Arizona republican., 1901-10-27
THOUSANDS SCARED TO DEATH.

a. oSdIcQ 10 ueatH IS a Dlt or pnraSc- ology almost as old as the language. It seldom has been taken literally. in its full sense. but that it's possibilities are worthy of sober consideration in the onset of disease has been referred to by Dr. Francis w. McNamara, of Chicago in the Tribune as a more or less urgent truth. - No fallacy in the lay mind finds deeper root than does a medical fal. lacy" said pr. SMcNamara.e and the necessity of destroying some of these falsities is apparent. Some of these came from mfsdirected science years ago: others are the product of un- trained minds. which have mingled ob- servations and superstitions. All of these false notions are Instructions to the art of healing. . Think of it, Ten years ago an up- to-date physician, having a patient covered with boils, would dose the vic tim with drugs in order to free iiis blood of impurities. He would even make the remark that each boil was worth $5 to the patient. as giving sn outlet to impurities in the blood
 To-day any well read physician laughs at the idea. He knows that the boil is of microbe origin: that the para site. perhaps carried by the wind.
  and follows the hair folicle into the skin. where irritation and pus secre- tons follow. If the persons blood be poor and his general health bad he is the more likely to become a victim of the boil germ. Nowadays instead Of the nauseous medicines given intern ally. antiseptic lotions are applied. and often the patient suffers from only one boil. whereas, under old time methods. he might have reinforced himself until he had a dozen.
 How many lives have really been shortened by a sudden sensation of pain in the back? A man, bending over and walking as if on eggs. feels that he has kidney disease. The pain is just there. He can feel 1t beyond doubt as to its location.
 Yet in kidney diseases there is no pain until. perhaps, suppuration begins The mans pain is rheumatic, perhaps. or simply muscular; yet the fright he gets may have serious consequences.
 Another man feels that he Is to have pneumonia. or even tuberculosis, be- cause after a slight cold. he feels pain in his chest. Now. neither pneumonia nor tuberculosis starts with pain. The nagging pain in the rib region or be- hind the shoulder blade most fre- quently Is a neuralgia or rheumatic symptom, following a cold or a contin- ued state of wet feet.
 Many people have an idea that a cut between the thumb and finger or m injury to the sole of the foot is at all times threatening to lockjaw. It is. only if the microbe of tetaus finds lodgment there and multiplies. If this vegetable growth. common to garden soil. should find Judgment in a wound in any other part of the body. lockjaw would be just as certain. If the germ does not get in there can be no lockjaw.
 Millions of people are made wretched every year, or. perhaps have their lives shortened, by feeling that they have heart disease. They have s pain in that region. and their own di- agnosis is su0cient to convince them of the malady. As a matter of truti;. there Is seldom any pain from heart disease. The trouble Is indigestion only. The stomach. lying just under the heart, is distended to a painful de- gree by gases. and. crowding toward the heart, perhaps. makes the pain seem to be in that organ.
 Take the eye Many people have the idea that it can be removed from the head by surgeons. The idea comes from the fact that with both eyelids turned inside out the eye seems to be on the cheek. To remove the eye, how ever. with it's six muscles and its thick nerve passing into the brain. would destroy the sight of that organ forever.
 "Often you hear a person say his sight is falling. but that he will not put on glasses for the reason that he would have to continue wearing them. This is mistake in modern eye surgery. for the reason that glasses now are made to correct abnormalfties in the eye it. self. Defective sight in so many cases comes from an alteration in the shape of the lens in the eye. In the extreme ly. young this lens is almost roun l. making the child near sighted. As the person grows older the lens enlarges and -fiattens. until in old age we find the person can see readily at a distance but has trouble to read or write. Spec