Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-06-21
DEATH FROM SMALL CUTS.
to Failure of the blood to
C0agulate.

ssHaemophilia," as a disease, sounds
a good deal worse than it really is,
provided you can keep a literally whole
skin and don't get bumped on the
nose. But if you cut a finger with
penknife, step on tack, or have a
tooth pulled, your relations may have
to notify the coroner sometime in
hurry, says the Chicago Tribune
Kittle Maher, an Oak Park domestic
who so nearly bled to death the other
day from the extraction of seven
teeth, was almost victim of haemo-
philia. Incidentally her case is some
what remarkable, for the reason that
this abnormal condition seldom is seen
in women.
In common phrasealogy, the person
so afflicted is 'bleeder'' The least
rupture of a blood vessel starts tor
rent of blood in proportion to the
cut, and, as in the case of the Oak Park
woman, the loss of a single tooth, or
even a sharp blow on the nose. may
threaten the life of the person.
'sHaemophi1ia is a disease that puz-
zled physicians for long time" said
a well-known Chicago physician. ct
is an old affection that has some Pc
ity it seems to be a disease only in the
fact that it is departure from the
normal. If the victim of it can avoid
rupturing blood vessels he will suffer
no inconvenience from it. He may
be perfectly normal in every respect
except that he has disposition to
bleed to death from slight cut.
For many years medical science
the cause for such hemorrhages. They
looked to the skin of the patient and
found it normal. They examined the
no defects in them. Even now you
may hear from the layman that a man
is 'bleeder' for the reason that he
has only one skin coat. But it is
wrong.
"Haemophilia is a disease of the
blood. Only about ten years ago some
one who tired of looking for the cause
in the tissues made blood examina-
ton and found it.
I'm the plasma of the blood are two
fbrin antecedents which, combined, go
to form fbrin. One of these ante
cedents has calcium, or lime, as a
constituent. An examination of the
blood of a sbleeder' shower that it was
| lacking in calcium, which is that ele-
| ment in the blood causing it to clot.
In ruptured blood vessels bleeding
stops only through this coagulation
brought about by calcium, and if that
element is lacking in the blood there is
trouble.
Gas between men and women, with
respect to this lack of calcium in the
| blood, males are much more subject
| to the condition. Under certain phys
ical circumstances a woman's system
stores remarkable percentages of cal
| cium in the blood, causing a wound
| to stop bleeding much sooner than
| would be so in man.
s'Akin to this fact is the further
| truth that while haemophilia runs in
| families, it is nearly always confined
| to the male line. 1t may aff1ict the
| males of family for generations, with
| few instances where a female is VIC
| tim. A man may be bleeder and have
| five daughters, none of whom is af-
| fected, but the sons OF these daughters
| may have the disease.
| 'sWhen it was discovered that lack
of lime in the blood caused the Excess
| sive hemorrhages in bleeders, it was
| supposed that the remedy would be
easy. To feed lime to the patient and
| to put lime on the wound was expected
| to counterfeit the trouble. But some
| how the treatment has not been eff
fective, and such case to-day pre-
sents many difficulties to the physi-
| cian."