HEART DISEASE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2419, 1 November 1892, Page 3

HEART DISEASE.

«Yes,” said an eminent physician, « heart disease is common ; it is, perhaps, much more frequent than is generally realised, if you take into consideration all the forma of heart disease. The heart, like other organs, is the seat of a large number of diseases, and the expression < heart disease’ is as definite as the term ‘ skin disease ’; it may have a score of different meanings. I am inclined to believe that heart diseases are more common than they formerly were,” he continued. “ This is due to the great nervous and physical strains which attend our modern modes of living. But it is a great wonder that the heart is not more frequently the seat of disease than it is when we consider its delicate mechanism, its ceaseless labour, and, I might add, the abuse to which it is subjected. The heart is one of the most exquisitely-constructed machines that can be conceived of. With its four chambers, its four sets of valves, and supplying its own motive power, it toils constantly, faithfully, for three-score years and ten without rest, without repair, responding to every demand, however unreasonable, until, finally exhausted by labor or degenerated by disease, it is no longer capable of carrying on its function. It falters, then resumes its work, falters again as if to warn its host that he must be less exacting, again resumes and again falters, until, sooner or later, the last point of endurance is reached and it ceases to beat.” « Did you ever hear of ‘ a tired heart ? ’ No one ever thinks that the heart may become fatigued. But it is true, and frequently the fact. The heart is just as liable to suffer from fatigue as is any other muscle in the body. I have never seen it mentioned in books, but the condition may be recognised almost as positively as any other abnormal state of the organ, A positive diagnosis cannot be made at once in most cases, because of the resemblance of the physical conditions to those present in dilation of the heart. But under rest and proper treatment the heart returns to its normal condition in a comparatively short time, which is almost an impossibility in the case of a dilated heart. Not a few cases of so-called nervous ‘prostration’ are nothing more than fatigue of the heart. “ Life would be prolonged by a little more attention to the heart; by paying a little respect to the most faithful servant we ever have. A good deal of good might be done, also, if parents would teach their children the danger of overtaxing the heart. They should teach 1 hem to stop and rest a few moments during their play when they are able to feel the violent throbbing of their hearts against the chest-wall.”