TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 November 1929, Page 4

TALKS ON HEALTH

THE CURE OF DISEASES.

(By a Family Doctor.)

Our attempts to prevent illness began first by dealing with'the adult. It was then discovered that the seeds of the diseases were sown in childhood, and that the only rational method of tackling disease in adults was to begin with the children who became the adults of to-morrow. Our studies of the child led us to the conclusion that, the imperfections of childhood arose in'infancy, and that we should- not be performing our duties satisfactorily unleks we began with the newly-born babies. Once again we pushed the argument back, and z announced that Welfare Centres' for Infants (should work in harmony with the ante-nata] .schemes. It was not enough to care for the thild from the cradle onwards. Its welfare should be safeguarded months before it was born. To be logical we cannot stop there. Heredity is a powerful influence. The fathers ate isour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge. It ought to be our business to prevent the fathers from eating sour grapes. Indeed, if we wish- to bo complete in our reforming propensities, we should go back to Adam ; that, however, is . some time ago, and we cannot alter the past.' DEFECTIVE CHILDREN. But, if, we are to accept responsibility for the adult, the school child, the baby after, its birth and the baby before its birth, can we shirk the responsibility of regulating the events which start a baby off on its career? If a defective father and mother have brought four defective children into the world, ought we to stand idly by while nine more imbecile children are prodriced from the same corrupt source? I trow not. The best way to stop the endless stream of defective children is to cut off the supply at the source. Sooner or later we shall have to tackle this question in earnest. DEGENERATE PARENTS. The Weary Willies in the towns refuse to work, refuse to keep themselves clean, refuse to keep their homes clean, they .perform no useful service in the world, they clamour for doles which come out of the pockets of the industrious; but there is one thing they can do, and that is to produce children. It is unfair to the child to start it, off with a verminous thief for a father and a woman of the town for a mother. I hope the day is not far off when the decent citizens will acquire the right to order these gentry to be operated on. .We have all we can do to look after our own children properly without being burdened with the expense of caring • for the degenerate parents’ offspring, who never asked to be brought into the world, and would much rather have been excused.

STIFF JOINTS CURED. The ignorant bone-setter who may be really a blacksmith or a herdsman, and who hires a brass band to drown the shieks of his patients, may do good by brutally wrenching some joints ; the crutches are triumphantly thrown away and the bruised but happy patient feels his joint looser. The danger is that the stiffness may not be due to simple stiffness ; there may be a growth, or there may be consumption of the joint, and then it is death to try the wrenching. Two true stories related to me by surgeons are so appropriate that I must set them down here. An elderly gentleman had a stiff shoulder; he had refused to carry out the surgeon’s instructions about daily exercise and massage, and went about with his stiff shoulder. One day he was getting on an omnibus and slipped, and for a brief moment he was hanging by his stiff arm • something seemed to give way, and although he felt some pain for a few hours the stiffness was cured. THE COW CURE. The other story is that of a man who had a stiff arm, and went to a spa to take the waters to try and drive out of his body rheumatism that, as he thought, was affecting his stiff arm, and preventing him from using it. One day, while out for a walk, he was chased by a cow and ran for his life to a hedge. In jumping over he made a violent upward movement with his arm, and actually succeeded in this way in loosening the arm. The spa did him a lot of good. So here is my advice about stiff joints, especially in those eases where the stiffness follows an injury. Do not allow the stiffness to grow too bad, but gently exercise from the first; if the stiffness is of an advanced degree, a powerful wrench, skilfully performed, or a gradual process of exercise and massage is best, If, filially, nothing seems, to do you any good, I shall have to get a cow to chase you.

TRUSSES. A. truss worn for a rupture should be made to measure. You may buy ready-made clothes; you must not buy a ready-made truss, unless it happens to lit very accurately. In the long run it is better to buy a good quality instrument ; they last better and are cheaper really. The pressure of the steel must be just right, If it is too strong the skin is chafed and it is uncomfortable; if .it is too loose it will not keep the lump back'. A truss that allows the rupture to come down is worse than useless. The rupture is a loop of the bowel, and if the truss presses on that it may do harm. A truss should be taken off the last thing at night. It should be adjusted in the morning when in the lying posture ; on no account .should the truss ne applied when the rupture is down.