MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

... V ABOUT THE BREATH. Just as the state, of the tongue affords an indication of the digestive system, and gives the physician a hint regarding a good many other diseases, so in a lesser degree the state of the breath may be said to be a sign of some value when considered with reference to disturbance of health. In a stale of good health and when the teeth have been, as they ought to be, regular!v brushed, and the mouth cleansed, the breath naturally has a sweet and agreeable odour, but when the conditions are reversed, and when owing to negelcted teeth or, as we shall see, other causes, the breath acquires an odour the reverse of agreeable, the condition is one not merely annoying to 1 the subject, but to those who are in immediate association with him. It is curious to note that in certain diseases the breath 'may have a sweet and by no means disagreeable, odour, which has often been compared with the .smell of a room in which apples have been kept. This characteristic is found in the disease known as diabetes. Again, in Blight's disease of the kidneys, the breath may present mi odour resembling that, of sal volatile.

As has been already noted, the most frequent cause of offensive breath is to be found in neglect of the teeth. More especially if the teeth are decayed is this condition apt to arise. It is therefore of extreme importance that the teeth, not only on account of the breath hut lor their own preservation, 'should lie duly attended to, and brushed morning and nitdit, the night brushing being more import-rant of the two, because the small particles of food which have accumulated between the teeth during the day aie thereby removed 'from the mouth. ' .Smokers should -especially attend to this rule, and the use of a mouth wash alter smoking is therefore aiso to be recommended. Note also that offensive breath very often proceeds from a disordered stomach. It is very common in cases of indigestion, and we may be led to suspect this cause if, the teeth being rigidly attended to, the breath is still disagreeable. Here common sense will teach us that it is only by curing the indigestion that we can hope to better matters at all. A remedy of subsidiary character, and one which aids the cure of indigestion, is that of eating a charcoal biscuit after a meal. The other causes of offensive breath may in- enumerated as connected with the nose and sometimes with affections of the tonsils, but these conditions, of course, can be easily remedied once their nature and presence" has been duly determined.

HOW TO WALK WELL. Don't drag your feet or fling them, nor lag nor stride. Learn, to glide into a room gracefully. It is impossible for a woman to be awkward in her walk if she walks straight and keeps her knees stiff. The act of swinging the feet out gives one a graceful "ait. Walk slowly. Skirts wind around your calves when you walk rapidly, and all semblance of grace is lost. Walk in leisurely manner, as if you were a princess, not a hurried, worried, overworked woman. Don't swing your, shoulders. » Don't swing your arms. Don't twist yourself in sinuous motions. Don't contort. ' Don't wriggle. Hold your chin in. This is the most important* thing of all. Don't walk, nor look, nor act like an old person. There are no "old persons in these days. . -~,,, r Touch tile ground first with the bails of your feet, with the heels striking an instant later. " • . = ; , Learn also how to be seated. " Don t sit with your clothes wound up around you. Don't sit on the lagged edge of things. Be seated squarely.'";;-