It is now about thirty years since Peacock, as a result of observations made by him on Cornwall miners, acquainted us with a special form of heart disease, the etiology of which he tried to connect with previous muscular straining.
His observations were confirmed later on by the investigations of Myers, Clifford Albutt, Da Costa, Joh. Seitz, Munzinger, etc. Nevertheless, there were other authors that did not admit of a condition of excessive heart-straining, or at least were very doubtful about it, as, for instance, v. Schroetter, E. Seitz and Strümpell. It was the investigation of Leyden and Fraentzel which again gave new impulse in this domain, and in one of my publications I was enabled to mention these observations of cases which correspond with those of both last-named authors.
We naturally have to distinguish between a chronic and an acute overstraining of the heart, and it is hardly necessary