THE GOSPEL OP FRESH AIR

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE GOSPEL OP FRESH AIR

TREATMENT OP CONSUMPTIVES,

True recognition of any law of health must, the doctors say, be illustrated by practical conformity to that law. Mere acquiescence of the reason is common enough; but the deeper conviction which produces action is quite another thing. It is because practical results are so often wanting that, as Dr. J. E. Nihill explained in a lecture on Some Special Causes of 111-health—delivered at the request of the Health Society in Melbourne, medical men feel justified again and again in repeating and emphasising more or less familiar arguments witn respect to the value of fresh air, regular exercise, moderate eating and drinking, personal cleanliness and other similar matters. In the course of his professional work Dr. Nihill has generally found the widest difference between what people seem to know about the importance of fresh air, and what they do by way of proving their knOAvledga. Even the regular airing of dwellings is often neglected. Windows and chimney vents are kept down and the sunshine shut out; families sleep in rooms witn practically no ventilation; and in sicic rooms a carbolic shtet is used as a disinfectant where v. free play of i'resn air through the windows Avould sometimes far better serve the same purpose, He described the effects which oxygen has upon adults and children, and, as a contrast, the results produced by the atmosphere of overcrowded schoolrooms, theatres and other public assemblages; showed the resistance to disease which life in the open air gives, and how poisons, which can only be eliminated by fpesh air and exercise, are stored up in the bodies of the sedentary, reducing their vitality and immensely increasing their liability to contract fatal diseases; and then proceeded to describe some of the positive curative effects of fresh air.

'It is recognised now on all hands," Dr. Nihill went on, 'that the most successful cure for consumption consists in the simple immersion of the patient in the open air.' In the United States ana Switzerland this practice was general, patients being kept out of doors absolutely from morning till night—in SAVltzerland in some cases till 10 o'clock. Cures by this simple means had been effected in many cases where there were marked evidencs of consumption, and where medicines had been of no avail whatever. Of course there had been a proper choice of climate and efficient care of the patient. 'We are not, however,' said the lecturer, 'pretending to guarantee that such cures can be effected in all cases; but we do say that, where a patient is taken sufficiently early and subjected to constant immersion in the open air—where this is done with thoroughness and some confidence in its efficacy, a cure will often be effected if the conditions make it at all possible.' Dr. Nihill urged that children should be taught to breathe through their noses, and that if they found any difficulty in . it, their noses should be examined. There were many cases where the air passages of the nose in youth suffered from impediments, which induced the bad habit of breathing through the mouth; and which, moreover, if allowed to remain, tended to produce permanent deafness. While on the subject of children, the lecturer mentioned that during the recent epidemic of measles it was found that generally by far the greatest, sufferers were children who lived in overcrowded or ill-ventilated homes. These are also much more liable to inflammation of the lungs and bronchial tubes and kindred affections than children who have plenty of good air. Among other things which Dr. Nihill said was, that 'the scientific •world now recognises air to be a food— as much a food in its way as beef and potatoes are in their way.' This reminds one of the enthusiasm of Mr G. "VV. Steevens for the peculiar quality of the a ir of Colorado. In his 'Land of the : Dollar' Mr Steevens describes the ex- ' traordinary effect which the dry, clea. stimulating air of that region had on him as one hitherto accustomed only to the misty cold of England. He declared that it was food and drink to him.