MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11986, 7 June 1902, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

THE BEST POSITION FOR RESTING. During every moment of life muscular work is being performed; Whatever the position of the body the work is greater in ! the waking state than while sleeping. Sa*»fe under peculiar conditions.of labour carried out in the non.erect position standing is more exhausting than sitting, and the latter than recumbency. Weariness results, not from muscular work only, but from the prolonged pressure on the lower limb joints, and those of the spinal column in certain cases also from stretching of the arm joints. Sleep is the provision of Nature for resting the nervous system, the muscles, and the articulations. So far as the nervous system is concerned the onlr essential is that the sleep is sound. But with the muscles and joints the case is very different. " They must be relieved of all strain. For effecting this a complete extension of the bodv is necessary. The difference between the intensity of the refreshing afforded by the curled up and extended positions respectively is so great that, once compared, after an experience, the knowledge is not likely to be forgotten. Curling in bed is merely a habit, and being in everv way bad deserves condemnation. Possibly it originates in disinclination to thrust one's" feet into the cold region at the .bed foot. During chilly weather the discomfort of stretching the lower limbs should be abolished by warming the bed wholly or in part. The idea that a cold bed is beneficial to health, and a. warm one enervating, is not worth disproving : it is too silly for any treatment other than contemptuous dismissal. ; _ ... .'• It is worthy of note that sleeping in the extended position assists growth. A CONSUMPTION CURE. * Of " consumption cures" there is no ending, and hitherto has been very little practical result. The latest is said to have met with great success in the experimental stages. It is the injection of a drug known as hiemosepsin into the blood. Previous attempts in the same direction had been made —notably those of Dr. Koch—but though some were successful in destroying the microbe they also destroyed the patient's lungs. It is claimed for the new invention that it is at any rate harmless; The inventor is Dr. Maguire, one of the physicians to the Brompton Hospital and a well-known specialist on diseases of the chest. THE INDIGESTION OF LONELINESS. At a time like the present, when the marrying age of the average man of the middle classes is being more and more postponed, the physical ills of bachelordom come increasingly under the notice of the medical man. The experience of countless generations, from the Red Indian of the woods to the white-shirted diners of a modern party, has perpetuated the lesson that a man should not eat alone, nor think much at this time, but should talk and be talked to while he feeds.—Lancet. THE AIR QUESTION. Am is required for our bodily wantsits oxygen is part of our food— moment we live. Yet in our houses there are rarely represented ways and means of securing an adequate supply of the pure article. All efforts to use air-currentsdraughts, in plain language— as means of ventilation are failures, and the only safe and satisfactory system is that known as mechanical ventilation, where the air is set in motion by fans or allied appliances. Air. is practically a solid body, and if we wish to cause it to pass in and to pass out of any place we require to move it. This is the crux-of the whole subject. Movement by draught is uncertain in its action, wherea-s, by aid of mechanical appliances, we can calculate exactly the course of the air. A dream of the future is that our rooms will be supplied with air as they are supplied with gas and water todayfrom a central station. The air will be delivered heated in winter and cooled in summer, and it will be extracted when foul. The turning of a tap in a room will give us what supply we need, and ensure better health than we enjoy to-day. Andrew Wilson, in the Illustrated London News.