IT occasionally happens that an apparently healthy individual suddenly collapses and dies, and that the doctor writes out a death certificate which states that heart failure was the cause of death. It has often happened that a patient who was examined by a competent doctor or heart specialist a few days before his demise, was told that his heart was perfectly normal.
A normal healthy cat dies if a heavy man sits on him by mistake. Something similar can happen to a perfectly healthy normal heart. A man of florid complexion, doing, a big business in the city and living on over-rich food, may look the picture of health although he is somewhat obese. He is always happy and contented, he lives on a concentrated diet with plenty of meat made tasty with quantities of spices and condiments, and he washes down his food with expensive wines, and when he feels drowsy he braces himself up with whisky or with strong coffee, or strong cigars.
Such a man may attend a city dinner, He has eaten too much food, and the food is concentrated food which he has consumed, possibly without chewing adequately. He has further over-heated his system with excellent wine, he has smoked a strong cigar, and then he is called upon to make a speech. He feels dull and heavy, he does not find it easy to concentrate because the food he has eaten is causing indigestion, and he tries to whip himself up with strong indigestion, and he tries to whip himself up with strong spirits or strong coffee, At last the stomach revolts.
An enormous quantity of gas arises from the indigestible food. The stomach taken on the shape of a balloon and the bloated stomach presses on the heart which begins to labour with difficulty. If the man would lie down immediately, following his instinct, al would be well, but he has begun his speech and he is determined to go on. He swallows another whisky which outrages the stomach still further, the pressure on the heart at last becomes unbearable, he collapses, the heart stands still, and the verdict is heart failure. Yet the poor heart was not to blame. Every now and then we read about a man who died while making an after-dinner speech.
James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.