Fain is Faster to Bear in the Ligh? than in the Dark.

Otago Witness, Issue 2362, 1 June 1899, Page 59

Fain is Faster to Bear in the Ligh? than in the Dark.

AIJ who ever suffered from a toothache know to their sorrow that the pain increase; a« the night grows older. A toothache which during the clay interfered but little with out PDjoyment of life is likely to develop during thf hours of darkness into a veritable terror, thai makes us curse the accident of our birth. It is the same with an earache, asthmatic; troubles, etc. Asthma is most likely to develop into a smothering nightmare between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. At the Vienna University Dr Goldscheider lias told the reason in a paper read before hii class. He thinks the darkness prevailing in the average bedroom is at fault. Light, ht says, plays a greater part in the pathology of aches than most people imagine. Thosa are, generally speaking, the healthiest members of the human family who live in sunlit, well-aired rooms, and who move about in the sun as much as practicable. If in the daytime we are stricken with pain our sufferings aro certainly less, relatively speaking, than they would be if the malad£ seized us at night, for light and sunshine, soothe our feelings and do not allow us to abandon ourselves to the fooling of pain. When night comes the puinful sensationa increase ; they are bearable as long as we are in the gas or lamplight, but become inte^cfi the mpment we stretch out in bed^ enveloped by stillness and darkness. ' A lessoning of the pain is observable only after sunrise. ( "What doee.it mean??' asks the doctor. "That darkness and stillness ore not condut cive to the comfort of siok people. Therefore, i say, if you iiave pains^in tho evening, do not rob yourself of the soothing effects of a lamp. In 99 out of 100 cases tho presence of a light in a sick room alleviates pain. "For the same reasons,- do not "let your children sleep in the dark, if they prefer a light. The denial of a night light h»s madft many a child ill with heart dioeasa. If children refuse to sleep in' the dark, it may be assumed that there is some physical or mentaJ - reason for it which we -ought to respect. " From the above rules nervous people art exempt. Some of them absolutely refuse ta find rest until all is quiet and dark about them. I have found that in cases of megrim, a neuralgic pain in one side of the head x nothing would do but to place' the patient in an absolutely dark and still room, if possible at the- top of the house: I advise that people-- suffering from sick headache shoiild .interrupt their clay's work "and take themselves for a quarter of an hour to a darkened room proof against noises. N>ture has put two great remedies in our hands — light and darkness. Sufferers should find out for themselves which best agrees with them." *

Ere ( Going to Bed.— Here is good advioo to thin people who. want to grow fat. " It seems contrary to all our early training, buh is full 'of good common sense, and comes from a prominent physician. His suggestions are as follows: — "If you are thin and want to put flesh upon your bones, eat before going to bed for the night. "Physiology 'teaches us that there is .wasting away -of tissue while a person sleeps as well us when he is awake, and this being so - there should -be. continuous nourishment If the tissues -are not nourished, they are pulled down by the wasting process, and as a result sleeplessness ensues. On a full stomach, however, or with some food to sustain the system, there is ■» .building up of the tissue. There is no need for rest in the digestive organs, provided the quantity of food eaten is not more than normal during the 24 hours. Too long intervalo between meals are bad for the stomach, from the fact that the cessation and the resumption of work of the digestive organs tend to enfeeble them. A moderate- working of lh& organs through the 24 hours is much more beneficial. I would advise those suffering from insomnia to take something before going to sloop. A glass of milk and bread or any digestible food will tlo "

Cured by Gold. — '"Severe cold," remarked a physician, "is an antidote for many disorders. During co]d weather dyspeptics, for instance, often experience great rslief, jhs sharp air stimulating the secretion of the gastric juice, or digestive fluid. Th : s is, no doubt, the idea which underlies the ' freezing cure,' a method of treatment originated by M. Pietet, a Swiss scientist. The s treatment consists in placing the patient in a sort of metal bath or well, lined with furs. This well is surrounded by an outer case forming the receptacle for a mixture of acids (sulphurous and carbonic), which are reduced from their original gaseous state to a fluid condition, and kept at a temperature of- more than lOOdeg below zero. The patient surrounded by the furs and the icy compound- h&& no sensation of cold whatever, but that the treatment is effectual is_ shown by the largo number of well-authenticated cures effected. The patients, in fact, have their diseases literally frozen out of them* The period of treatment varies from five to 15 minutes, and the number of applications is, of course, governed by the necessities of each individual caca. ■ The inventor claims that after 15 years of continuous ill-Health he was cured by a course of eight descents into the well. If the invention withstands all the tests now being applied to it, it may come into general use."

— There Ie in Warsaw a goose-market in Jrhich every yeaT, from September to NoyBmber, 3,000,000 geese are bought and sold.

— Japan has hitherto enjoyed a considerable amount of the trade in matohes in India and China, but owing to their inferior quality, it is -tated that Swedish m&mifaoturers are now competing with the Japanese product with considerable success.

— The largest library of small books in the v/orld belongs to a Frenchman, who boa=ts that he can pack 700 of his pocket editions in a single portmanteau.

— The- new bits covered with indiarubber are much better for horses, it is said, than the old hard iron bits ; and they ara becoming the fashion, especially for carnage and riding horses of a spirited and' restive disnosition.