TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1937, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH

PLUCK THAT PAYS. (By a Family Doctor). I met not; long ago a man who. hhd lost hih leg- when he was a child. On reaching manhood, quite undismayed by his misfortune, he decided he would go on the music-hall stage, and he actually invited another one-legged man to, join with him in partnership. That’s pluck for you! How few of us, finding ourselves confronted with such a disaster as the loss of a. leg, would exclaim: “That’S; a stroke of good luck: it gives me the opportunity of earning my ’living on ■ the' stage.” There is room for a few more exumplcs of this nature in.;the present dav. 1 fear' that, the modern man would look solely to- his dole or his compensation, and forget altogether that there was such a thing as Selfhelp. I can never conceal my admiration for men who triumph over physical defects. I see so much of the other thing. That wretched compensation is a curse in so many cases. With no compensation in siguv, the man buckles to, forces himself to work courageously, sticks to his job in spite of his disability, and in the end triumphs. I have seen the most wonderful examples of courage in eveiy walk and station.-, of life,, but they me getting rarer. Nowadays it is nor courage, but compensation stretched out to the last final second: it is often necessary to resort to the County Council to get a -judge to stop ■the compensation. Doles, doles, doles! Something for nothing. Blessings on my brave friend who hopped on to the music-hall stage with his one leg. He and his partner dressed up in a big coat large-enough to cover both, and •they only needed one pair .of tiouser« 1 eiween them! I wonder where that’pair of trousers is now! I should like- to buy it and present it to be preserved among other national records of valour. Those two men ought to have been given a peerage, and taker, a pair of trousers rampant as their crest and “Never Despair” as their motto.

THE COLDNESS OF TRUTH Take pity on me! 1 have to write on commonsense and a more dreaiy iitib-ject- wa®--nev€F presented to a -medical-journalist to-dilate upon. You do not read homely records of simple harn’iness. If I inform an impatient public that I know a very nice couple, .man -and dear’little' wife with two sweet children, living in Northampton happily, all of them taking thii ty-two bi”.9s to each mouthful, all breathing ■tlivoiigh their hoses and drinking plenty of water, .the statement leaves ybiitcbld. It is of no interest to hear that they are happy and well, that the father brings home his money every ■ttwek, and that the mother has taken first prize and the gold medal for cookery. How dull! But i£ only the father will come home drugged with cocaine which he bought from a Chinaman (a Qreek would do, but I ■/think you prefer that it should be a (jliihanian), if he will be good enough to plunge, a.. .carving-knife so far -.through his wife’s'heck that the pol* ice surgeon describes it as sticking but' tAVO inches from- the back, then you are really - pleased. You, read it twice, and then go out to talk to. Mrs. Smith, about, it.; it is real jam.

TriE ABRACADABRA treatment Knowing all this, what am I to do? If I ttfll you how to keep well by observing the rules of dommonsense, I “cut no ice.’’ . You will drive me to cocaine, I know you ■will, and when I 'am -well under’.the influence, I shall ■write some crazy .nonsense, which •will-immediately, catch, your attention. I; shall affirm that all illffess could be. cured by ; bowing three times to the East and saying “Abracadabra” before breakfast. A large number of credulous folk would try it; a few silly fools ■ would declare that they had- been cured by the Abracadabra treatment and I. should be read with aviditv. Started oh the downward path, I should tell you that you could be cured of a polypus in the nose by saying, “Everyday and in every way, I am breathing more and. more freely through my nose.” There would be ho limit to the fantastic vapourings of. my disordered and ebeaine-soaked brain. But I must bear up. I confess that I dread losing faith in you; many times T have nearly made up my mind never to write again.

NQ TEA FOR CHILDREN Never give tea to growing children. For the active growth of the bones •and muscles and nerves five elements are needed, viz.: (1) nitrogenous foods, such as meat and fish; (2) sugar and starch; (3) fat; (4) salt; and (5). water. Tea cohthiils "none of these. The milk and the sugar taken with the tea are truly nutritive, but the tea-leaves ought to be dispensed with. TESTING THE HIPS When you test a child’s hips you should make him stand on one log and then hop several times; no diseased lj,i.p will stand that. If the joint is healthy I lie child will laugh and think it is a fine game; if he gets ,pain he will cry out. All those that cry out are to lie taken to the hospital. Now look at the knees; compare the two; if one is swollen and larger than the other it may be the beginning of disease. It is really a doctor’s’job to examine children but 1 would rather you did it than no one did it-at al). Have yotrever seen a railwayman walking along a train' and tapping all the wheels? He finds nearly all of them as sound as a bell; but he finds out the cracked one and saves an accident by reporting it in due time.

THE WORST OF TRAGEDIES How like his father! How often one hears that expression! The question is: is it a compliment or an insult? How like his father! Poor little beggar; what has be done to deserve it? What joy, sadness, what remorse may lie behind those few words! I shall never be strong enough to bear domestic tragedies without flinching. The longed-for first-born arrives; the baby is marked with hereditary disease: the father had a disease, before marriage, ami he ought not to have been married before being absolutely cured. How like his father! It is Hie worst of tragedies: his father has. indeed, moulded his baby’s form, and the child’s eyes, ears, nose and, later on, the teeth are all affected. Poor little mother; sweet, healthy, gracious, loving. I can do nothing: the harm is done now: I creep downstairs and shut the door after me, still hearing the mother crying as I go. Quick, let us turn to something brighter. It cannot be true that, such things exist in the world to-day. No, the tragedy might have been true, but the man

made up his mind that whatever fault he might have committed in the past he would at least begin his married life clean every whit. And then when the child was expected the bride could say; You have been so good and kind, I ask for nothing better than that my first-born should be like his father. The father, if he likes, may smile back and say he would much prefer to have a good-looking child like his mother. They can fight it out between them. But the most solemn thought that can pass through a young man’s mind is that some day sooner or later, his own son will be held up, and the friends will say: How like his father! Heaven grant it may be a matter for thankfulness, not for remorse.