MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 7 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

;- : SERUM FOR PNEUMONIA. Dr. Bertband, of Antwerp, claims to .have discovered a. serum which will cure. • ■ ' pneumonia, and has delivered a lecture on ■ the subject to the Medical Society of Antwerp- "I first satisfied myself as to the efficacy of my , serum," he says, "by experiments on animals. Then trials were ■ made in the St. Elizabeth and Stivyvenburg Hospitals in .Antwerp. Several of the patients had pneumonia in an advanced stage, and were also habitual /drunkards, which always increases the ' .:,,' gravity of the danger, in every case the serious symptoms were completely arrested within thirty-six hours, while the temperature and pulse again became normal. These results wore obtained with a total •''•'.» dose of serum not exceeding eight cubic centimetres, * injected by doses of one or '."< two cubic centimetres at a time. Thero is no known serum which takes effect with • - such small doses." [' " NEED OF REST FOR THE BRAIN. ! S.f ■ It has long ■ been held as the general opinion that change of occupation is one of the necessities for brain rest. There are, however, a number of popular mistakes upon this subject, of which brainworkers would do well to dispossess .their minds. As a necessary fact, they must understand that brain substance is abso* lutely consumed during severe mental exertion. It is as though one burned coal in a furnace and found a residuum of ash from which the -producing qualities had been exhausted. The veriest amateur in physical science understands that too much hard work and too littlo aiourishmont waste alike fat and muscle tissue. An examination of the brain of animals that have died from over-exer-tion shows a semi-collapsed condition of the cells arid a certain amount of fluid containing no energy whatever. '.-.'"■' The humorous remarks so often heard about " consuming the grey matter of . one's brain" is, therefore, not as nonsensical as one might fancy. Persofii in full possession of their ,powers, mental and physical, are apt to imagine that their resources are unfailing. They perform marvels of labour, and feeling no ill-effect from them are in danger of becoming wasteful in their expenditure of vital force. The successful brain-worker should to a certain extent become miserly as to output, and ought never to go beyond certain clearly -defined limits. The renewing and recovering powers of Nature are so great that they will struggle most successfully under conflicting conditions, and triumph in spite of the most overcoming odds. More or less extended periods of absolute mental and physical inaction are authoritatively demanded, if one would preserve the honesty of the brain fabric. Some years ago a lawyer in one of our cities was ordered out of his office and away from his .business as the only hop© of avoiding a complete breakdown. He did not realise his own condition, indeed, very few people do under such circumstances; but he followed instructions, and sought an out-of-the-way place where there was as little as possible '■'■',to interest or occupy him. In relating his experiences some time\ afterwards he said that for the first three weeks of his - stay in..that unmteresting region ho sat i '.• in a chair almost' motionless ; he closed his eyes, and while he had little disposition to sleep he was practically in a state of mild coma. Nothing attracted his at- >'• tention, and he partook of the food r. , brought to him by friends, who looked after him, merely because they presented it at the proper and accustomed intervals. : Some time during the fourth week he felt that he was.. gradually, awakening to a sense of what was going on about him, but. if took sevijn or eight weeks to restore his mind to its normal condition. * He had never jgppreciated what brain exhaustion meant "until he found himself unwilling to gnisp the simplest fact. There '' arc many persons in nil walks of life who ' ■.""." reach a point where rest is of the utmost importance. Vci;y often, if they are uu- • able to stop, a general breakdown, insanity, or brain weakness is the result. Physicians and scientists are giving such intelligent study to brain conditions ■n . • and mental, states that, there is goodiea- - sou to hope for a much better understanding of these, subjects, which are so entangled and comnlex to the general public. ' - .