Health, Happiness, and Longevity Part 11

If the tongue is not coated white, I mix 20 drops of tincture of phytolacca in four ounces of cold water and give a teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours, as needed, when awake. (The phytolacca is the common poke-root of the South, and as it loses its strength by drying and age, the tincture should be from the fresh root, or it is worthless.)

It is well to apply a little sweet-oil or cosmoline to the outside of the throat to protect from the action of the air, as the patient must be protected from all danger of getting chilled.

In the beginning of the disease, in mild cases, the above solution of permanganate of pota.s.sium is all I use, and all that is needed, as the disease is local at first, but rapidly affects the whole system when seated. In the stinking form of diphtheria this solution soon destroys all smell, and in every case destroys the diphtheria membrane without leaving any bad effect.

M. Roulin, of France, has successfully treated 22 cases of diphtheria with carbolic acid as an antiseptic. Nasal douches, consisting of three teaspoonfuls of the crude acid in a quart of water, were employed every hour by means of the ordinary irrigator. Tonics were given internally.

Dr. Deriker, of St. Petersburg, who is the head physician of the Children's Hospital, and has treated no less than 2,000 cases of diphtheria, and tried all remedies, both internal and external, has found the following a certain cure for the disease: As soon as the white spots appear on the tonsils he gives a laxative, usually senna tea. When the purgative effect has ceased, he gives cold drinks acidulated with lemons, limes, or hydrochloric acid, and every two hours a gargle composed of lime-water and milk. Hot milk was also given as a drink, and the throat well rubbed with spirits of turpentine. The Academy of Medicine in France offered a large sum of money for a successful cure for diphtheria, and this is said to have been it. Equal parts of liquid tar and turpentine are put in an iron pan and burned in the patient's room. The dense resinous smoke gives immediate relief. The fibrinous matter soon becomes detached and is coughed up.

=Clothing.=--There are some very important principles in regard to dress:--

1. If you desire health, do not wear a belt.

2. Avoid tight lacing. Some of the most beautiful women, including actresses, are giving up this injurious practice.

3. Do not wear, especially in summer, the constant black, even if in mourning. If you do someone may be mourning you too.

4. Use woolens almost entirely for clothing--always for under-clothing.

5. Have shoes that fit and give the feet an abundance of room, and not high heeled, but thick soled.

6. Wear sufficiently heavy woolen under-garments so that you will not be obliged to resort continually to overcoats.

7. In summer, use light outer garments--white flannels and cheviots are excellent.

The Most Important Function of Under-garments.--It is a great mistake to suppose that the material of which a garment is made is the most important consideration in selecting warm under-clothing. The way in which the fabric is prepared and manufactured is of more vital importance as regards heat or coldness of the body than the actual material. A light garment with large meshes is more effective against cold than a close, heavy one. Whatever an under-vest may be made of, its real value as a protector from cold depends upon its ability to inclose within its meshes a certain quant.i.ty of air. This is indeed the most important function of under-garments, viz., to encircle the whole body with an envelope of warm air, and a vestment that does not keep a continual layer of warm air next to the skin is of very little use.

We advise the discarding of cotton shirts altogether and wearing only those of flannel. The best material for an under-vest, where the shirt worn is flannel, is silk, but by reason of high cost it is within the reach of a comparatively few only.

Hence woolen under-vests must be selected. They should be large and never tight-fitting, for there must be room for the air to circulate freely beneath them. Good taste suggests that the outside shirt be of white flannel, and that also must be large. Nearly all those which are on sale in stores have collars, but for a small sum added to the price the dealer will make the necessary changes so that a linen collar may be worn.

With such under-clothing a man is very well protected against sudden changes of weather, and is much less liable to take cold than he would be with a cotton shirt on. Now, as to chest protectors. If a man is subject to colds during the winter he should wear a chest-protector. In order for him to get the full benefit of it it should fit him quite snugly at the neck and extend front and back to the belt. Dressed in flannels, as we have recommended, with his chest well covered by a protector, he will be as well fortified against cold as under-clothing of a healthful sort can make him.

=Dropsy.=--It is not generally known that the silk on an ear of green corn is a powerful and efficient remedy for dropsy, for bladder troubles and diseases of the kidneys. In the Louisville _Medical News_ we find an account of the medical properties of corn-silk and the cures that have been effected by its use. The way to use it is to take two double-handfuls of fresh corn-silk and boil in two gallons of water until but a gallon remains. Add sugar to make a syrup. Drink a tumblerful of this thrice daily, and it will relieve dropsy by increasing the flow of urine. Other diseases of the bladder and kidneys are benefited by the remedy, which is prompt, efficient, and grateful to the stomach. The treatment can be continued for months without danger or inconvenience. Bethesda water is just as good, but both together are better.

