickness, as nearly everyone knows.
is a very disagreeable feeling. but ex-
cepting in the case of women. it is rarely
OF such strength as 10 cause prostration.
The action of the malady is TO first cause
mental depression, which in turn acts up
on the physical body Food If taken. is
not properly assimilated, and weakness
is fostered. The continuance of this
would, of course, cause death through
heart failure. induced by lack of nourish-
ment. But the idea of a soldier dying
from such a cause seems almost fncredi-
BILE.
Private Atkins may have lived in !;
rural part of Massachusetts, and country
people are more liable naturally to home
sickness than city-bred person a home
in the country is much more to a family
than metropolitan home, and in the
rural districts one knows everybody and
Is known of all. An abrupt transition
from such state to a condition of isola-
tion from friends. as the case may have
been in this instance, might cause nostal-
gia if constant brooding over the separa-
ton followed We look upon a man as
independent and able to make himself
amenable to his surroundings, but a
woman, naturally dependent in a meas
ure would be considered as more suscep-
tlble to the disease. Private Atkins must
have been of an unusually tender temper
ament, possibly of a retiring nature, and
the circumstances under which he left his
loved ones at home may have preyed on
his mind. This, combined with low vital
ity following his hard work in the trop-
les would have made him fit subject for
nostalgia if ne had been a woman. As it
is the case is very remarkable"
Dr. T. Taylor Emery. former health
commissioner of New York, was also i'm
pressed with the popularity of the dis
ease. He said, however. that he could
possibly understand 1t. as he had lived in
climate similar TO Cuba, that of Costa
Rica. for ten years. and he, too, had been
homesick, although he had not incurred
nostalgia.
81 once saw case of nostalgia" he
added, 1.-The only one ever under my no.
tice. while In Costa Rica. A poor native
from the Canary Islands. who had been
forced to live in Costa Rica, was the
subject He was always pining for his
native island, and talked and planned to
get back. One day as I was riding past
his rude home / saw him dispossessed
and his few belongings confscated. The
blow was too much and he reeled to the
roadside and sat down on the stones in a
daze. l dismounted and was approaching
him. when he looked up. oh! so despair
ingly, and. with soul-rending cry, fell
over on his face. dead. That was a case
of nostalgia. 1t is akin to broken heart,
I think. Neither is 1t in reality disease,
but such conditions seem to occur. 1t
shows the influence of the mind on the
body"