Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-06-11
DISEASES AND DEATH.
Some Affections That Have the Eff
feet of Prolonging Life.
surprising Assertions by Medical
Authorities Concerning Suppos-
edIy Detrimental Physical
Ailments.


One of the latest medical theories
| is that certain diseases ward off
death. Rheumatic people, for in
stance, are said rarely to die young.
why. the medical men are unable to
say. but it is probable that the blood
acquires some property which is fatal
TO the germs of other diseases. A doe
tor of experience has noticed the fact
that in family of five or six broth
ers and sisters, one of whom is rheu-
matte, that one will outlive the 9TH
ers, as rule. If gout can be kept
away from the heart and confined to
the big toe the patient is likely to
live to he 90 or roo years old. 1t is
said that this is due to the fact that
the disease purifies the blood
If one has an attack of smallpox
and lives through it, he stands an
excellent chance of attaining ripe
| old age In census of aged people
taken many years ago it was found
! that a large percentage of them were
| pocll-marked. This led an eminent
physician to make calculation which
proved that there were twice as many
| pock-marked people over so years old
as there would have been had not the
smallpox exercised a preserative in
fuence. He accounted for this curious
| fact by concluding that the smallpox
mcrohe frightens away all other mi
crobes lust as rats frighten away
mice from house.
Deafness is said to have the proper
ty of adding to the victims age. Now
| and then Il deaf man is run over in
a city street. but when deaf people
prudently pitch their tents in the
country their chances of long life
are extremely good The true ex-
planation of this is declared to be
the fact that deafness saves people a
lot of worry over small matters and
| from the wear and tear of noises.
Bronchitis often shorten5 life, but
i'm some cases it has the opposite ef-
feet \ large number of the old peo-
pie one meets cough all the year
round with chronic bronchitis One
would think to listen to them that
they must cough themselves to death
soon. but that is not so. The cough
! ing helps the heart to circulate the
! blood, and, in fact, gives exercise to
many of the organs. Only for this
daily exercise many old peoples
mechanism would get fatally clogged.
Besides. man with bronchitis will
not sit in draught, he win avoid
getting wet and will not stay out half
the night losing his sleep and paint
ing the town" with the "boys."
Perhaps the most surprising asser-
tion is that disease in parents often
confers long life on children. The
contrary is believed, popularity, and
no doubt there is some ground for
the belief Some time ago the Brit
ish Medical association investigated
the subject of old age. Taking $40
people aged from so to 90 years, they
inquired into their family history.
Here is the result:
There was cancer in A families;
consumption in 60 families; gout in
so families: rheumatism in 80 fami-
lies: insanity in 10 families; apo
plcNy and paralysis in ~ families.
Thus there was history of dead
| ly diseases in the families of 253 of
the old people. In ~ more families
there was likewise some grave dis
ease. And only 40 families were free,
or said to be free from those mala-
dies which usually are supposed to be
hereditary.