The precipitant was Hamilton’s Report on the Public Credit, forwarded to Congress in January of 1790.

In Divided We Fall, David French, an Iraq War veteran, fears states might even decide to secede from the union, the precipitant in the mid-19th Century of the American Civil War.

In fact, in people with less-than-healthy hearts, mental stress trumps physical stress as a potential precipitant of fatal and nonfatal heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, according to the latest report.

Common precipitants include contested wills, disputes over parental care, sibling rivalry and charges of favoritism.

A popular treatment for high blood pressure, which afflicts a huge proportion of older people, is a common precipitant of the prescribing cascade, Dr. Anderson said.