The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-24
THE LAST DAYS or . NEURASTHENIA


 For all ] know some standard modern medical textbook or auth oritatiye work of reference may yet venture to kerdurnTnox readers by seriously .referring to or even pre- senting a straight faced definition or description of 'neurasthenia," although, to- the best of my knowl- edge, no medical author or author. ity has tried that trick now for many yea:S. In 6 formal lecture delivered by g representative of a metropolitan health department be- fore an audience of women the learned doctor explained just how the high tens,on'' of social and domestic life drained nervous en- ergy" and brought about what he called neuraSthenia, with the ac- cent on the i. In the same lecture the pampered health department representative mentioned abdomen with the accent on the ab and adults with the accent on the a and respiratory with the accent, on the resp, thus proving. evidently to the satisfaction of the ladies, that he is far out ahead of Webster in pronunciation as he is ahead of scientific medicine in pathology. Anyway the ladies who heard the lecture probably derived comfort from 1t, as to their use of nerve sedatives or their favorite tipple.
 Last unabashed allusion to '.neu- rasthenia'' I have come across in medical literature was this com- ment in Dr. J. s. McLester's Nutri- ton and Diet in Health and Disease published in 1899. Tn the chapter on pellagra, describing early, mild, incimplete or "subclinical" pellagra, the author says:
 The disabilities of these pa- tientS include the following: an- orexia Qack of appetite), diar- rhea, easy exhaustion, nervous ir- ritability or mild mental depres- sion, and peripheral (externaD neliritiS. Often the tongue is red, and there may be 8 history of gloSsitis inflammation or sore ness of tongue). Sometimes there is little more than arlorexia, loss of weight and a change in person. ality. This was emphasized by J. B. McLester, who made the sign- ficant observation that an appre- ciable number of pellagrinS in the Hillmar Hospital, of Birmingham, gave history Of having been ad- mitted in previous years with the diagnois of neurasthenia.
 As, Dr. J. B. (the son) was granted his lcenee only 9 years ago, his ob- Servation indicates that up to then, at any rate, ''neurasthenia" served in lieu of a diagnosis in that neck of the woods. at least until the course of the Illness made 1t ob- vious what really ailed the patient. The Birmingham sector Is not ex- ceptional in thiS--take 1t from me. Birmingham doctors have nothing on the rank and file of the profes- sion of the entire country when 1t comes to hedging on diagnosis like that. The daily prayer of hun. dreds and hundreds of successful practitioners everywhere should be And thanks be to heaven for neurasthenia when I am afraid to say don't know as yet what really is the matter"
 We're Hell On Warts
 I had been taking my little boy to a skin specialist who used the electric needle treatment for warts. The boy had over 8 hundred warts. The needle treatment was so pain full stopped it. and began using your salicylic acid collodion. Am happy to report that in two weeks this cleared up all the warts.
 (MrS. A. e.
 Answer-The remedy you call mine is only as much mine as it is that of any other physician. It is the familiar Salicylated Collodion used for Softening and removing cornS