TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 February 1928, Page 4

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

The Solace of Warmth. The application of heat in some form is often grateful and comforting when some part of the body is inflamed or painful; the aching of pleurisy, the stabbing pain of pleuro-pneumonia, colic of the bowels, and many other kinds of pain are often assuaged by heat. I advocate the indiarubber liotwater bottles; they are not always to bo had at a moment’s notice, but. nevertheless, they are very useful tilings to have in the house. .Hot flannels are also a sensible method of applying heat, and I think it is better to warm them in the dry oven instead of wringing them out of hot water; the wet compresses so soon get cold, and then they are very uncomfortable and may even do harm by giving the poor patient a second chill. A wet. clammy flannel is a most unsatisfactory bed-fellow.

The Hot-Water Bottle. Poultices, too, are old friends, but still they do not come up to my particular pal, the hot-water bottle. First of .all, poultices are a nuisance to make; then they need frequent changing if they are to be any good; they arc clumsy and floppy, and cannot always be applied neatly to the painful area. Now, the hot-water bottle will retain its heat for many hours, which is a great blessing to the unfortunate nurse who may have to do duty night and day. The hot-water bottle is a well-meaning, good-natured, reliable instrument of Ijealing. In my kindness of heart I once provided one of these india-rubber blessings for some old women, hoping that I should be able to hand it from one to the other as occasion required. But the first old lady steadily refused to give it up when once she had got hold of it. and I believe she is hugging it to this day. The naked rubber may be too hot; nice smart red jackets are provided to mitigate the fierceness of their heat. It is really a kindness to provide one of these india-rubber charms for the poor who cannot afford to buy one.

Poultices Should be Light.

Talking about poultices, it is important that they should be made very light; I have often seen a little child with bronchitis half smothered under an enormous poultice weighing several ounces —I was going to say “tons.” Now a child with a gasping, heaving chest wants to have free-play, and a weight on the chest merely adds to its distress; it is bad enough to have to breathe at all when you have broncho-pneumonia and have to work your chest at the rate of thirty or forty to the minute, but with a poultice sitting on your chest life is not worth living at all. And although a poultice should be hot, let there be moderation in all things. I have seen scars on little children’s chests from scalding poultices. It is true the poultice may be followed by recovery; but, you know, sometimes patients recover in spite of what is done for them.

A Bottle in Bed. I see no reason why you should suffer from cold feet in bed; you have my permission to use a hot-water hottie if you like. If you can get your feet warm by running about, or by wearing socks in bed, do so by all means. It is a good plan to let children have a good-night romp to warm their feet. But rather than let you suffer from loss of sleep in consequence of cold feet, I would encourage you to have a warm bottle at the foot of the bed. Need I warn you to have the bottle, if it is a stone one, carefully covered with flannel? If an ordinary person puts his foot against a bottle that is too hot, he promptly takes it off; but in the case of invalids, who may be aged and helpless, or paralysed or under the fleets of chloroform after an operation, or delirious —in all these eases it is most important to avoid the burns that may result from contact with a very hot surface. This warning is not superfluous; every doctor has seen cases of burns from hot bottles, and very troublesome cases they are.

Bandy Babies. Rickets is a very serious disease, , and 1 still give a gasp of horror when I see a bandy-legged baby walking in the streets. I could write much on the subject, but let me giV\e you just three reasons why rickets is a wicked disgrace to everybody concerned. (1) Rickets causes rotten teeth. The hard enamel that covers the teeth crumbles away, leaving brown or black stumps, hideous to look at, and productive of all sorts of diseases in the digestive system. Gastric ulcers and appendicitis follow the bad teeth of rickets. (2) The bones of youngchildren are made of gristle, or part gristle and part bone. They are soft, but, if healthy, the young bone is quite strong enough to do its work. As the child grows, and a greater strain is put upon the bones. the softer gristle disappears and the bone gradually takes its place. The ribs are used to form a bony case for the lungs; they should form a round cage with plenty of room for the lungs to expand. If the child is rickety the ribs cannot support the pressure put on them, and they sink in. They make a deformed bony cage; the lungs are compressed, and respiration, upon which life depends, is impeded. Lung diseases follow rickety deformity of the ribs. (3) You must know that when a. child is born it passes through a bony ring in the mother’s skeleton. In a well-formed mother the bony ring is ample and large enough to admit of a free passage. But cruel is the fate of a mother who was rickety in childhood. The ring is compressed out . of shape; it may be triangular, and (lie most dreadful complications of childbirth follow a. rickety deformity of the skeleton.

Prevention of Rickets. Can I cure a, rickety deformity? No. Can a. prevent a, rickety deformity? Yes, every time. As a. mere question of hai'd cash, it would pay us to prevent rickets; if. is easily preventable wilh good food and fresh air. But poverty stretches out its cruel hand, and mflicls a life-long deformity on a baby

girl. Am! limn we have tn spend ton times as much money on I lie baby girl when she is grown to be a mother in order to deal with her case. II is nol. true that a child walks too soon. There is no such thing as walking too soon; the bending of a child’s legs and the curvature of its spine are the result of sheer brutal ignorance and neglect. If 1 had my way I would make rickets a punishable offence. A town that can afford tens of thousands of pounds on luxuries can well afford some fresh food and milk to prevent rickets.