SEASICKNESS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 8, 9 July 1931, Page 16

SEASICKNESS

SBIKINGr A CURE

CONFUCTIN6 -THEORIES

£gf. EAR AFFECTION ?,

.- Before the Institute of Marino .Jhigineers of London the proposal was recently made to do something about, seasickness —in other words, to seek, a euro for it, says the "N«v. York JTimes." For many decades, no doubt for centuries, people have been doing Bomething ' about seasickness. Thoy have tried everything, from amulets worn around the neck to electric yibrators aboard ship. No known malady Jias ever been met with so many epeciflcs. Designers of ships .have exhibited their concern for the seasick passenger by building bilge keels and other •anti-rolling devices, and experimenting 'with hull shapes that would keep! ships steady in a seaway. Nevertheless, seasickness. _ remains. unconquered. Even on thp steadiest modern ocean liner moving over a placid sea, a number of passengers invariably take •to their cabins before thp land disappears, or', wander about forlornly jrith a greenish' pallor. '*■ The ailment has not suffered from want,of attention. Efforts havo been pumorous enough, but perhaps neither concentrated nor concerted enough to prove appreciably effective. Now it-is proposed that shipping and ship-. building enterprises should. devote a ' übstantial sum to intensive research for a scientific seasickness cure. ;," AGREEMENT. :At present there is but ono point i>£: unanimity in the scientific consideration of seasickness, namely; that. it is attributable ■to 'movements of the Jspdy consequent upon the' motion of the "ship. How this general cause brings about seasickness has been the subject of successive theories. Considering its manifestations, science first Jdoked upon it as a stomach ailment. Then it- was laid.. to. muscle sense disturbance, then to nerve irritation, then to psychic stimulus, and so At one time the' optic theory '• was in vogue, attributing the- unpleasant sensations to changing ijrtages on the-horizon and the inconstant water level.. The outward symbol of'this'theory were the violet spectacles. once common on ocean., liners to protect atropine'; blinded : travellers, ft But. in the darkness of their cabins and in the depths of sleep peoplo also grew seasick, so this theory was rejected. The. most' widely accepted modern viewpoint is that seasickness is an ear phenomenon, and in this theory the term, is a.misnomer; for tho condition is not a'pathological one. But it is, as Dr. Lewi's; Fisher, of Philadelphia, said in. an article in "The American Medical Journal'? a few years ago, "A normal reaction to a normal mechanism." The ear • has been established as a double function organ, the means not only of hearing, but also *of equilibrium. Tucked away in the labyrinth of the internal ear-are two .tiny .cells, called the.'utricle and saccule, their walls lined' with hairs immersed in a fluid known, as endolymph, with minute; crystals'.of fcalcinm carbonate in (suspension. This organ accounts for our sense of vertical movement. SBMI-OrRCULAiI . CANALS. The sense of angular movement is eeconnted -for by a cluster of three little semi-circular canal's; one horizontal and two vertical in different planes, all at different angles to one another and to the head. These also contain": endolymph, which flows in accordance, with the : motions'"'of the body, which, when subject to -sudden reversals of' the: direction of its current resulting from unanticipated movements,, such as occur at sea, sets up disturbances which are transmitted by certain nerve.paths and centres'all over the body.: The ; unfamiliar impetus reaching-the brain, which can neither interpret it nor disregard it, produces nausea; and vomiting ensues as a secondary response through the cerebral impetus passed on to the vagus and phrenic nerves, and also as a result of .direct nerve impetus from the ear. •

' The ear theory of the etiology:of seasickness, --a product of the last■ two decades, is" based ; on the discoveries of the Austrian'physician and-Nobel-Prize winner, -Robert Barany. -The suggestions arising-from his ' work have been- taken lip by other research "workers; and' so a. good deal .of. material has-been accumulated on the relation of the ear to seasickness.- By swinging ihe subject .in: a chair, seasickness is readily induced; and .if there is one plane of the ship 'that is particularly-fatal to the. sufferer, the chair, plaeedftih.'that..same plane will •produce .tie same effect." Barany's tests traced.'those "chair sensations to the ear, and the comparison pointed to the inference- that seasickness sprang from the same cause, unusual disturbance .of the endolymph. in . the - semicircular 'canals.' .. ... . pEAP'MUTES iMMUNE.. Specialists, had noted before that sufferers from certain ear affections simulated seasickness in some of , their symptoms, ■ also' .that 'douching '■ the- ear might bring on the malady. On - the "other hand,- tests revealed that 'deaf mutes were immune, also very young •children and others in whom the semi-. • circular canals were not fully, developed. ..Moreover, .when operations we're i>erforniei on animals that had reveal"cd -themselves subject to. seasickness, and what is-known as .the eighth nerve ftivas cut, thus putting the internal .ear put .of commission,, immunity resulted, ■ft Dr.. Fisher said that if a drug could .be -found ''that .would -abolish temporarily the 'function-of-the internal ear .or the;eighth-nerve, seasickness would be .cured", but no such drug is known, and; if-it. were, the patient"would be stone deaf for the duration of the voya S e - . "'.-ft.' .'.".'■' ' ' ' ■ Working, oh the same theory, Drs.. 3. -Frank • Pearcy; and Daniel Hay den, ,of-Chicago,; reported the .efficacy .of from three- to .five grains of sediiim nitrate, every two hours. . A„. test was made oiTa, European voyage when half of the sixteen seasick passengers took this treatment, the others following the usual .measures. Practically all of the 'selected group were all right' within -four hoars and suffered from no recur : •rence, whereas the others did-not com--pletely recover until land was reached; :'A Leningrad physician.recently reported to the "British- Medical Journal" -emcees swith single drop doses of 1 per .cent, solution of "nitroglycerihj a drug -tyith similar effects.' ','•■• The sad thing about tho ear theory of is, that it points to the strictly normal person as.the most likely victim. It does not, however, put responsibility on . the balance . organs "alone, but recognises a number of .fae-' " tors that both predispose oae to the malady, and enhance its effects, "What I had for breakfast" or "my general rundown condition," according to Dr. '-'Fisher, may not be accepted as the 'reason for seasickness, but they do have something to-do with it.

. The 100 th birthday of the term "LiboraP' occurred in November last. It-was 'first tised to describe the Ministry of Earl Grey, which' Was formed in November; 1030. Before that the parties were "T" .or "W"—Tories" and Whigs. -The last Prime Minister to have the ''T" was the Dufce of Wellington, and the first to'use "C," Conservative, was Sir Robert Peel in -1834; After 1805 "Unionist"- became the tab. The "C" was restored'in 1924 ; by' Mr. Baldwin. With the setting up of the Irish Free State the term -Unionist automatically: ceased-to be applicable^