TALKS ON HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 17 December 1936, Page 11

TALKS ON HEALTH

By A FAMILY DOCTOR FRESH AIR WITHOUT COLD In cold weather your love of fresh air (if you have any") is put to the test. We can all sleep with the window open in the warm summer nights, but 1 am afraid some of the windows get banged to in the while'-. Do not make the nuscold; cold is no pan, of the treatment. Every slensible doctor wants you to keep the bedroom window open, but no doctor wishes ycu to he cold in the night. If your feet arc cold you can wear socks, if your body is cold you can put something more on the bed, if you have bad circulation and your fingers get cold, you can wear gloves ;> keep yourself warm by all means, but keep your window open. Be brave! do stick it for my sake. If you find your strength of mill’d ''ailing, drive a. nail in the window sash so that you cannot shut the window entirely. ! BREATHING IMPURE AIR You can never have large ideas and a love of liberty if you breathe stuffy uir. The air that comes out of our lungs has been partially used'up; when you breathe it a second time, it is further robbed of its freshness; and when for ten solid hours you inhale the same air over and over again, the air in the room is vitiated and impure. If only your lungs could speak! When your stomach is in need of food it speaks in no uncertain voice; but when the lungs arc calling for fresh air, their voice cannot always be understood of the people. Nevertheless, the lungs do speak: that headache and weary ice-ling, that Sallow complexion and pale skin, those dark circles under the eyes, I are signs that more fresh air is needed. I The voice of the lungs falls on unheeding ears, called in aid. However, experience has taught me that appealing to the common sense of the multitude is not very productive of good; nothing Will produce an effect but fining .and imprisonment. Therefore, be it known by these present, that anyone found sleeping with the window shut will be very severely dealt with.

A BLISTER FOR EARACHE For earache, due to inflamatiou of the ear, a blister the size of a shilling should be put on tiie skin just behind the ear, where a hard bone can be felt. It is often a relief to get a friend to drop water in the ear as hot as it can be borne. Start with the water only vyarm and make it gradually hotter until the patient remarks that he does not want to be boiled. Some sedative drops may bo put in the ear, they can be made by mixing equal parts of tincture of opium and olivo oil. The drops should be introduced into the ear with a teaspoon which has been dipped in boiling water.

BAD TEETH AND SWOLLEN JOINTS

Hera is something about joints which will probably be news to you. It was discovered that when joints were painful and swollen the presence of certain bacilli could bo detected, and the puzzle was to find out where the bacilli came from and how they got to the joints. Wonderful to relate, the same micro-organisms which were found in the joints were also found in the mouth and around old stumps and decayed teeth. It seemed to be a cgmmon-sense treatment to cut off the supply of germs by extracting the decayed teeth and getting the mouth in a thoroughly purified state; and when this was done the joints improved. The germs flourishing in a septic mouth are swallowed and absorbed into the bloodstream, and finally reach the joints, where they start the mischief. I implore you to keep your mouth sweet and clean.

HAVE THE TOOTH STOPPED Do not be in a hurry to have an aching tooth out if if can he saved by stopping. If you have a tooth taken out of the lower jaw you not only lose that tooth, hut you put the corresponding tooth in the upper jaw hors de combat. You must have two millstones to grind the corn, and you must have an upper and lower tooth to meet in order to masticate the food properly. I once knew an old lady who seemed to me to he deprived of everything that could make life worth while, and yet she continually wore a smile of contentment. One day I inquired of her what might he the source of this contentment, and she said, “Well, doctor, it’s this way; 1 have only two teeth left in my head, hut, thank goodness, they meet.” She was a true philosopher. SOME PRESCRIPTIONS The following prescriptions may be found useful:—■ Dinner pill to he taken shortlv before dinner: Aloin, extract of nux vomica, sulphate of iron, and powdered

soap, half a grain of each. Application for corns and warts: Salicylic acid, fifteen parts; extract of cannabis indica two parts, flexible collodion to make one hundred parts. ON GROWING FAT The tendency to grow fat increases very rapidly when once one begins to mt on flesh. The reason is that the filter one gets Hie less inclined one is to take exercise. Moreover, the pleasures of the table become more alluring. Selfdenial is not a commo l virtue. Se'f Indulgence is the more general rule. Overeating results in the storage of fat all over the body. The deposit of fat on

tlie surface, under the skin, is plain to ail beholders ; what is not quite so plain is the deposit of fat inside the body. The liver is distended with superfluous fat; the heart’s action is impeded by an accumulation of fat all round it; the abdomen is loaded with fat, as may bo seen in a butcher’s shop when the carcases ol tat bullocks and sheep are hung up for inspection. HOW TO REDUCE BULK

If you wish to reduce your bulk it can be done by eating less : avoiding fat foods; taking more exercise; Turkish baths, or vapour baths, as I suppose we ought to call them. By being miserable, i was going to add," but I

don't really mean that; better• be fat than miserable. But still, in this question of fatness and thinness the mental side of the matter cannot be ignored. Of the two tasks you might set me, I would rather try and make a thin girl fat than a fat girl thin. I could not try to make a'fat girl miserable; but I would try to make a thin girl so happy, that she had to grow fatter. A ‘‘worriting” disposition will make anyone thin. Unhapiness will cause loss of sleep, loss of appetite, and interfere with digestion^—and all these things lead to a loss of weight. ULCERS ON THE TONGUE The smallest ulcers on the .tongue, j

which may occur in large numbers, and are quite shallow, are due to indigestion. They often occur on the lips as well, as the tongue, and they should be treat-: ed by using frequently a simple mouthwash of bora eh or very weak carbolic acid, and by treating the dis-order of the stomach hy a suitable diet and a dose of f- Jts. An ulcer may be found at tire side of the tongue, lying immediaiely against the sharp, ragged edge of a decayed tooth This variety of ulcer will never lreal until the tooth ts. removed, and if this simple precaution is neglected, the long continued irritation of the sharp tooth may result in the formation of a cancer on the site of the ulcer, -- . j