THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELLS

Evening Star, Issue 25673, 22 December 1945, Page 9

THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELLS

RISKS OF SUNBURN

Monday, December 17. " Show the doctor your back," commanded Mrs Stanley to her 11-year-old son Harold this morning. Gingerly Harold obeyed and displayed an angry red sunburn over the whole area.* "I told him to be careful," said his mother, " but what must he do the first holiday week-end hut go and sit in the sun. on the beach all day." " I wasn't there all day," said Harold defensively. " Well, half a day, anyway," said his mother, " and that's quite long enough to get sunburnt, isn't it, doctor?" I had to agree. I suggested to Harold that he go home and stay in the house for a couple of days without any shirt 'on at all, at the same time giving him a soothing lotion to put on the burn. Sunburn is a burn of the skin with no particular difference from any other burn. a blister appear, it must be treated just as carefully as any other blister caused by a burn. Some skins are super-sensitive to the sun, and special care has to be takeu with them. ' The average skin> should be exposed gradually and at short intervals to the sun if discomfort is to be avoided. A half-hour exposure on a hot dav can set up quite a sharp reaction. Later in the day I was called to see young Helen Keiison, who truly had what her mother described as " a very bad cold with a bit of a temperature." The story was that she had been bathing last week, and though a cold breeze had come up in the early afternoon and the sun had disappeared, she stayed in her costume and shivered for two or three hours rather than get dressed. Colds are infectious,, but our susceptibility to the infection is determined by our powers of resistance. A human being whose vitality is lowered by cold —or rather insufficient warmth —is an easier prey than the average. It is, in my experience, quite common to find children with bad colds due to this sort of thing at the seaside—especially in the case of those who are unused to bathing and are on holidays from somewhere else. '' _ , Every parent knows the ordinary ills of holidays the seaside ones are mostly preventable. Food must be watched to see that it is fresh when eaten. Sandwiches cut for that picnic should not be left.overnight or unprotected from the flies. Children having ear trouble or sinus trouble have to take the doctor's advice about the advisability of bathing. And sometimes, when the holiday is all over, mother feels that she'd like to go somewhere —if it were only home —for a good rest.

Tuesday, December 18. " There's too much talk about this diet and vitamin business," 1 said late-middle-aged Mrs Grabbin, sturdily, this afternoon when I asked her about her food. " "What I say is you should eat good, wholesome things and forget the fads.*' "It depends on what you call good, ' I suggested. " Of course," agreed Mrs Grabbin. " I mean meat and potatoes, bread and ■butter, good old pies- and pastry, and that sort of thing." " How about good old suet puddings and blanc-mahge?" I countered. ' "You're making fun of me," said Mrs Grabbin sharply. " "What's food for but to enjoy it? There's a good deal in the old song, ' a little of what you fancy does you good.' " " I'm all for the song," I agreed. "But it's not altogether true that a lot of what you fancy does you good." " I don't Buppose it does you much harm," said Mrs Grabbin. " Maybe," I said; " it's not what you do" eat that harms you so much as what you don't eat." " Are you going to put me on a diet for neuritis?" she asked. "It's not a diet for neuritis, but diet to maintain general health and resistance," I answered. " I quite agree with you about eating good, wholesome food and forgetting the fads. That's just what I want you to do, not forgetting the fundamentals like milk, fruit, and fresh vegetables. Try and get 6ome liver and kidneys into your meat diet." The scientific examination of food may be modern in its detail, but not in its general application. Aristotle said in 340 b.o. that the purpose of food was "to foster growth, engender heat production, and restore energy." Hippocrates used to prescribe certain diets for certain conditions; for example, ox liver for an eye condition due to a vitamin lack. In the second century Galen advocated liver for " blood building." These days we order liver for ansemia and any condition where it is desirous to ensure a good supply of vitamin B. Wednesday, December 19. " Jim's always been fond of spinach," said his wife, Ethel Bolton, this morning when I called, to note the progress of the husband's gravel trouble. " The lady next door says it's bad for his present condition. What do you think?" " Spinach is rich in the organic salts of lime anl potash," I rqjlied, " particularly the oxalates. The oxalates, are important in gravel, kidney, and bladder stones. _ Maybe it's better not to add to the difficulties." " I thought spinach was supposed to be very good," protested Mrs Bolton. " Ordinarily . . . yes," I replied. " It's rich in vitamin C and also in iron." Incidentally, Popeye didn't discover spinach, though he has drawn very useful attention to it. Even as far back as the eleventh century Arabian physicians were prescribing it for certain conditions. In the thirteenth century it was popular as a laxative . . . was said to fix up that matter of inner cleanliness. No praise, however, was more fervent than that of an enthusiast of the last century who wrote that it would " render you too gentle, too benevolent, too kind; you embrace your friends, your children, your wife" (presumably in that order). Green vegetables hold their full vitamin content for only a short while. Those that come to the table straight from the kitchen garden are richer than those that have made long journeys and spent some days between leaving the garden and reaching the table. Thursday, December 20. The advent of the Barnes baby into the world at 5 o'clock this morning was a spectacular affair. It was obvious last night that trouble was brewing, and so we got the mother into hospital and eventually arranged for a specialist. Accordingly, Baby Barnes found an unusually largo assembly waiting to greet hinu There was the obstetrical (

specialist, the local-praclitioner-acting-as-ansesthetist (me), the theatre sister, the night sister, two nurses, and the theatre attendant. I would be overstating the case to say that the arrival caused undue enthusiasm in the hearts of those who left their beds to ensure its safety. I was glad I had decided on a hospital delivery. A doctor is often asked whether he advocates home or hospital confinement. In the city and suburbs I favour hospitals. Cleanliness, should be assured. There is expert help when trouble occurs. The busy doctor—who after all must be considered in the matter—has expert watchers to call him in reasonable time, thus enabling him to attend to his other work in the interim. Various instruments, all ready prepared and sterilised, are available in hospital theatres. After-treatment is available in hospitals more readily than in homes. * * * * I like the story going round of a doctor awakened from sleep who rushed off to the house at which the stork was just about to land. He grabbed his bag as he ran. In a few moments after entering the patient's room he put his head out of the door and asked for a screwdriver, a little later a hammer, and finally a saw. ' " Good heavens," said the worried father, "is all going well?" " It will in a minute when I get my bag open," replied the doctor. Friday, December 21. From the week's reading:— Feed a cold: " To think that a cold

can be cured by heavy meals is stuff and nonsense." Condiments and cooking: "The excessive use of condiments and the like often accompanies poor appreciation of food, and this is generally due to low standards of cookery." Psychology in offices: "It's not all work and no play that makes Jack a dull boy, but all work and no praise." (Names in this diary fictitious.) (Copyright.)