PAIN AS A STORM INDICATOR.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3906, 26 January 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

PAIN AS A STORM INDICATOR.

(Army and Navy Journal.) The friends of Captain Robert Catlin, United States Army, are aware that he has for some years been serving as an animated barometer, to determine problems with reference to the relations of pain to weather, suggested by that eminent specialist in nervous disorders, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., of Philadelphia. Captain Catlin has just published a report) on his case, which was read bqforo the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Gth June, 1883. In an introduction to thisl)r. Mitchell specifies soineoE tho circumstances which peculiarly fitted Captain Catlin for tho services he lias undertaken in tho cause of medical science. In the first place, he is iiit? victim of traumatic neuralgia, resulting from fciib loss of his foot, crushed in battle by v, round shot, in August, 1864 Aside from the pain resulting iiOXn this mutilation, and which has been felt at intervals ever since in the lost foot, the observer )9 in admirable" health ; his attacks ■ aro ao definite as to corning and going as .to create little, difficulty in this direction, and froma former position as instructor in cerlsiin scientific branches at West Point ho is well qualified by training to pursue this difficult study., ' I may add, says Dr. Mitchell, ' that I never know any man more free from unwholesome attention to his own ailments ;' und we may add.that we never knew of a man

who bore his burden of pain with more cheerful resignation and philosophy. That this burden is by no means a light one is shown by tho fact that tho total amount of pain for the eight years ending on Ist January, 1883, was 12,944 hours, or nearly one-fifth of the time. This h Captain Catlin's calculation, but as ho is free from pain during sleep, the proportion of pain during his waking hours is moro nearly one-quarter. The winter months, it appears, hold tho advantage as pain producers, and the proportion whilo the sun was north of the equator was 6783 hours against 0161 hours whilo it was south of tho equator. March has the leadamong the months, January being a close second, and November, December, May, February, April, August, October, September, July and June following in this order. Tho average duration of pain was found to be greatest in February, 20.8 hours, the average for the whole timo being 18.07 hours. February is one of tho coldest, if not tho coldest, of months, and contains probably the greatest barometric fluctuations of any month in the year; low temperature and high barometer producing pain, and extreme barometric undulations extending its duration. As tho result of tho observations of sixty well defined storms, through ten consecutive months, it appears that storms announce their coming by the twitching of Catlin's nerves when tho storm centre is at an average distance of 680 miles, ranging from 200 to i2OO miles. ' Storms from the Pacific are felt tho farthest off, very soon after crossingthe Rocky Mountains. Those which move along the coast from the Gulf of Mexico are associated with neuralgia not quite so intense, and arc not felt as a rule until within the average neuralgia distance.' Should the puin be on a day of intermitting rain, it lakes on an additional activity just before the increasing shower, and continues twenty to forty minutC3 ; this will sometimes happen four or five times in twelve hours. Each little increment of pain seems to bear about tho sarno relation to the showers as the main attack bears to the storm. Eutinga meal hastens an attack and intensifies it when on. Eating, for example, at eight a.m. brings on at nine a.m.analtack not due until teno , clock. There is an ebb-tide of pain just preceding meals, and storms coming within range during the early and the middle sleeping hours do not ordinarily arouse their victim, but delay their attack until sleep becomes less profound, thus following the ordinary rule that a 'victim of pain does not experience an attack until after a brief release from tho influence of the anaesthetic sleep. Intense auroral periods are also believed to produce the pain. As to treatment, Cap'ain Catlin says: —'There has been no treatment in a medical way of late. 1 have had good health, take a great deal of exercise, but in a rather irregular way ; my appetite is always good and I sleep well, except when the disturbance of neuralgia interferes. Physical exercise, nutritious food (have found milk most fattening of all), and light, agreeable occupations are, I found, tho best regimen for a neuralgic subject.' Diagrams illustrating the rel ation between neuralgic pains and tho barometer accompany this brochure, which, in tho opinion of that competent authority, Dr. Mitchell, constitutes a most valuable contribution to t}*D strict science of medicine. It is unfortunate that any officer should be subject to such an experience as Captain Catlin has had for nearly twenty years ; it is fortunate that, finding no escape from it, ho should have tho patience and zeal for science which have prompted him to make his own experience available for the benefit of other sufferers.