MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10085, 21 March 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

A NEW DURE FOR HAY FEVER. Fubkr, of Hamburg, who suffered a great deal from hay fever during last summer, noticed that in winter a coryza was accompanied with hot oars, which regained their normal temperature when the discharge from the noso was established. He tried a reverse order of things on the hay fever, and rubbed his ears until they became rod and hot. lb is now the third summer he has led an endurable existence. As <?oon as there is the least amount of fulness in the nose, the ears are noticeably pale. A thorough rubbing of the ears hag always succeeded in freeing the nasal mucous membrane ffom congestion. The rubbing must be thorough and repeated.

THE RISKS OF ANAESTHESIA, It is stated that 61 deaths havo occurred within the past year in the United Kingdom, of which 52 were from the administration of chloroform. Thi» would bo a fearful indictment against the use of that anesthetic if we only knew what was the relative proportion of patients submitted to its influence and to the influence of other anesthetics. In other words, if the number of chloroform cases were 52 times the number of nitrous oxide cases chloroform would be no more dangerous, although it might have caused 52 deaths for one death caused by the latter anesthetic.

THE MONOTONY OF SICK DIET. It often happens in a private bouse that if the cook has prepared a stock of beef jelly or chicken broth there is a tendency to give the patient ono or other of these without variety. This is partly duo to a feeling thab what is made must be used, partly because it is troublesome to plan a chango of diet. No wonder, then, that a pationt's frequent complaint is, " I am sick of eggs; I hato milk, and loathe beef tea!" And unfortunately the patient is allowed to get into this framo of mind before anyone awakes to the necessity for more variety of food. But how much better for botfc had this dislike never been allowed to spring up.

USES OF YAWNING. A celebrated Belgian physician says that yawning is an exceedingly healthy function generally, besides having a very salutary effect in complaints of the pharynx and eustachian tubes. According to the results of lato investigations, yawning is the most natural form of respiratory exorcise, bringing into action all the respiratory muscles of the chest and nock. It is recommended that every persou should have a good yawn with stretching of the limbs, morning and evening, for the purpose of ventilating the lungs and tonifying the muscles of respiration. An eminent authority claims that this form of gymnastics has a remarkable effect in relieving throat and ear troubles, and says thab patients suffering from disorders of the throat have derived great benefit from it. Ho makes his pationts yawn either by suggestion, imitation, or by a series of full breaths with the lips partly closed. Tho yawning is repeated six or eighb times, and should be followed by swallowing. By this moan* the air and mucus in the eustachian tubes are aspirated.