TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 July 1930, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

TROUBLESOME BOILS

Your husband has a boil on t his neck. Look at the skin on the other parts of his neck away from the boil. You will see a number of blackheads. These are the mouths of the pores blocked up by the dust that he gets covered with at his work. Each blackhead may become a boil. That is why men so often complain that they get crops ot boils following on, as though fresh seeds had been sown. When therefore, the boil is’healed, you must not think your task is done; you must give your attention to the skin of his neck. Apply a hot fomentation of flannel wrung out of-water as hot as it can be borne without scalding the skin. The heat opens the pores. Then press out the blackheads. The neck should then be well soaped with an antiseptic soap —a coal-tar soap. REMOVING BLACKHEADS. All the soap must be removed with water, and then the whole process of energetic soaping must be done again. If the skin were smooth, like marble, there would he no difficulty; the skin is full of little pits that have to - be cleaned out with patience and soap. You can buy little instruments for removing the blackheads one by one. Tho skin soon gets dirty again in the grime of our cities, and the neck cleaning has to be an established custom. Please look at the edges of your husband’s stiff collars; if they are like the edge of a saw, scrap the collars. Soft-collars are best. Do not let him eat too many pickles and other indigestible things. An occasional Turkish bath will do him good. KEEP A WEIGHT RECORD. Weigh yourself now, and again in three months. If you are putting on fat you must regulate your diet. Knock off the fat of meat; do not eat fat bacon; reduce the butter; take dry toast' instead of bread and butter. Do not eat quite so much.; arrange a meatless day occasionally. Go for a measured walk every evening; Make up yoUr mind to get as far as the Pig and Whistle .(only for a walk, I mean) and back; the exercise will iise up some of the unwanted fat. Buy a tape measure and try your waist,, making a resolution that you will , iwt .allow it to increase. I aip talking only of excessive fat. W.c all need fat to keep us warm; nature puts pads of fat inside some of the joints to make them work easily and to prevent jolts and jars. WATCH THE CHILD’S SPEECH.

Please teach your children to speak well. Most of us are slovenly speakers. If a young man tries for a good job the first thing his prospective employer notices is his speech. AV hen you go to London always listen to tho lailway porters, then you will know Jiow not to speak- No one can hear whether they are saying “Piccadilly Circus” or “Hyde Park Corner.” It sounds like gargling with treacle. An irritable old man with a thousand pound order to give will easily be put off by a clerk who replies to him on tho telephone in a mumbling voice. Defects in speech are far too common. No baby is born with defective speech; you never heard a new-born baby speak indistinctly ; the mumbling and perverted language is learnt as he grows. Speech is a very complicated process. Lungs, breathing, muscles, the diaphragm, the voice-box? the tongue, the lips, and last, but not least the brain, all have to work in harmony. If an old man has a haemorrhage in the brain he cannot speak; if the vocal cords are inflamed the voice goes. To produce melodious speech everything must be in good order; but the most important point is not. to be lazy; many people mumble because they are born too tired to speak plainly. Sometimes the speech is improved by an operation on the tonsils and adenoids. Sound teeth help clear speech. Deep breathing aids clear speech and prevents consumption. A BEAUTY SECRET. Yes, I am a beauty doctor, and a very good one, too. I have a secret to impart. The face should be the mirror of the mind; cultivate a beautiful mind and you will have a beautiful face. I make no charge for the secret. Give it a good trial and you will be delighted with the result. Forbearance, thought for others, cheer fulness, faith in the future, patience, and kindness will make your face so lovely that everyone will turn round and look at you. Parents will say to their children, “You must try and imitate that lady, everyone is attracted by her face.” The reverse experiment you can observe any day; there are plenty of cross-grained people going about with faces like a squashed lemon. ' CAUSES OF “DISFIGUREMENT.” Bad temper, -indigestion, and selfindulgence soon leave their tra,ces on the face. “Oh, but, doctor, I did not buy this paper to have a sermon; I wanted a lotion to put on my face to make it beautiful without bothering about kindness to others and rubbish like that” Very well, I will order you a. lotion —rain water. Use it often on yotu- face, bold ybur face up to the rain, collect the precious rain water and bathe your face in it until all the gririie and dust has been washed away. I shaJl not order you grease, as your face is greasy enough. Rain water and kindness in equal proportions will make you lovely, at least, in the- sight of all decent men and women, and it does not matter- about the others.

DON’T GET ILL. It takes money to get people well, consequently illness is expensive. Needless to say, finance is not a strong feature with most of us, and thrift is, therefore, at a discount. I would say again try and put by a little for tho rainy day when illness may overtake you, for it is far easier to .bear trouble when you have no financial worries than it is when you are overburdened with difficulties.