MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14691, 27 May 1911, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

VERTIGO, .OR SWIMMING IN ,THE HEAD. A vertigo is tPio appearance of objects which are afc rest turning in a circular direction, attended with a fear of falling and a dimness of sight. This disease may arise from a fulness, or plethoric state of the system, affections of the stomach, a too great irritability in the nervous system. An old book says : "It is a complaint hysteric people are very subject to. If it owes its origin to the first cause, or should a sanguinary plentitude attend the second or third, bleeding in file jugular vein, or cupping, with scarification between tho shoulders, or rather in the back part of the head, demand the first attention ; then apply blisters, which should by all means be kept open, with dressings of a good ointment. An emetic in most of these eases is found of great service, ©specially when it is presumed that it, proceeds from a foul stomach, and afterwards a few drops of tho diluted sulphuric acid in water may* bo taken. Then good stomach pills are peculiarly eligible, but only one every night." THE RELIEF OF PAIN. In the doctor's hands many remedies are employed for the relief of pain. They range from bromide of potash and opium to chloroform. It is obvious that the public cannot safely use many of the doctor's aids. They can only be employed by those trained in their nature, uses, and effects. But we can use heat and cold. Cold would check pain sometimes, because it tends to produce insensibility of the nerves, as in the case , where a part subjected to t,ho action of intense cold is so affected that it can bo operated on without pain being felt. Warmth relieves pain, as in the case of a bag of heated salt being laid across the stomach in a case of colic, or where hot fomentations or poultices _ relieve the pain of sprains, inflammation, and the like. To fomentations we may add poppy-heads or laudanum by way of soothers, and belladonna and other narcotics, Internal medicines are mostly' given in severe pain, and are of the nature of opium drug for ordinary use of this kind, but from 20 to 25 grains of bromide of potash dissolved in water is a safe enough dose for, say, a case of toothache, earache, or other kind of neuralgia.

GIRLS' GAMES AND NERVE COMPLAINTS. "If the present mental lukewarmness of girls towards the principles of house-' keeping, the care of infants, the true instincts of motherhood, and civic duties is to be changed, the wild cult of athleticism by girls and the congested and continuous time-table prepared for them without a moment's spare time from bed-rising to bed-retiring must be abandoned or extensively modified.". This is the opinion of Dr. Robert Jones, of Claybury, as expressed in a letter printed in the Lancet. "It is a fact," Dr. Jones states, " that excessive devotion to games is the cause of much of the mental restlessness, the frantic rush towards ' What shall we do next ?' the discontent and the inaptitude for work in many girls, who, formerly afraid of nothing, now return from school to their homes not as the finished article, but mentally numb and cold from a lack of resourcefulness and self-confidence. Such states of mind and body carve the way for the woret type of 'nerves' or neurasthenia, and they create in addition those morphological characters described as the 'cricket stoop,' the hockey walk,' the 'golf stride,' and the ' football roll.'"

SALTS THE BODY NEEDS. . A difference in taking fruit , instead 'of sodium carbonate is, Dr. Linossier tells us, that the salt is/ one of potassium instead of sodium, and as potassium is found specially in tho cells of the body and sodium in the fluids, it is probable that fruits act upon the cells and mineral waters upon the secretions. The alkaline action of fruits is greater than is often supposed. 21bs of strawberries producing as much alkalinity as 138 grains of sodium carbonate. Besides ' this ' fruits are diuretic (causing kidney action), probably because of their sugars end their potash, salts, laxative by means of their alkaline salts and cellulose, and are also efficient agents for the remineralisation of tho organism, their ash containing the same constituents as that of tho body, with the sole exception of sodium carbonate. Iron and manganese are especially abundant, and potassium is, according to Traube, an excellent heart tonic. These all being in a colloid state act differently from ordinary mineral substances.

CANCER. v At the late meeting of the American Cancer Research Society many cases of cancer were exhibited. The opinion prevailed that cancer was a constitutional disease as well as local, and that the knife ■'was not the only method of euro. In fact, they declared the knife was only the beginning of the treatment of a case of cancer, ana that the post operative treatment was more important than the surgical. Eczema had been noted to have preceded cancer in 90 ■ per cent, of cases. The value of thuja, aanguinaria, Hydrastis was frequently mentioned. Quinine was said to be a painless and efficient escharotic. Attention was called to the great value of formalin as a local application. One speaker stated that he would not use arsenic paste upon his worst enemy —that arsenic caused cancer to spread. Another speaker- said he used arsenic paste, but prevented toxic results by administering arsenic at' the same time internally in the twelth attenuation. Another maintained that" in any case of cancer in which a reproduction of the eczema could be produced,-., was -curable. Cold packs, massage, electricity, light treatment) sun baths were the means lie would employ to reproduce eczema. It was generally agreed that, if as much time was given to the symptomatic treatment of cases of cancer as was given to tuberculosis and other common diseases, results would bo much more satisfactory than they are at the present. Another speaker reported experiments with a modified serum treatment and astonishing improvements.

PROGRESS CP MODERN SURGERY. The wondrous achievements of modern surgery were once again demonstrated at the Governors' meeting of the Chelsea Hospital for Women, when Lord Castlereagh presided for the first, time as tho new president of this most useful of the medical'charities. Can the lay mind conceive that out of tho 859 operations performed in the year on poor and suffering womankind, of which 500 cases were called " major operations," because the chance of life or death was hold lightly in the balance, that only 1.7 per cent, of' all these cases terminated fatally ? In other words, that more than 98 out of every 100 of the patients were cured'. In the pro-Lister days nearly as many died as are now saved in each 100 operated oil for tho more serious diseases to which womankind is peculiarly subjected. No wonder the Governors listened to Mr. Bland Sutton and Mr. Hugh Fen ton, two of the chief members of the medical staff of the hospital, when they spoke so impressively on the work of the institution and the pressing needs for enlargement.

Mr. Inglis-Parsons, another of the surgeons who spoke at the meeting, disclosed the delightfully feminine feeling of the poor patients who, with all their trials and sufferings heavy upon them, bogged, that the ladies (who being members of' that most useful adjunct of the hospital, the Ladies' Committee, of which Lady Ilciiester is the active president, regularly visit tho _ wards to chat with and" cheer them) might wear their prettiest clothes and millinery. Must of the lady visitors, with kindly feeling, refrain from dressing too grandly on these occasions, but " it does us good to see line fashions " pleaded one poor sufferer, and she seemed to express exactly the view of the majority. . They are bearing some of. woman's heaviest burdens, but they are still woou&a..