=Dyspepsia.=--This trouble is often the result of decomposition of the food before it is digested. Unless this is remedied death will ultimately follow. A good remedy is this: Thoroughly brown some whole grain wheat, grind it in an ordinary clean coffee-mill; eat of nothing else for the two last meals of the day; carefully masticate it and eat sparingly for a few days, after that _ad libitum_; in ten days you will be well, if all other suggestions regarding cleanliness are followed.

=Ears=.--Sapolini of Milan has described a method of his which he states has been successfully employed in 62 cases of deafness of old age. It consists in mopping the membrana tympani with a weak oleaginous solution of phosphorus. He claims that the treatment diminishes the opacity of the membrane, increases the circulation, and improves the hearing.

A writer in a medical journal says: "Beware of too much quinine. It will produce a congestion of the ear and irritation of the auditory nerve.

The common habit of taking quinine for neuralgia and other ailments without consulting a doctor is altogether reprehensible, and may lead to very serious results. Many cases of deafness are produced by overdoses and long-continued use of this drug."

Aprys.e.xie is the name Dr. Guye, of Amsterdam, chooses for inattentiveness, and he quite singularly finds that the nose is a cause of it. A dull boy became quick to learn after certain tumors had been taken from the nose, and a man who had been troubled with vertigo and buzzing in the ears for twelve years found mental labor easy after a like operation. In a third case a medical student was similarly relieved. Dr. Guye supposes that these nasal troubles affect the brain by preventing the cerebral lymph from circulating freely.

=Elixir Brown-Sequard.=--The way Brown-Sequard uses this medicine is entirely successful. Do not think because others have failed that the principle is wrong. Most experimenters, first, are not careful in getting perfectly healthy specimens of animals from whose vitals the elixir is made, while, secondly, they expose the liquid and allow it to become filled or impregnated with microbes and various foreign elements.

The process of administration is thus described:--

The syringe punctures the cuticle, or scarf-skin, and the cutis, or true skin, and then enters the subcutaneous or cellular tissue which covers the muscles, or flesh. Through all the tissues of the body run the lymphatics, which convey the injected matter to the lymph channels, these in turn to the veins, and thence throughout the system. A half ounce of the fluid will be distributed in from one to three hours.

Sometimes the subject might feel the stimulus very quickly, and in some cases hours might elapse before any effect was felt. The human system is able to absorb almost an unlimited amount of this liquid, if administered properly and if pure.

=Epidemics.=--The history of severe plagues is remarkable. The first great pestilence in a comparatively civilized nation was the one at Athens about 400 B. C. On account of being shut up by the Spartans in their crowded city the Athenians had this terrible experience. It carried off thousands--nearly two-thirds of the population. In the reign of the Emperor Justinian no less than 100,000,000 inhabitants died in thirty years from a pestilence that swept from Persia to Gaul. Later, in the fourteenth century, the plague of beautiful Florence in Italy killed 80,000 people in six months. In 1665-66 London was a vast pest-house and during September of 1666 the weekly death rate reached the number of 8,000. In America the sunny South has witnessed the blasting effects of yellow fever during the last fifteen years. In 1878, Florida had 2,649 deaths, and New Orleans 3,977 from yellow fever. Fully 33% of those attacked succ.u.mbed. In the same year 4,200 people died of it at Memphis. The last important run of this epidemic was in 1888, at Jacksonville and Decatur. There the deaths averaged 10% of those attacked.

The duration of the infection stages of various diseases is thus given by Dr. T. F. Pea.r.s.e, an English physician: Measles, from the 2d day of the disease for 3 weeks; small-pox, from the 1st day for 4 weeks; scarlet fever, from the 4th day for 7 weeks; mumps, from the 2d day for 3 weeks; diphtheria, from the 1st day for 3 weeks. The incubation periods, or intervals occurring between exposure to infection and the first symptoms, are as follows: Whooping-cough, 14 days; mumps, 18 days; measles, 10 days; small-pox, 12 days; scarlet fever, 3 days; diphtheria, 14 days.

Scarlet fever is at its minimum from January to May, and at its maximum in October and November. Diphtheria is more evenly distributed through the year, and is most dangerous a little later than scarlet fever.

Measles and whooping-cough seem to be somewhat aggravated by cold weather, but are most fatal in May and June. Hot weather is adverse to small-pox, and favorable to disorders of the bowels, particularly in children.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEASLES AND SMALL-POX.--At the outset of a popular eruption it is often difficult to decide whether the case is one of measles or of small-pox. M. Grisol's method of diagnosis is as follows (_Medical Times_): "If, upon stretching a portion of the skin, the papule becomes impalpable to the touch, the eruption is caused by measles; if, on the contrary, the papule is still felt when the skin is drawn out, the eruption is the result of small-pox."

