Most  all  writers  on  this  subject  have  ob-
served that  the  disease  attacks  the  better
educated  classes  and  those  of  fair  social
position.  It  is  rarely  met  with  among  the
laboring  classes.  This  would  seem  to  em-
phasize the  view  that  the  disease  is  essen-
tially a  neurosis.  From  the  notes  of  sixty-
one  cases  of  hay-fever  in  private  practise,

[121]


HAY-FEVER

and  the  sight  of  many  others  of  which  no
record  was  kept,  Morell  Mackenzie  found
all  the  patients  persons  of  some  education,
and  recalled  having  seen  none  among  his
hospital  patients.  Of  forty-eight  cases  of
Blackley,  all  were  educated,  and  Wyman
made  the  same  observation.  Holmes  has
shown  that  the  ignorant  classes  are  not  so
likely  to  recognize  the  disease  as  a  distinct
affection,  and  apply  for  medical  aid

The  fact  that  the  rustic  is  much  less  sub-
ject to  this  disease  than  the  dweller  in  the
city  and  town,  shows  the  influence  of  the
mode  of  life.  Farmers  and  agriculturists,
exposed,  it  would  seem,  far  more  to  the  ex-
citing causes  than  others,  are  peculiarly
less  liable  to  suffer  from  it.  Beard  reports
only  seven  such  cases  among  200.  Morell
Mackenzie  states  that  it  is  impossible  to
tell  whether  the  villager  owes  his  exemp-
tion to  the  maintenance  of  vigorous  health
£122]


ACCEPTED  CAUSES

by  an  outdoor  life,  or  to  habitual  exposure
to  the  cause  of  the  complaint.
