MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

THE ART OF BREATHING. : It is perhaps one of the signs of the times to those alert for indications that the art of' breathing has become more and more a sub-• ject of attention. Oculists, as well as physiologists, go deeply into its study in & -way;. - hardly .tol be touched upon in a limited . space. Physicians have cured aggravated-! cases of insomnia by long-drawn, -regular, breaths; fever-stricken patients have been quieted, stubborn forms of indigestion made to disappear, A tendency to consumption:, may bo overcome, as some authority has , within the past few years clearly demon-, strated, by exercise in breathing.* Seasickness, too, may be surmounted, and the vie-, tim of hypnotic influence taught to withstand the force of an energy directed against' him. ■ * : : There is ; a famous physician of Munich.! who has written an extensive work upon thosubject of breathing. He has, besides,'for-! mulated a system by which asthmatic pa-!' tiente are made to walk without losing' breath, while sufferers from weaknesses of tha heart are cured. At Meran, in thai ' Austrian Tyrol, his patients are put through! a certain system of breathing and walking, The mountain paths are all marked off with! stakes of different colours, indicating the number of minutes in which a patient must, walk the ; given distance, the breathing." and walking being in time together. As th>» cure progresses the ascents are made steeper and steeper.

CAUSES OF IRRITABILITY. Some people are naturally calm, and nob . easily disturbed. . Others - are quick to eel„, and strong in the expression of their feelings. The difference is constitutional. But everyone, whatever his natural tem-, perament, is liable to become irritable as . a result of physical disturbance. Marked - irritability is often the first symptom of un-' due brain work. A man who may have been remarkable for his self-control is surprised' to find himself, disturbed by trifles Annoyances such as he once hardly noticed now fairly unnerve him. He is impatient,! and expresses himself in tones, if not in words, of which he is soon ashamed. j Overwork of the brain is not confined to professional men. • Merchants, . the uncertainties of whose business often involve the keenest anxiety, are at least equally liable to it, and in this case the trouble is often aggravated by a luxuriousness of social and personal habits.

Nor are wives and mothers fre from thai same danger. Woman's work is never done. . . For her, care seldom ceases while she is awake, and too often it pursues her even in:'. . her sleep. Fashion and social life sometimes make large demands npon her, ; while, the petty annnoyances of home fall to her' lob, almost exclusively. At length unwonted impatience, fretfulness, and severity with her children give warning of nervous prostrate tion, and her husband may perhaps precipi-' tate the crisis by his unjust reproaches. "> . Irritability may have its source in the stomach. The dyspeptic is notoriously fretful and low-spirited. What a difference between him and the well-fed man, who knows only from books that he has any digestive apparatus I ' ' ■ "In softening of the brain, one of the: first' indications of something wrong is increasing irritability; which, however, is seldom _ referred to the true cause. :If the patient is a mother she finds fault with her children on the slightest provocation, and punishes them: with unwonted severity. Irritability and general feebleness of the nervous centres are frequently due to a laolf of suit-able nerve food, just as the muscles may be enfeebled through lack of food essential to their proper nourishemnt. Friends- of the morbidly irritable should guard against increasing . the evil by their own conduct, and generally should take counsel with a physician.