At first sight, this record of
mortality from lockjaw would seem to be conclusive, yet it is perhaps,
of all the maladies mentioned, the most deceptive as a means of
determining the growth of neural diseases. To make this clear to the
general reader, he need only be told that tetanus is nearly always
caused by mechanical injuries, and that the natural increase of these in
a place like Chicago may account for a large part of the increase. Yet,
taking the record as a whole, and viewing it only with a calm desire to
get at the truth, it is not possible to avoid seeing that the growth of
nerve maladies has been inordinate.
The industry and energy which have built this great city on a morass,
and made it a vast centre of insatiate commerce, are now at work to
undermine the nervous systems of its restless and eager people,[1] with
what result I have here tried to point out, chiefly because it is an
illustration in the most concentrated form of causes which are at work
elsewhere throughout the land.
[Footnote 1: I asked two citizens of this uneasy town--on the same
day--what was their business. Both replied tranquilly that they were
speculators!]
The facts I have given establish the disproportionate increase in one
great city of those diseases which are largely produced by the strain on
the nervous system resulting from the toils and competitions of a
community growing rapidly and stimulated to its utmost capacity.
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