Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-12
THE PACE THAT KILLS
R7 e Ear
Therapeutic Society Discusses
the Strenuous Life.
BAD FOR THE HEART
WE LIVE BY THE CLOCK TOO
MUCH.
Effect of Drugs, the Altitude Remedy
and the X-Ray Thorough
ly Talked Of.


of the heart. The doctor then launched into
a discussion of the use of cardiac drugs as
| a remedy.
There were other interesting papers In
cluded in the program. The use Of the x
| ray in the treatment Of cancer was dis
| cussed by DR.. Robert Reyburn of this city;
tho curative properties of potassium copai-
| vate were dwelt on by DR.. Louis Kolipinskl'
| also of this city. DR.. H. w. Wiley chemist
! of the Agricultural Department, emphasized
| in most convincing manner the necessity
| of having some efficient general and ofncia!
supervision over drugs for the purpose OF
| guaranteeing their purity and strength
| Other papers were read, including one from
| Dr. Hall of Denver, who answered the Ques-
/ ton as to who among consumptives may De
| benefited by altitude treatment
| The initial paper, that of DR.. Osborne,
| in it's reference to the present day tendency
| to excitement, and its attendant result on
| the human organism, created great inter-
est and provoked much interesting COM
| ment and suggestion.
| Productive Of Heart Trouble.
Several causes OF late years have been
at work." he said, ito produce all sorts
| and kinds of neuroses of the heart or de-
bility of the heart muscle. and to hasten
| that degeneration of the circulatory system
| that comes normally only late in life.
| 1.-THE principal causes Of this ever-increas-
| ing cardiac and arterial weakness are the
high tension of our daily life. the nervous
! strain of some of pastimes, as bicy-
| cling and automobiling in cities And not
! the least cause is the constantly and reck-
| leSsly increasing consumption OF coal tar
| products for pain, whether for the omni-
| present headache or for simple neuralg1as-
| Zone hardly realizes this daily tension
| and it's effect on our hearts unless we ana
| lyze it. We rise time in the morning.
whether by an alarm clock. by the call of
| a servant by habit, eat breakfast and
| read the paper on time. a clock in every
| room and watch frequently in our hand
| We then. on time, meet office and outside
| engagements. college appointments. consul
| tationS. always and constantly carefully
predeciding the amount of time that Will
| be required. and timing the next engage
| ment by this decision. We then carefully
subdivide this time, and note 10y our
| watches exactly how long we can discuss
| a subject. An appointment kept by the
other party even one minute late makes
US restless.
During the day we rush up long flights
of stairs or take elevators that go up with
| a rush and stop with a plunge. If we
drive, either horse or automobile, by the
carelessness and haste of sbicyclists or pc
destrian our hearts stop jump or receive
the vasOmotor contraction check from the
sudden anxiety lest we do an injury. II
we are in a car or vehicle managed by
some one else we often receive the same
real or needless shocks to- our nervous
systems or hearts,
IF we are ailing we fight natures Sig
nal to relax and still keep up the pace.
If we are actually sick. unless we are Sc
riously ILL., we fight and wrestle with the
disease, whatever 1t may be, instead of
calmly giving up and allowing the disease
to be temporary master of ceremonies.
"a calm mind and even heart will allow
nature to expel the disease If acute, and
will mitigate or Obstruct chronic disease
| until the last rampant Is taken and the
last gun fired
you have only to change the subject of
the above sentences to describe the lives
of most men and women of our rapid
age and country. Even the school chill
dren. and might say the young children.
see too much, do too much, are amused
too much, receive too much compete in
school too much. are taught too much. are
awake too much for the welfare of their
nervous systems.
In discussing remedies in debiIitated heart
action cases the subject of alcohol received
attention in the subsequent discussion, and
the statement was made and concurred in
| that to be in any way efficient alcohol
must be administered in small doses and
frequently. Otherwise its effect was detrf-
mental and It's after effects deleterious.
The effect of coffee was declared to vary
with the temperament of the patient On
perhaps two-thirds of patients it's effect
was not harmful. but in the remaining one
| third it was positively hurtful. Tea was
| said to be more harmful on the human
system than coffee in all instances.
The Altitude Treatment.
The paper of DR.. ]. N. Hall of Denver on
| the altitude treatment scored certain ply
sicians heavily for recommending the
| Rocky mountains to their patients without
! thorough examination Of their symptoms
| During his twenty years experience he
said, he had examined many patients who
| supposed they were suffering with tuber-
culosis who were really suffering from
asthma, heart disease or chronic bronchitis
while certain patients with advanced lung
| trouble, he declared, must have been sent
to the high altitude with the positive
knowledge on the part OF the physician
| that they could not live month.
Upon the stage of the disease depends the
| beneficial results Of the mountain air. It
was a significant fact that a large per-
| centage Of physicians with tuberculosis
| was explained from, the fact that the ply
sicians early fell into expert hands and
were sent there promptly.
IT all patients with, cough were sent TO
| the mountains upon the appearance Of
few crackles in one apex without waiting
| for dullness to appear and even before a
baciilary examina ton was obtained. there
| noses of consumption, 9u
For Pure Drugs.
The reasoning of pr. wiley that some
system of official drug supervision should
by the society DR.. Wiley reviewed briefly
the campaign for pure food laws and hint
| ed that it might be possible by the simple
| addition Of the word drugs" to the pro-
posed pure food law to get this desired
| supervision. The manufacturers of foods,
| he said had fought hard for many years
| to prevent the passage OF national pure
| food bill through Congress. This opposi-
| ton had been carried right up to the end
! of the last Congress. The BILL however,
| had been reported to the House favorably
| by vote Of 10 to 1 of the committee.
| The fact that 1t was a 16-to-1 measure
might be a cause for its failure In the
| House, he added. but nevertheless. he de-
| clared. the opposition of the manufacturers
| had ceased and all were now for the meas
| ure. This was explained on the ground
| that they felt that under the proposed law
| they would all be on an equal basis, and
competition through adulteration would no
longer jeopardize their business.
! DIR. Wiley gave Instances In the work of
| the chemistry bureau of the Department of
| Agriculture of the difficulty Of obtaining
pure drugs. The excuse of the manufac-
turer when questioned on the subject was
| that the particular drug in question had
been obtained from another manufacturer,
and the department was never able to as