Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 163, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1910 — THE FAMILY DOCTOR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE FAMILY DOCTOR

Dlnorders of the Stomach. The stomach, like all the other organs of the body, is subject not only to various forms of organic trouble, hut also to many kinds of functional disorder, or neurosis. In these nervous disturbances of the ■tOmach pain may be just as severe and the list of symptoms just as long and as trying as in true organic disease, and it is often impossible to convince the victim that he is not suffering from some terrible local disorder calling for immediate operation. The stomach is usually a somewhat, abused organ. It works hard, generally overtime, and often at tasks extremely distasteful to it. Small wonder, then, that it sometimes goes on strike. a When Itdecldes to do this, the weapons it controls with which to boycott and intimidate the rest of the system are most efficient. In times of normal health we are no more conscious of the tremendous commotion and toll going on in the st.omach than the passengers on a sunny deck are conscious of the trials of the engine room below them; but when the stomach has stood all it is going to for the present, it telephones the brain to that effect, with the immediate result that the whole consciousness is flooded with the misery resulting from its rebellion. The visible signs of this rebellion are myriad. Among the most usual of them may be mentioned nausea and vomiting, eructations that are sometimes so acid that the very throat is scalded, disagreeable sensations after eating, that range from discomfort to agony; and naturally In time a general “run-down condition” of the system. When it can be proved that this state of affairs is traceable to abuse of the stomach, the treatment becomes a comparatively simple matter; but in many cases of so-called “nervous dyspepsia” the trouble will be found to be a fault of the nervous system, the stomach Itself showing no sign of disease, but simply suffering from faulty nervous control, just as any other organ of the body may. This diagnosis, however, will be of little comfort to the patient so long as his stomach is made the vicarious culprit for the guilty nervous system. When the trouble arises from causes that can be easily controlled, such as Improper food, hasty eating, Irregular meals, Insufficient mastication, the cure lies largely in the hands of the patient himself. The small boy who heard his father pronounce a eulogy on a statesman said: "Father says Mr. Blank has intelligence, tact and honesty, and also abdominal courage.” This is a form of valor far too prevalent, and this is the kind that should be tempered with discretion.—Youth’s Companion.