The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-08-23
HAY-FEVER IS
PREVALENT HERE
"Hard Thing to Cure"
Says DR.. E. W. Burns
SEEMS TO BE HEREDITARY AND
IT'S POSSIBLE TO OUTGROW
TT

Midsummer has come, August is
here, and the sound of the hay-fever
sneeze is heard in the land!
With view to gaining some in
formation that might be of value to
readers of this paper, a Citizen man,
went the rounds of the offices of the
Honesdale medical fraternity one
day last week. Unfortunately many
of the doctors were either out at the
fair or engaged in their customary
daily rounds of sick calls.
DR.. E. w. Burns, the Tenth street
physician, when seen, talked freely
on this seasonal malady. He said:
think it's a little more pre-
valent than it used to be. Anyhow
it's on the increase from what | can
judge,
There seems to be quite a regu-
larity about it. | don't know that
that is an infallible rule. 1t seems
to come on people at just such
time of year. There is nothing to
prevent it so far as l know. Its
cause is not understood.
We can say that it is a neu-
rosis, but that's not an answer.
Neurosis is an affection of the ner-
vous system. It's of nervous origin
We can give patients relief, but
it's mighty hard thing to cure. l
think it has existed for a long time
/ don't know who first discovered it,
but l do think that all agree that a
greater proportion of the population
are being afflicted with it right
along.
Oftentimes a change of locality
seems to be beneficial. Women do
not have it worse than men. | new
er saw it in a child. 1t is amenable
to medical treatment as far as relief
is concerned, but the progress in re-
gard to cure is not very encourag-
ing"
This is the time of the year for
it," said Coroner P. B. Petersen, the
Main street practitioner.
Hay fever" he continued, lis a
peculiar condition of the. mucous
membrane susceptible to the dust
and pollen from weeds, especially
golden rod and rag weed. 1t at
tacks most people in the middle of
August. Some people get it earlier
especially if they have an exciting
cause.
81 never knew of a case where
children had it. 1t is frequently ac-
companied with asthma, although
the majority of people don't have
Most people get relief from go
ing to the mountains. The White
Mountains is the favorite resort, you
know.
Very few poor people have it..
It's a fashionable disease. 1t is
amenable to constitutional treat
ment. 1t is necessary to begin
treatment a month before, and con-
tinue the treatment right through.
The best thing to do is to keep
out of the dust. Avoid the dust,
and especially avoid going into the
country and coming in contact with
pollen from any weed in bloom at
this time of the year, like golden
rod and ragweed
/ have a theory of my own
about it that is not found in any of
the books. It's a chronic disease.
You inherit it from one or two or
three generations back. The old
name for that chronic condition was
scrofula. 1t may be cancer or
scrofula or tuberculosis or some in
durable blood disease in an ances-
ton.
1T may skip a generation abso-
lutely. It's hereditary. It's blood
taint from an incurable chronic dis
ease in an ancestor, commonly call
ed scrofula.
" Patients outgrow it, and even
get over it, sometimes. Constitu-
tional remedies taken for a month
beforehand and continued through
out modify the attack very much,
and some patients get absolute re-
lief"
Ker-chew! A-chew! Ker-chew!!