Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1901 — DISEASES THAT DELAY DEATH. [ARTICLE]

DISEASES THAT DELAY DEATH.

Certain Ailments Have the Peculiar Effect of Prolonging Human Life. One of the latest medical theories Is that certain diseases ward off death. Rheumatic people, for instance, are said rarely to die young. Why, the medical men are unable to say, but it Is probable that the blood acquires some property which is fatal to the germs of other diseases. A doctor of experience has noticed the fact that in a family of five or six brothers and sisters, one of whom is rheumatic, that one will outlive the others, as a rule. If gout can be kept away from the heart and confined to the big toe the patient is likely to live to be 90 or 100 years old. It is said that this Is due to the fact that the disease purifies the blood. If one has an attack of smallpox and lives through it, he stands an excellent chance of attaining a ripe old age. In a census of aged people taken many years ago it was found that a large percentage of them were pock-marked. This led an eminent physician to make a calculation which proved that there were twice as many pock-marked people over 80 years old as there would have been had not the smallpox exercised a preservative Influence. He accounted for this curious fact by concluding that the smallpox microbe frightens away all other microbes, just as rats frighten away mice from a house. Deafness is said to have the property of adding to the victim’s age. Now and then a deaf man is run over in a city street, but when deaf people prudently pitch their tents in the country their chances of a long life are extremely good. The true explanation of this is declared to be the k'act that deafness saves people a lot of worry over small matters and from the wear and tear of noises. Bronchitis often shortens life, but in some cases It has the opposite effect. A large number of the old people one meets cough all the year round with chronic bronchitis. One would think to listen to them that they must cough themselves to death soon, but that is not so. The coughing helps the heart to circulate the blood, and, in fact, gives exercise to many of the organs. Only for this dally exercise many old people’s mechanism would get fatally clogged. Besides, a man with bronchitis will not sit in a draught, he will avoid getting wet and will not stay out half the night losing his sleep and “painting the town” with the “boys.”