MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15948, 19 June 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

BREATHING.

It ' lias recently 1 been i estimated that ;' a 'man respires ,16: to .20,' times a minute, cr 20,000 times a day a" child, 25 to 95 times A minute. While standing, the adult-re-spiration is 22, while lying, 13. - In each respiration an- adult inhales one pint of air. The superficial surface of the lungs— that is, of their alveolar spaces—is 200 square yards. The amount, ox air 1 inspired in 24. hours .• is about 10,000 quarts. The amount of oxygen absorbed in 24 hours is 500 ; quarts, and the amount of carbolic acid expired'in'the same time 400 quarts. Two-thirds of the oxygen absorbed in 24 hours is'absorbed; during tho night hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Three-fifths of- the total carbonic acid 1 , is thrown * off in the daytime. The pulmonary surface gives off 150. grammes of water ; daily in the Aate oil .vapour. An' adult must have at least 360 quarts'of air an hour.

STAMPING OUT CONSUMPTION. It,-is the belief of; many hygienists that consumption will finally be stamped out; indeed,, it is believed to be diminishing already. At a recent _ congress •; presentation of new views,' one of, the medical men present 'Spoke with much enthusiasm on this point. He held to the generally accepted. view,; that, the disease is spread mainly by the dust of -the dried sputum; of' consumptive, patients, and if this.could be destroyed at once after expectoration its chief cause would be removed. ,He went so * far as ■' to advocate that' in all' -buildings, and 'everywhere where people are , likely to . expectorate, receptacles containing disinfectants should be '.placed and used ' to receive the dangerbus, matter, which should be removed and destroyed .daily. 'No doubt this would be a useful hygienic precaution if it were possible to carry it out, but it would be only partially - effectual, because there are •' so many, privato houses, offices, and places far' away from the crowded •thoroughfares where the use of such recoptacles could not be enforced. • , •

• TONSILITIS OR QUINSY. . ' * Some people are'very prtine to inflammation of the two important glands situated on each side of the throat, and known as the .tonsils. ' This comes on after .exposure to. 'chills,. but is also closely involved with.'some general condition of the system, impossible define or accurately measure. -And - most 'likely also we shall find'' some' septic.agency to liavo been at work, in addition—impure drinking water or' foul air Sometimes this inflammation will,get better eventually without suppuration—'i.e., under skilled medical treatment. In some people it will rarely end without the formation of an abscess. Always the malady requires the most careful vigilance I and nursing Frequent gargling with hot I water is indicated; and also steaming the throat with the steam from boiling water poured into a jug, and inhaled. The best medicine is guaiacum, says a medical expert in the Scotchman, which seems to nave a specfio action of the malady. Send to the chemist for a bottle of mistura guaiaci. and take two tablespoonfuls every three hours. In bad cases three tablespoonfuls may be taken. The mixture is very nasty, and also burning to the throat; but the patient .will not mind' that, if ho or she wants to be quickly rid •Of a very unpleasant—though not usually dangerous —complaint. ' > , NODULAR RHEUMATISM. ; . This disease Is not only to be dreaded ou account of the distortion, and subsequent uselessness of the member affected, j but still more because of the suffering it | evokes. In the early stages;, the pains are -> fugitive, dull, and- localised, but >n proportion as the malady extends to the limbs: the pain becomes acute; continued, and", insupportable, especially ; wlfeh any effort is ' made by the patient to . move or utilise the injured parts. These painful attacks are accompanied by swelling and redness of the ' joints,' and all movement becomes agonising. The cause of ,the ; disease ; remains obscure..4 It* seems certain that heredity ha«j nothing to do withjAL andHhe' appearance of the : disease maySjbe preceded by" good health.* Women '"are' mart frequently attacked,? especially those who are condemned to lead sedentary lives in unwholesome and confined', apartments, and' whose > work entails : the constant use of the fingers.7- Nodular rheumatism' has received but little attention in comparison with the kindred complaints of gout and rheumatism 1 proper, the treatment, indeed, being sometimes confounded. For the relief of. the pain (a point of great importance in so painful a disease) a series of hot baths have been found beneficial, accompanied by a general hygienic treatment to purify and strengthen the system.

, THE DANGERS OF A COLD. Thero is no immunity acquired by surviving a coryza (cold in the head), a pharyngitis or a bronchitis. There seems to be no doubt that the influenza bacillus leaves a patient, temporarily at least, more susceptible to other more dangerous germs, a» those of pneumonia or tuberculosis. Consequently, besides the immediate debility that an acute'cold causes, the possibility of opening the way for the entrance of more serious disease should cause every cold to be considered seriously and treated energetically. Every .cold, especially in a young child, should be. considered serious. The possibility arid the frequent !■ occurrence iof complications such as middle ear inflammation, inflammation in one 'of; the :acessory sinuses of the nose, broncho-pneumonia or lobar pneumonia 'must always be a subject for consideration. and _ prevention if, possible. Colds ,arid throat , infections are also likely to cause enlarged cervical glands and perhaps enlarged , bronchial glands. . Any one or more of these glands may become in-1 fected , with tubrculosis. - Again, most colds ii not all, are contagious/and are transmitted by . contract through families or close associates, , and are, especially spread by contact' in schools. ( With a 'damming up of the passages from congestion and secretion, germs may migrate or be forced into some of sinuses ', surrounding the nostril, and the frontal , sinuses arc • those that most frequently suffer. This is the cause of the frontal headache from the ■ congestion which occurs with .most colds and of an actual frontal sinusitis when infection, actually enter these regions. It the same inflammation occurs in the nasopharynx, the mouths of the eustachian tubes may become blocked, and middle ear congestion from aspiration of the air is causcd. Also the germs of infection, may migrate up these tubes and middle ear inflammation develop.

SORE THROATS. . -1 he throat is a particularly tender part m the human anatomy—tender, that is. in the seMo of being specially suspectible to all sorts of external and internal agencies, to heat and cold, to disease of very numerous kinds, to the general conditions of the body elsewhere. Hardly any part more frequently demands attention from the doctor. Scarcely any can be regarded as affording more significant indications of sound or of disordered health. So again the varieties of disorder to which the throat is liable a.re so many, and often so grave, that nowhere else is there more continuous demand for all the resources of the doctor's medical knowledge and technical skill. It is common knowledge that a sore throat arises much more commonly from exposure of cold than to anything eke. Who is not sufficiently familiar in his or her own person with that fact? One can jump into a cold bath, without the slightest symptoms of any ailment, and come out with a sufficiently pronounced sore throat. Here the treatment is of the Simplest. Keep warm, and gargle the throat frequently with water as hot as you can bear it. If you are too busy to do this the trouble will most likely disappear very quickly of itself. You hardly require physio at all, unless your general health is in some way disordered besides Few of us are perfectly strong and sound under the very artificial condition of the civilisation in which we are privileged to live. 1 eople in the city suffer from over-crowd-ing and bad habits of food or drink ; people in the country are often the victims of bad sanitation in their dwellings. So it is always safe to take 15 grains of chlorate of potash dissolved in an ounce of warm water every three hours; swallowing slowly and gargling a little with the medicine as it passes down .the throat, so as to oome in contact -with..the wholes of the mucous, mem Wan# v " ~ 1