MEDICAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

THE HOT WATER BOTTLE.

HOUSING DEFECTS.

BEDS AND BEDDING.

(By PERITUS.)

Auckland is said to have a sub-tropical climatej yet in no town in the world — [ liavo visited and lived in many—have I seen eucli prominent displays of hotwater bottles. These are made of rubber and of porcelain and of metal. They are lirst cousins to the English warming-pan I saw many times in my youth, and they are, in tho main, less necessary. The linen sheets, smooth to glossiness, with a surface like lino writing paper, were almost alarmingly cold when used in an English winter, and tbe preliminary ironing with the warming pan was not merely a luxury for the old and the delicate. Tho young people plunged into bed as if into cold water, and the Sudden chill produced a reaction which made them quickly warm. Tho old-fashioned deep feather bed rested on straw-stuffed mattresses, and once comfortably warm sunk in softest feathers, with good thick blankets above, even at a temperature which froze the water in the ewer, one could sleep in pcacc. The Auckland Bungalow. In Auckland the hot-water bottle is made popular, first by the faulty construction of tho houses, and secondly by thoughtlessly designed beds and betiding. During the summer I have had sent to me a "cooler" or patented refrigerator (cost £G), which consists of two large boxes, one within the other, the larger being greater by about two inchos every way. These boxes are open at the bottom, and both had a high-pitched roof topped by a ventilator. The idea embodied is that tho moving current of air between tho two boxes keeps the interior of tho inner one cold. This "cooler" is nothing in the world but an Auckland bungalow iti miniature, except that the bungalow has not a double roof, the outer wall and the inner lining of a bungalow cannot be made airtight; there is always moving air between them. If this space could contain still air it would be a warm jacket and liot, as it is, a cause of cold. If the space were lilled with packed-in straw or sawdust there would be a war-n house. Tlieil, too, most bungalows are built on piles, with a single floor raised high above the ground. A current of cold air is constantly moving below the floor and causes the "cooler" effect here in marked degree. Cold Beds. Having built himself a cold house of wood, the bungalow owner proceeds to furnish it with plain sanitary wood and iron furniture, and to make his bed of vegetable libro (kapok), laid upon an open steel network. Sleeping in a "cooler" makes artificial heat seem necessary. Delicate monkeys from the tropics, when kept as pets in cold climates, are given a rabbit as bedfellow for the sake of tho warmth the rabbit produces. The water-bottle is the hew Zealander's rabbit. A real "down quilt is the best of all coverings for cold weather use. The cold bed of kapok and metal springs can be improved if a dozen newspapers are spread below the mattress and over the springs. Ihe modern hospital bed is not a pleasant memory with those who have had to make use of it and it is extraordinary that in private houses tho hospital pattcrniß L often adopted. Our old Pf 0 P lc . liked to be warm and coinfoitable, were not less hardy because they slept we 11, and the hard-bed advocate, like tUe ooldbath endurance champion, seldom obtains the full benefit of hia chosen discomforts. By comfort I do no mean enervating luxury. The Auckland climate is chill at 50 degrees, and coldl at 40 decrees, because the air is moist, and a damp cold is much less bearable than a dry cold of greater intensity.

Unsuitable For Winter. Auckland tedding is Beldo . m reall in winter; kapok holds moisture better than wool, l.ajr or feathers, and becomes a quicker conductor of heat when damp. Those who have tried rffikeping-bagof waterproof and wool la.d on the. tare OTonnd say, "I was as comfortable as £ bed home," and this may be true for by escaping the rushing cold air of the spaces below the floor of the oidi„ary bungalow the camper lias at least one advantage. As a summer residence the wood bungalow, lined or unlined, and „s protection from heat and rain, is comfortable enough, but for cold weather quite unsuitable. With pyjamas, vest, bedsocks, wool blankets, and Perhaps » was fire, the Auckland buiigalow dwcncr mav "ct through a winter fauly well, but he never knows the English luxury of a warm house and a warm bed even with the thermometer below fieezm„. A relative of mine built an office of weatherboard, lined with matchboard and filled the four-inch space between with wlieaten straw. This little house was warm in cold weather, and although a fireplace was there I never saw it used. It is quite usual in Auckland for one s hostess to say, "Come outside and get warm» which fully illustrates these house criticisms. I doubt if any wild animal so neglects his personal comfort as the bungalow dweller in winter.