MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15807, 2 January 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

THIRST AND HUNGER, Thirst is set up in a healthy person, I who has not been indulging in any violent exercise, when the body has lost about a pound of water. The waste of the body of water is continually going on, and if this liquid is not supplied, the body immediately calls out for more. This is what wo feel when we state that we are thirsty. The average person has no idea of this, and looks upon thirst as a mere local feeling in the mouth, or stomach, much in the same way as we talk about hunger. Both hunger and thirst are the calls of the body for nourishment. In severe indigestion the patient will feel a continual craving for food, which is apparently never satisfied, even when the person has eaten to repletion. The hunger felt is really the body asking for the nourishment which is denied by the bad digestion of tho person concerned. Such abnormal hunger must be restrained, as :t only increase!, the trouble. Thirst may be increased by the feverishness of the patient, the heat of the weather, of overexertion, long sustained, will also produce a deep thirst. Often under such conditions the thirsty person will imbibe too much, and this produces a feeling of nausea, and discomfort, The privation of wafer is more difficult to endure than the privation of food. With a plentiful supply of food and no liquid a man will soon lose weight and suffer terribly, and in a warm atmosphere may even die after three days lack of liquid, while with plenty of water and no food he may exist for weeks. TETANUS.

Tetanus has been brought rather prominently before us in the columns of the newspapers, where we read that the wounded are developing this Disease from contact with the germs when lving in a wounded state after a battle. The germs of tetanus cannot get into. the system except through a wound. An unwounded man may exist perfectly germ-proof in a spot where tetanus germs are rampant., but the tiniest scratch may allow the enemy to enter, and the foe at once takes advantage of its chance. It does not matter whether the wound is large, or hardly more than a scratch, but it is sufficient for infection. The danger is greater for those who work in stables, but everyone should be extremely careful in treating small ■scratches, so as to prevent the entrance of this deadly germ. Unfortunately, although a large or bad wound is immediately treated, the tiny skin abrasion is allowed to lake ite own method of healing. It is always well to apply an antiseptic greasing to even the smallest scratch when one s work takes us into dirty surrounding!, Workmen should be particularly careful. Prevention is better than cure, as there is no drug known which has the power of arresting the course of this disease and of controlling the severer symptoms. It is perhaps owing to this danger of lacerations and scratches being infected that this disease usually attacks men more frequently than women, and the robust rather than the weak. The germs generally take about ten days to incubate, and the first symptom is a" stiffness about the muscles of the neck, and in a short time any movement of the head produces a severe pain. There is a difficulty in swallowing, a darting, piercing pain at -the bottom of the breastbone, reaching through to the spine. The violent contractions of the muscles increase, and are accompanied by a tension and rigidity of the parts affected. Nothing can be done by the layman, and a doctor must be called in at once. The diet must be such •as will keep up the strength of the patient, and he must be kept in a darkened room. Great care must be taken to guard him from anything that might cause irritation or excitement, and everything must be kept as quiet as possible. * THE BABY'S MOUTH.

Many mothers do not recognise the fact that a baby's teeth should be cleaned, not only as soon as they arrive, but even long before—as soon as the baby itself arrives, in fact. Many a liiils chubby face is kept scrupulously shining with cleanliness on the outside, but, oh, dear! the poor little mouth"! It is really much more important to keep the inside of a small child's 1 month clean than the outside. A dirty i little face may mar beauty, but it does not ! threaten health, and a "neglected mouth does. Young children, as soon as the first teeth appear, should be given little tooth-brushes with very soft bristles, and should be taught to use them, and then watched to see that they always do use them. But as to the infants, "the toilet of the mouth must be performed for them. and should never* be neglected. For this purpose a little wad of sterilised absorbent cotton should be used, and then thrown away, or, rather, burned. When the baby has its bath, the mouth should, as a matter of routine, be washed very gently with a pledget of cotton wet in a solution of boracic acid, or any other mild disinfecting liquid. If the little gums are soft and spongy and bleeding, dabbing them with tincture of myrrh will help them. The reason for all this care is the same reason that manes the careful adult use his toothbrush scrupulously after each —namely, that harmful germs constantly exist in the mouths of all of us, even the healthiest, and babies, although they have no teeth, axe no exception to this rule. If their mouths are not kept clean, not only are the coming teeth jeopardised, but the child's general condition may be lowered by the constant presence in the mouth, and consequently the passage through the system, of healthinjuring microbes. In illness a small child's sufferings are often greatly aggravated by parching of the lips and tongue, and it is unable to tell what the trouble is. The mouths of these little patients should be constantly refreshed and kept moist. This can be done with glycerine and water, and in many cases where constant drinking is forbidden by the physician much suffering can be "avoided by keeping the mouth moist and comfortable by some such simple means. Great gentleness must be observed in this toilet of the mouth, for the baby's mucous membrane is very tender and easily abraded, and if it is injured ulceration will follow.

CONVALESCENCE AT THE SEASIDE. This is not the place to describe the contrast between the stuffiness of town and the glorious expanse of- sea and air which lie around Auckland, but it may be pointed out how effectual the change is as a therapeutic agent. The condition of a torpidity into which even the healthiest frame may sink after severe illness is due in a large degree to the absence or derangement of the accustomed stimuli by which our inner mechanism is wont to be set in motion. One may almost say that the better the nursing the greater the difficulty of finding the stimulus which is necessary for the initiation of convalescence. -With everything supplied, and every want anticipated, the invalid remains in a rut of undesire. Here it is that the change to the seaside once more sets the wheels of life in action. Nothing can demonstrate more conclusively the reflex influence of change and the good effect of stirring up the dull monotony of illness by the introduction of new stimuli than the wonderful restoration of appetite. What, then, are the drawbacks to seaside convalescence? They are not many, but they deserve careful consideration :—Dyspepsia, sleeplessness, and exhaustion from doing too much. The " biliousness" of the seaside is, no doubt, to a large extent the result of over-eating. Appetite over-runs digestive power, and utiles an occasional ' dose" be taken, dyspepsia is soon produced. Sleeplessness is a more difficult matter. To some the sough of the sea is a lullaby which brings sleep at once, and on the strength of the "eulogies of these happy people the hotel and the lodginghouse-keepers charge high prices for " front rooms." But to many neurotic persons the beating of the waves and the blasts of gales are full of terrors, and are quite enough to drive away all tendency to sleep. Convalescents should never forget that sound natural sleen is in itself a most important means ito health. A bedroom, then, should be chosen not for the beauty of its aspect, but for itfi fitness as a sleeping place, for unless one can obtain a due allowance of " Nature's sweet restorer," all other aids to convalescence will be thrown away. After all, however, the chief risks in convalescence at the seaside are eating too much, doing too much, and specially daring too much in the way of exposure to i cold.