MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

TEA DRINKING,

Every little while there is an i outcry against the, .practices of. tea and coffee drinking,' Lately it glials been alleged that the degeneracy observed in the lower classes of°Great Britain is largely due to the immense quantities of tea which are drunk in that kingdom. Without any doubt, a few people do drink too much tea, _ and would be better without it. But tea drinking, as in China, may be the salvation of the people from much greater evils. The decoction has at least the advantage of having been sterilised by heat, and water drinking in China has its dangers,- many an old traveller 'can testify. The immense quantities of tea used without apparent damage by some of the most robust people in the world other than the Chinese, such, for example, as the Russians, the Hudson Bay voyagers, •and the lumbermen of the North, do not testify to its evil effects 011 general health imd'er proper conditions. For a cold country it is almost an ideal stimulant, reviving the energies even after almost apparently complete exhaustion, and affording a feeling of comfort that' 1 hardly anything else can wive, and this/without any noticeable uncomfortable*' after-effects. Of course, in our civilisation there are some who take too much of many things for their own good, but even in these cases it is hard to say that the evil is as great as sometimes charged. The practice of giving large quantities of strong,tea.to mere infants, which is common among certain of the poorer classes of our cities, of course cannot be too much condemned, but 'it is astonishing how many infants seem to thrive 011 it. There should be some discrimination in the general condemnation of such stimulants as tea and coffee. They probably do more good than, harm, and we should welcome their use if by any means or to any extent they can be made 41 substitute for things that are worse, and if the habit were universal in some of our insanitary communities we might find it here as among the earthly Celestials, the safeguard against many serious evils. If flic question is asked, "What is the poor man to drink?" there need be no hesitation in answering.

. KEEPING THE MOUTH. SHUT, How many of Hie readers of these lilies know or have any idea of how much and how persistenly each and every one of them keep ihei'' mouths open, inhaling directly into the lungs the foul and foetid air of the atmosphere that surrounds them? How many know or think of the seeds of discomfort and disease that are thus drawn into and lodged in the system, there to rankle and foster and produce health-irritants and life-destroyers? How few know the common practice of sleeping with the mouth open—to say nothing of the habit at other times—is one of the most pernicious ami deleterious practices to which the human race has 'become addicted? This subject has been brought sharply homo to the writer in connection with a study of the causes and the treatment of the wide and rapidly-growing distemper popularity known as catarrh. So prevalent, has' this become, _ especially in northern 'latitudes, that it is raro indeed that one can be found who does not suffer move or less front some catarrhal affection. Id any undoubtedly do not know of the catarrhal nature of their ailments, but a brief investigation will, in. ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, reveal the solemn fact (hat what has been called this tiling and that, and lias been treated as that and the other, is simply catarrh of some degree or kind. Complaints are made of deranged stomachs, disordered livers, enfeebled lungs, headaches, listlessncss, dyspepsia, insomnia, general debility. " The seductive, yet vile poisonous secretions emanating from the catarrh in the head or throat, readily find their way, by means of physical force and cxhallation, into all parts 'of the system, and when the poison- is once .introduced it is not easy to dislodge it, or to fortify against its evil tendencies and consequences.