The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-09
Medical Notes..


In popular rarlancc the expression eis
often used, "a stroke of apcplexy," but
this is redundant forethe word apopIexy
itself is from the Greek meaning to
strike away, wnile hemiplegia, from the
Greek hemi, half. and pleSso, to strike
means half a blow, but none the less
serious one Other medical terms also
suggest violence as the plague from the
Latin playa, meaning a blow. a reference.
to the ancient belief that plaques were
inflicted bNs the gods as punishment for
some act onilhted or committed. This
idea of punishment still further appears
in the word pain, from the Latin poena, a
punishment.
On the other hand it was natural that
the people should seek the interposition
OF those who were supposed to have spe-
cia1 powers as pleaderS of their. cause
g with the gods to remove disease sup
posed TO be a divine infliotion. Hence
certain diseases BECOME known by the
name OF the saints, who We're implored
10 inCercede. There is the word chorea
fSahcti With, for example, from the
Greek cnoFea. derived from chorus, mean
ing a round dance accompanied with
song. Then as St. Nitus was reputed to
heal this disease his name was tackled
onto 1t, not i'll opprobrium, but sort
of saving clause, the honor, however be-
ing rather questionable.
The chorus Of the ancients was rather
a solemn affair and a good deal on one
note as well as otherwise nonetonous,
but the chorusSef today at least in the
bGrlesque, is rather giddy. tiiddy, by the
way, is am Anglo-SaXon word from gid,
q song, giddiness being from giddian to
sing or be merry.
Giddiness often leads to the actions OF
a bowling dervish, who dances until he
is dizzy, word from the Anglo Saxon.
the Latin Yerte, to turn, has the same
Significance as dizziness, but dispenses
with the giddihess that camses yet ac-
companies 1t.
Deliriurn from de- out of and Ira,
furrow, is well chosen, for when a man
gets out of the furrow all wise mon who
keep to the straight line understand the
result. Alienation Insanity is simply an
other term for one who is out CT the
road, from ahieno to make anothers 8, to
estrange, referring to the fact that the
victim acts like stranger, or possibly
that he is possessed of a stranger, in the
form of an evil spirit, this being an old
belief concerning madness as further evil
denced by the term possessed, of an evil
spirit being implied.
Cretinism, from the French chretien,
Christian does not describe the char
acter of the cretin, for he is not de-
his imbecilfty and degenerate ways, but
in olden times it was given to them on
account of the custom by which help
less imbeciles appealed TO Christian SYM
pathy. or, perhaps, although this sp9i1s
the romance, from a French word,
kreide, CRAZE chalk. referring to the
chalky pallor of the skin.
Fire also appears as roet in many
medical terms. Thus pyreXia, the sc1en-
g. OSlY
root, pyr, meaning fire. Phlegmasia Gin
Illumination is from the Greek phlego, to
burn, while Inflammation is from the
Latin inf1ammo, to set on fire. Carbuncle,
from the Latin carbunculus, little coal,
is diminutive from Carlo, coal. but 1t
has no relation TO its baby brother. fur
uncle, a ddminutive Of the Latin fur,
thief.
Effusion, which often attends intiamma-
ton, is from the Latin effundo, to pour
out, while eczema Is from the Greek Elk,
out, and geo, to bon.
When street is crowded almost to a
blockade they say it is congested. from
con, together, and zero, to bear; the peo-
pie have clustered together; that is Just
the globules and corFuscles having crowd
ed together in some highway or byway
of the body haze fhindered or entirely
stopped circulation En that part. These
little things, to ass slang expression,
get 'hot under the neck they get ex-
cited and heated and when they meet
their friends they get them excited too;
that is, Inflammation has set in by extern
sion, from Elk. out and tendo. to stretch;
their friends become infected, inficio, to
dip in, or rather Intoxicated, from in, in,
ana toxlcum, poison that is poisoned by
the excitement, and,i if the riot act is not
Immediately read by the good physician
and active means taken to quen the dis
turbance all the individual and compo-
nent parts of the body viii rise as a mob
to put the intruders and mischief makers
out, and clear the road.
Suppuration is a different thing There
the pus, the root of the eVl and the word.
gathers under. sub, the TISSUES and tun-
nels dixie a prisoner to escape from con-
f1nement.
0nomatopoetic words are not uncom-
mon in medical lore Thus cough is a
word that suggests the sound of coughing