TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1931, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH

THE HEART AND ITS VALVES.

[by a family doctor.]

You know what a valve is. It is a sort of contrivance that allows the contents of a tube to go in one direction only, any attempt on the part of the fluid to return in the opposite direction causing an immediae shutting of the valve. It is like a door which allows the people to push it open and pass from one room to the other,, but which slams tight when they try to push it the other way. . There are valves in the heart. These valves are very strict. They make the blood go in the right direction. When the impure blood comes back to the heart, it is forced along to the lungs to be freshened up by the lovely clean air (?tobacco smoke, but let that pass for the moment). It would ba ! a nice state of affairs .if the bad blood were to be directed to the brain and caused a headache The valves are like policemen directing the traffic.

It occasionally happens that a valve is slightly affected. It does not close tight, but allows a little leak. But does the heart take this lying down and simply burst into tears in hopeless despair? - Certainly not. The heart is a very plucky organ. The heart has a good heart, so to speap. It grows stronger instead of weaker ,t>y putting forth a braver effort. It compensates for the weak valve by increasing the muscle. A doctor writing a report would say, “The heart ;is well compensated.” And so we arrive at this most cheering piece of information, that a heart which was once weakened by rheumatism may recovei- and become quite-strong and enable its possessor to lead a happy and usefutSlife.

CARE OF THE HEART. X' *■ This does not mean that you need not bother about your heart. Do be kind to it. It is such a dear little chap. It begins to beat before ypu are born; it goes on beating pfter you are. dead, and it never stops working night or'day as long as you live., ;It never goes on strike. Therefore, show it a little kindness. You can give it a rest now and then. The best way >is to go to bed for 36 or 48 hours. Take my advice. Write a little note to your heart like this: “Dear Heart, —You have been such a faithful little servant to me that I propose to give you a rest for two days. Your loving friend, —Mary.” Pop the note under the pillow, and call me a story-teller if you do not receive a little message on pink scented note-paper the next morning thanking you. And when you get up after the two days in bed, its thanks are Shown by your feeling of renewed strength and well-being. You wall be able to face the day’s work with a better heart. But let me add this warning—’hearts have tempers. You may behave badly to the poor thing. You may write to it in these words:

“You little wretch! You may say you are weak after my attack of rheumatic fever; but I don’t care. I shall poison you with nicotine. I shall run uphill after a heavy meal if I want to. I shall dance all night. .1 shall make you work night and day, and never show you any kindness.”" It grieves me to have to re but the truth must be told. The heart will reply by sticking you with a sharp dagger right in your sid,e—and it hurts, I can tell you. Take my advice—keep on good terms wit£ your heart. abuse its willingness to serve you by over-working it, /and do not look on rest as When you lie down you are making your heart love you.. You can read a book and educate japd your mind. And please go and .see your nice doctor once in sjx months just ,tp let him listen to yqur heart will whispei- down his stethoscope. Yopr heart may whisper, “I love her, I love her” over and oyer again at each beat; or he may say “I hate her I hate her; she is unkind to pie and I Ani sharpening my stiletto to drive into her p.i.d£, to make her behave.” '

A POISONED EINGER. When the finger- is poisoned through a small scratch or wound, the poison may remain in the finger and cause a whitlow, or it may travel up the arm. A red line, or perhaps two or thre,e, will be seen on the front of the arm. This red line of inflammation indicates "that the poison is spreading up the arm along channels that are Known as lymphatics. These little channels are something like small blood-vessels, and they lead to the lymphatic glands found at the side of the elbow and in the armpit. The doctor often enquires if there is a pain in the armpit when he is examining a septic finger. The treatment is directed to relieving inflammation of the finger. If the supply of poison from the finger jis cut off, the glands in the armpit will resume their normal size. Sometimes, however, an abscess forms under the arm, and a small operation is necessary to release the matter.

TREATMENT OF AN ABSCESS You know you sometimes strongly oppose the suggestion that an abscess should be opened with the knife. You say you hate the knife. But surely you hate abscesses more? How much better to throw the matter from the abscess into the fire than to have it inside your body. But you try to wheedle me. You say, “Leave it till to-morrow,” or “Can I not poultice it?” And from sheer cowardice you run the risk of the poison getting up your arm and into youi’ general system. As soon as an abscess is formed it ought to be freely opened. It relieves the hot feeling and the burning. HOW DISEASE IS CAUSED. Disease is caused by germs in the body. How do they get in the body? In many ways: By the liquors we drink, as when tubercle bacilli get in with the milk, by the things we eat, when we partake of some veal and ham pie which has been kept too long; by the air we breathe, when we take in germs that settle on our tonsils and give us quinsy; by the air we inhale through our noses, when consumption germs are carried from a consumptive person down into oiir lungs; by the skin, when we are bitten by midgets or mosquitoes or snakes; and so on. It is thought that, some diseases make their way into the brain through the nose. The top of the nose is very near the brain or its coverings, and we ought; to keep bur noses as clean as we can. THE “NOES” HAVE IT. , Give your noses a good blow. The 1 air rushes through the nostrils andj' :

carries away dirt and the germs it contains. Sleepy sickness is very likely carried into the brain through the nose. Blow those germs: Teach the children to keep their noses clean; never let them go to school without their handkerchiefs: show them how to blow properly; and try to find time* to wash the handkerchief in boiling water. In this way you boil the germs to death instead of allowing them to work their wicked will. If the child’s nose is stopped up with adenoids it' will not he able to blow, and the defect must be attended to. I am the President of the Society for the Propagation of Cleanliness in Noses. 'Will you discourage my Society? “Aye” or “No”! “The “noes” have it.