Newyorkitis

Newyorkitis is an affliction generally seen in people living in New York, and especially in Manhattan. It was first described by surgeon John H. Girdner describing "a condition of mind, body, and soul" that he had observed among patients living in the New York City borough of Manhattan[1].

John H. Girdner (1856-1933) was a prominent New York surgeon. He taught at medical schools and was the author of numerous satirical and philosophical articles for magazines.

Girdner ascribed a variety of physical symptoms to living in Manhattan, including nearsightedness (caused by the presence of buildings in all directions), irritated hearing (irritated by constant noise), and a "rapidity and nervousness and lack of deliberation in all muscular movements." Other symptoms included "haste, rudeness, restlessness, arrogance, contemptuousness, excitability, anxiety, pursuit of novelty and of grandeur, pretensions of omniscience, and therefore prescience, which of course undermines any pleasure taken in novelty."

Yes, Newyorkitis was described as "satirical" in obituaries at the time of Girdner's death, and in reviews at the time of publication of his book 'Newyorkitis' in 1901, but time has been kind to Girdner.

A 2020 article observed that at the time, the press "saw evidence of Girdner’s syndrome everywhere."[2] A New York Tribune article on Newyorkitis reported in 1905 that “there were three thousand cases of men falling dead or dying suddenly, an increase of five hundred over any previous year. The pace of the average New Yorker,” the article concluded, “is not only too fast, it is deadly.” In 1908, the Tribune reported that treatment for the condition was being offered at a New York YMCA. It was described as "straight psychology applied directly to the abnormal conditions of urban business and social life."

The stressor was already seen in the Victorian Age in Britain. The advent of steam powered machines added an urgency to everyday life that was previously unknown. Add to this the poverty, pollution, and disease that pervaded the crowded cities, and you will understand the effect it all had on the Victorian minds[3].

[1] Girdner: Newyorkitis – 1901
[2] Charlee Dyroff: An Inflammation of Place: On the symptoms and spread of Newyorkitis in Lapham's Quarterly – 2020. See here.
[3] Fred de Vries: The fear of cats in Victorian times – 2017. See here.