MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10014, 28 December 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

THE TON OUR AND ITS APPEARANCES.

By tha shape, size, colour, and dryness of tho tongue tlio doctor is able to form an opinion upon tho state of a person's health, and particularly upon tho state of the stomach, livor, and intestines. Every organ of the body acts and react? raoro or less upon every other, and so a symptom shown by one organ helps us to decido on the state of health or disease of some other organ. The tongue is tho chief organ of tasto, and when the surface of the tongue is disordered, the sense of taste is altered or depraved. When the tongue is coated and tho sense of tasto is lost, it Is usoloss to take one's usual food, for tho stomach will not digesb ib properly, and still further mischief may be sot up. Tho healthy tonguo is moist and pink in colour; if from any causu its surface becomes dry then thirst is felt. In lovers ib may bo too dry for many hours together, and thirst is constant. Tho dryness may become so marked that tlio surface looks glazed and dincoloured, and this state shows a very serious condition. The dry tonguo may gob cracks upon its surface, and these cracks may become ulcers, which aro acutely painful. Again, the pink surfaco may bo lost, and tho whole tongufe coated with fur, white ob first and discoloured l.itor on. This may show acute indigostion, but it is most marked in cases of rheumatic fever. In uremia, or the bloodless condition, the tongue becomes palo and flabby, and may show at its sides the marks of the teeth which it lios against; this is never seen in a state of health. In acuto fever the tongue is often Beon of a bright rod colour, although not dry, and this slate is very characteristic of scarlatina, when tlio red surface Beem9 covered with bright coloured points. This appearance is seen also in some forms of blood-poisoning, and tho later stages of consumption of tho lungs often show a red tongue. In very serious cases of typhus and typhoid fevers the tongue may become brown, and even almost black ; but in such casos death is not far off. When a tongue is found very different from its state in health, whatever the ailmenbmav be, much comfortmay baderived from moisboning the mouth frequently with water containing a little glycerine and lemon juico, and some chlorate of potash or borax dissolved in the water acts as a healing agent. BENEFITS DERIVED FROM HOT WATER. Hot water is far mora of a medical property than many believe or know. Because it is to bo had for tho making thousands think ib valueless, on the theory that what comes easiest is oftentimes least thought of. The usos of hot water are, however, many. For example, there is nothing thab 60 promptly cuts short congestion of .the lungs, sore throat, or rheumatism, as hot) water when applied promptly and thoroughly. Hoadacho almosb always yields to the simultaneous application of hot water to tho feet and back of tho neck. A towel foldod several times and dipped in hot water, and quickly rung out and applied over tha toothache or neuralgia, will generally afford prompt relief. A strip of flannel, or napkin, folded lengthwise and dipped in hob water and wrung out, and then applied around the nock of a child that has Che croup, will sSl&etimes bring relief in ten minutes. Hot water taken freely half an hour before bedtime is helpful in the case of constipation, while it has a most soothing effect upon the stomach and bowels. A goblot of hob water taken just after rising, before breakfast, has cured thousands of indigestion, and no simple remedy is moro widely recommended by physicians to dyspeptics.

A GLEAM OF HOPE FOR THE CANCEK-STRICKEN. The conviction is gaining ground that cancer is a parusitic, thai) is, a microbial disease, like tuberculosis. If this should J provo to bo so, the cure of several largo classes of cancer cases is within eight. The results of operations during the past fifteen years certainly point in this direction. Speaking at the British Medical Association's Annual Congress, in July last, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson mado the assertion tint cancer statistics would have to be rewritten, so largo had been the proportion of cures during the last decade or two. But there are cortain qualifications in this otherwise satisfactory progress. Tho most important of those are that tho cancers which have been " cured" on bo considerable a scale have been on or nea' the external surface of the body; and they have been diagnosed and operated on at very early stages of their growth. Cancers of internal organs, which are seldom diagnosed very early, and which cannot be reached by the surgeon's knifo, still present the same hopeless features us before. On the point of early diagnosis and operation, Dr. Roux, of Lausanne, has collected some important statistics. According to theso, certain classes of cancer which offer reasonable hopes of cure if operated upon early, are lost in as many as 62 por cent, of I cases, for the simple reason tliali they are brought to the operator a few months too lata. In another class, still more favourabis, 12 per cent, seek operation when all hope is past, and as many as -50 per cent, present theinsolres when ib is too late to do anything bub palliative operations. The moral for all persons is that) in every case where the least suspicion of the prassnce of a new growth is entertained, medical advice should be sought without the loss of an hour ; and the urgent warning to family practitioners is that so soon as they aro convinced of the presence of a new growth they should take the operating surgeon into their councils without the delay of a day.—The Hospital,