=Erysipelas.=--It has long been known that an attack of erysipelas exerts a remarkable influence upon other diseases, and the attempt has been made to cure more serious maladies by deliberately inoculating the patient with the virus of erysipelas. In a recent case in Norway, the growth of a cancer was greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded by this means, and life was probably prolonged a few weeks or even months, though no cure was effected.

=Exercise.=--Ben. Hogan, the reformed pugilist, has advanced some practical ideas:--

"In every city there are thousands of rich men and women who are ready to commit suicide because of ill-health. 'What is wealth without health?' they say. 'Nothing,' I should say; but I do say that, while every man cannot ama.s.s wealth, every man can secure good health. I know a man who owns a fine horse. He employs two men to take care of that horse and keep him in condition. He is exercised, sponged, and blanketed daily. Does the owner himself have a man to take care of him?--No. He possibly bathes once a week. He arises at 8 o'clock in the morning, throws his breakfast down without masticating it, and madly rushes off to his business. At noon he rushes into a restaurant and eats his dinner in five minutes. On he goes, hiring men to look after the health of his horse, but never stops to think of his own body and its needs.

"A man cannot digest his food unless he eats carefully. A meal should never be eaten in less than one hour. Gladstone says he bites each piece of meat he puts into his mouth twenty times before he swallows it, and that isn't too often. The men of to-day who throw their food into their stomach are physical wrecks in fifteen years. The American doctor studies medicine when he should study nature; instead of trying to prevent disease, they try to cure. There are many people who do not take a bath in two years and they prematurely die from poisoning. The poison that acc.u.mulates under the first layer of skin breeds disease and sooner or later must come death.

"There are thousands of people dying of consumption who haven't sense enough to know that they can throw it off. No man who is lazy can become healthy, for the best way to bring health is by physical development. I have seen thousands of young men apparently on the verge of the grave grow strong by following this daily routine: When you get up in the morning rub yourself with a rough towel until the blood is in circulation, and then take a cold bath. Never take a cold bath without getting the blood in circulation, for it is dangerous. After the bath rub the flesh for three-quarters of an hour. Then take a cup of tea and eat some toast, and start out for a half hour's walk. Don't plod slowly along the streets, but walk as rapidly as your legs will carry you. When you return you are ready for breakfast. Eat rice, mutton chops, and toast, and drink tea. If you are a business man you are ready for business, but if you are training for an athlete you will again start upon the walk and keep it up all day. A man under training is required to walk at least forty miles every day. When he returns from his walk he is put under blankets until he has cooled, and then again put in the bath-tub. He is taken out and rubbed or manipulated. Then he is ready for dinner. The athlete or pugilist would be required to eat raw ham or raw steak without salt or pepper. Pugilists are not allowed to use pepper, because it heats the blood. For men who are not undergoing training for pugilists I would advise a dinner on rare beef, rice, and other vegetables cooked dry."

=Eyes.=--A writer in _Ca.s.sell's Magazine_ gives the following rules for the use and care of the eyes:--

"1. Sit erect in your chair when reading, and as erect when writing as possible. If you bend downward you not only gorge the eyes with blood, but the brain as well, and both suffer. The same rule should apply to the use of the microscope. Get one that will enable you to look at things horizontally, not always vertically.

"2. Have a reading-lamp for night use. N. B.--In reading the light should be on the book or paper and the eyes in the shade. If you have no reading-lamp, turn your back to the light and you may read without danger to your eyes.

"3. Hold the book at your focus; if that begins to get far away use spectacles.

"4. Avoid reading by the flickering light of the fire.

"5. Avoid straining the eyes by reading in the gloaming.

"6. Reading in bed is injurious as a rule. It must be admitted, however, that in cases of sleeplessness, when the mind is inclined to ramble over a thousand thoughts a minute, reading steadies the thoughts and conduces to sleep.

"7. Do not read much in a railway carriage. I myself always do, however, only in a good light, and I invariably carry a good reading-lamp to hang on behind me. Thousands of people would travel by night rather than by day if the companies could only see their way to the exclusive use of the electric light.

"8. Authors should have black-ruled paper instead of blue, and should never strain the eyes by reading too fine types.

"9. The bedroom blinds should be red or gray, and the head of the bed should be toward the window.

"10. Those ladies who not only write but sew should not attempt the black seam by night.

"11. When you come to an age that suggests the wearing of spectacles, let no false modesty prevent you from getting a pair. If you have only one eye, an eye-gla.s.s will do; otherwise it is folly.

"12. Go to the wisest and best optician you know of and state your wants and your case plainly, and be a.s.sured you will be properly fitted.

"13. Remember that bad spectacles are most injurious to the eyes, and that good and well-chosen ones are a decided luxury.

"14. Get a pair for reading with, and if necessary a long-distance pair for use outdoors."