MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10079, 14 March 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

WHAT SHOULD ONE EAT TO BREAKFAST.

It is no uncommon thing to find among our acquaintances that) many parsons, when asked as to the kind of breakfast they eat, reply that they either eat none at all, or only, perhaps, drink a cup of coffee or tea. It is true that the ordinary English breakfast is calculated to strike terror in the minds of the average European, and French people would be appalled at the idea of eating a beefsteak or a couple of chops the first, thing in the morning ; and yet it is a great mistako to commence the day withput a good meal as a foundation. It may have been noticed by those who have no appetite for breakfast that even if hungry on retiring it is an exception to have a feeling of hunger on awakening in the morning. It is probable that during sleep, the functions of digestion being in abeyance, the stomach contracts, and this is ptobably why some persons cannot eat late at night. The empty stomach, having no function to perform, contracts of itself, and in tho morning it requires some little stimulation for it to begin its daily work. This is why so many, especially invalids, cannot take a heavy breakfast. For those who can do so, it is a good plan to drink a little cold water 011 rising. It washes out the stomach, takes away any mucus that may have collected there in the night, and stimulates the digestive glands to give forth their secretions and to prepare for that important act, digestion.— Family Doctor.

TYPEWRITERS' EYES. Almost every typewriter sooner or later has, says an oculist, trouble with his or her eyes. The typewriting machine is supposed to save the eyes, but the effect 18 quito the contrary. The eyes are all the time in motion while writing, and the rapid jerking of the eyes from one point to another on the little keyboard soon tires the muscles, and makes the eyes and sometiraos the whole head ache. Then a great) many girls have the habit of turning up the carriage to ■ see what has been written, and leaning back in the chair while reading it. This, too, is bad, for the reason that it requires a rapid adjustment of the eye to the different distances, and so tires the whole organ. The only way to save the eyes when using a typewriting machine is to acquiro such facility that it is not necessary to look at the keyboard, and the eyes will be saved the thousands of little jerks to and fro which do so much harm.

MO ONE DIES FROM HARD WORK.

Multitudes are hurried to their grates before their time, and it is haste rather than steady, continuous labour of body or mind which driver, them there. " Studyin" too hard," " overworked,'' are terms which we know well, and many deaths are attributed to them. Trouble certainly kills, but as regards study, it is a very rare thing for a man to think himself to death, unless his thoughts are always in a morbid and distressing groove. Study is a bliss to the student he would rather study than eat. The greatest students in moral philosophy and divinity have lived long and worked efficiently to fourscore and more. Thought is to the brain what exercise is to the physical constitution. Men may study hard, and after fifty years of ago may devote as much as five, ten, or even more hours to their labours with no evil effects. If the studies are pleasurable they promote the general well-being of the system, both physical and mental; but—and this is an important point — sufficient sleep must always be obtained, and a regular supply of simple and nourishing foods. Many literary men die young, it is true, but from depressing mental conditions and irregular or oxcessive eating and drinking.—Family Doctor.

EARLY RISING. Science has demonstrated that many proverbs, held by our forefathers to be crystallised truths, are in reality the untrustworthy sayings of conceited ignorance, and those quotod in favour of early rising have, in particular, received some very hard knocks. Some time ago the British Medical Journal pointed out that early rising was "a mischievous delusion, condemned by pound physiology as well as by the natural instinct of mankind." Now, an American specialist in mental diseases, Dr. Talcott, has discovered that early rising is si prolific cause of brain trouble, instancing the prevalence of insanity amongst farmers and others whoso hours are notoriously early. While not going quite so far as Dr. Talcott, our contemporary thinks that "most alienists will agree that the foolish feeling of superior virtue which the habit of early rising is apt to engender is akin to the exalted mental state which ..often precedes what Augusto Comte, speaking of himself, called a crise ctrtbrali.'"

OBSTINATE VOMITING. In obstinate vomiting, if sipping iood milk and soda, or sucking plain ice does not afford relief, it may be well to try buttermilk, plain or icod, given in sips. This often exerts a wonderful influence in stopping vomiting, especially whon that symptom is connected with female ailments. Another romedy, in womons cases, is to mix ingluvin one drachm, and subnitrate of bismuth half a drachm, dividing this mixture into twelve powders, and giving one powder, say, in a little milk, every four hours. Ingluvin plain, given in milk, in a five-grain dose every four hours, will often act efficiently in stopping vomiting.