MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10319, 19 December 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

TEE PREVENTION AND CURE OF TUBERCULOSIS. To begin with, ib is generally held thab consumption in our times claims fewer victims than it formerly did; and this, ab any rate, 80 far as England, Scotland, and Wales are concerned, is quite true. Ireland, on the other hand, for what reason does nob clearly appear, lags decidedly behind in this scientific "forward movement.". Bub though it is undoubtedly the case that the statistics of tuberculosis, both as to prevention and as to cure, show a decided improvement in England, Scotland, and Wales, we are, nevertheless, still com* pelled to admit the appalling facts that of . alt the deaths Registered .- in 'England ulid foarteen yearsHJ§l-J894,. no fewer than ll'i'S per cent, were due -to this disease alotie; whilst in Scotland a still larger- proportion, 13"8 per cent., were caused by it:< In Ireland, as we have already statod, there is little or no improvement to record; and during the fourteen years under consideration 14*9 per cent., or about one 'in - every seven of all registered deaths, were due to tuberculosis. One more fact, for purposes of comparison, may be namely, that in the city of Brussels, one of the most healthily situated of all European 1 " capitals, nearly one quarter, or '23 - l per cent., of all the. deaths registered in the twenty years immediately preceding 1890 wore owing to this cause alone. There is thus, notwithstanding a decided improvement in our own country, a state of things still existing with regard to tuberculosis which can hardly be admitted to be anything less than a scandal to European civilisation.The Hospital.

THE ENJOYMENT OF LIFE. There is a general impression prevalent that people who are abstemious in their diet and habits cannot enjoy life as much as those who fully indulge in all physical gratification, but there was nover a greater mistake than this. Those who keep the animal tendencies in subjection are best able to reach, from a higher moral and mental level, the higher and the purer pleasures; they are in a more healthy and sensitive condition, and are able to secure the greatest real enjoyment of the present life, even apart from the religious element, and hope of the future. NEW TEN COMMANDMENTS. 1. Thou ahu.lt; have no other food than ab meal time. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any pie*, or put into the pastry the likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or in the earth below. Thou shalt not fail to chew or digest it, for dyspepsia shall be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that eat pie, and long life and vigour upon those that live prudently and keep the laws of health.

3. Kemember thy bread to bake it well, for he will not be kept sound that eateth his bread as dough. 4. Thou shalt nob indulge sorrow or borrow anxiety in vain. 5. Six days thou shalt wash and keep thyself clean, and tho seventh day thou shalt take a great bath, thou and thy son, thy daughter and thy maid-servant, and thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days man sweats and gathers filth and bacteria enough for disease; wherefore the Lord hath blessed the bath-tub and hallowed it. 0. Remember thy sitting-room and thy bedroom to keep them well ventilated, that thy days may be long: in the land. 7.. Thou shalt not eat hot biscuit—wait. 8. Thou shalt nob eat meat fried. 9. Thou shalt not eat food unchewed, or highly spiced, or before work or just after it-. 10. Thou shalb not keep .late hours in thy* neighbour's house, nor with thy neighbour's wife, normau-nervant, nor his maid-servant, nor with his cards, nor his glass, nor any.. thing that is thy neighbour's.—Medical Brief. * ' 1 ; rt-;BEER FOR CATTLE. ' } The use of alcoholic beverages as a medicine for cattle and horses is common enough in some [parts of the kingdom. A short while ago. an application was made before' a Welsh licensing session for the renewal of, an off-license for a place bearing the somewhat outlandish name of Bryn -Bual. The applicant stated that the house in question , was situated in an agricultural district, and' was a groat convenience for the farmers to get beer - for ' their r cattle in times of sickness. Speaking generally, - there is no apparent ; reason' why, alcohol ; should ;1 not be just as J valuable in the treatment of. certain morbid conditions in cattle as it undoubtedly,, is in the higher, animal, man. The principle a! stimulation as an active .therapeutic >; agent applies . with equal cogency to both claisei of mammalia. It is one, i however, that is likely to ; raise s a regular whirlwind of commotion among the teetotallers, who, as a body, are nob given to attach much importance to purely scientific considerations. ;A : new field ; might open itself to -that excellent class :of -reformers in the discussion of suqh an abstruse point aa" Should cows drink cognac?'— ' Medical Press, ■' ,