MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 5 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

Iflf CONSUMPTION AND COMMON SENSE There is no great mystery about the exflK'i termination of consumption; it is only |fft; common sense. The enemies to the conipf- sumption germ are good ,well-cooked food |lf]p and plenty of it; fresh air, sunshine, cleanitjl liness in person and habitation, sound H :""• drainage, physical exercises, which de- :'!■' velop the chest, arid healthy parentage. #pv • If a man presents himself for examination m, by a doctor of a life insurance company, h he is rejected if he has & very bad family W; history but if he presents himself at the Wi altar of God, he is readily accepted as a %- husband, a prospective father and breeder gp of consumptive offspring. The great |f : ' friends and allies of consumption are dark, fe dismal rooms, stuffy air, and shut winW ■ dows, long hours and exhaustion, stooping •>-• rounded shoulders, and food badly cooked. If' TO YOUNG MOTHEBS. ft If yon wish to be the mother of a %;. healthy baby, one that will give you little P trouble in the matter of illnesses, peevishly ness, and crying, remember the importance £;\ of laying the foundation well by taking |; r good "care of your own health during the fe months before its advent. For example, v f it is most important that the expectant fe mother should breathe plenty of fresh air. mi Many people forget this, and stay indoors P* in stuffy air more than usual. The result IS is that the expectant mother's blood tends Ifl to become improverished, and the pi improverishment of the mother's blood leads to the impoverishment of the infant's gF blood also. One result to the infant %M' frequently is bad teeth. Seems curioua M that the lack of fresh air should affect the IS child's teeth, dosen't it? But it does. S The germs of all teeth, both first and Iff second sets (with the exception ,of about ||! three or four in the second set), are formed fev before birth, and as teeth are fed and |pf - nourished by the blood it stands to reason fell that if this is poor the teeth cannot be pf sound. Fresh air and nourishing food axe the chief factors in the manufacture, H of healthy blood— better than any |§r tonics or " blood purifiers" ever invented. Hi The expectant mother who leads a healthy, IHE outdoor life has a better chance of having ;s§' * healthy, happy child than she does who jpp spmdfl btr time in ill-ventilated rooms. W HOW TO AVOID JrAttQUX. '&' ■ |f r; .' Some very important investigations with p? regard to fatigue have been made among IS- 1 munition workera and others by a com- '.."' mittee appointed for the purpose; and •Vv gome interesting and ttsiful facts nave been |S;, established. Especially it has been U% established that short periods of work with |fe, recuperative rests between will effect more f n work than prolonged and 6teady work by , §§§ a fatigued worker. The following is a very . ?:r sinking illustration of this physiological If fact. Two officers at the front, for a friendly - If wager, competed in making equal lengths §|: of a certain trench, each with an equal II - squad of men. One let .his men work as If they pleased, but as hard as possible. The §$' other divided bis men into three sets, to Mi work in rotation, each set digging their* hardest for five minutes, and then resting hardest for five minutes, and then resting '■' for ten, till their spell of labour came *J l «. again. .The latter team won easily. ifl? Blight fatigue is easily removed; but if Mf tho fatigue . products have accumulated pf*- beyond a certain point they M not x pnly f> - reduce capacity at the moment, but do fjf damage of a more'permanent kind, which ||; will affect capacity for.periods far beyond fj|, the next, normal period of rest";,and the |C: committee reported that "for work in ||. which severe muscular labour is required ||- it seems' probable that the maximum out|j;' put over the day's work, and the bes< |: conditions for the workers' comfort and § maintained health, will be secured by I giving short flpefls, of strenuous activity f • broken by longer, spells.of rest," It would seem, then, that work, to be most effective. |p mufltbe intermittent, and that length of I latum* is no criterion of total strength of I felons. . A «s" ■ '-. I - ! |«. >■ ;^IOT: DII3^tOIINZA^'XPID3BMIOi , -" f '" y&pS. ' r '•' /'•"V. i ..'4-'; i f.y' life The recent epidemic has proved one of ||||||th.e most fatal in living memory. Every !SMPt onB must within the circle of his friend' and acquaintances have come across case lllll&f swung' people, apparently in the prim ||§||of, health, attacked by the disease, anr : : earned off within » day or so. In. manj ||||l|y • theso fatal cases no evidence o' pnemonia has manifested itself, and deatl 00*2 seems to have resulted directly' from th' violence of the {poisonous products of tin influenza germs. In a number of othe ■. serious cases, pneumonia baa occurred, and y that has v been the direct cause of a larpr .proportion of tfce total deaths. Dfrugs ;• have proved a broken reed, so far as influenza is concerned, and the only piece : ; of.treatment, about the value of which l||t|ffl there can be no doubt; consists in puttin; , the patient to bed, and keeping him ther in a state of placidity until the tempera tare-ha* remained normal for at leas' : ' twenty-four hours. A cool, airy room if , desirable, and while there should be nc p|||gstic|ld't'draughts, the windows of the bedmoitoom should in all cases.be kept widr U^eMF 1 day and night. During tho feverish stage no solid food should be given. The' ■I patient should be allowed, or rather ; »wuraged to drink as mucifcwater, lemon • I^^S^' and milk, or milk and soda as possible. Attention should be paid to : this bowels, which should be induced to move daily; and the fcce and chest should be sponged with. warm water twice every |^^day.. : In all but the mildest cases, it will ;|; : be found desirable to have the patient . -[; seen and 'examined, by a doctor, so that i- ,- .:the '■ onset of pneumonia, of it occurs, should not be overlooked. wmm&tfa' SOLACE ]IN wabmth. l^^^r'-f -f,\A .- ■ ... ". The application of heat in some form is often grateful and comforting when some tart of- the body is inflamed or painful; the aching of pleurisy, the stabbing pain , <Oleuro-rmeumonia, colic of the bowels, ski many other kinds of pain are often i , tonigea by. heat. The india-rubber hotf • **t<ir'bottfe is invaluable; they are not j ' tSI' a ? a *° he had at a moment's notice- ' ..nevertheless, they are very useful o V^Dgstohave in the house. Hot flannels .f to, also.a sensible method of applying v Ma,:,ißJ'_-|I think it a better to" warm 'iWem in tie dry oven instead of wringing ■ wem, of hot water; the wet com'■iPw'^ l &^ , goon get cold, and then they ....".¥&Wrj uncomfortable and may even :,. f ® inarm by giving the poor patient a !§||fl|Spnd chil A wet clammy flannel is a I inoet unsatisfactory bed-fellow. mms Toe Hot-Water Bottle. V: Poultices, too, are old friends, but still §WM.ty? do no* come up to my particular pal, ::/.; tte hot-water bottle. First of all, pool* M|l|pices are a nuisance to make; then they -need frequent changing if they are to 1« c cf any good; they are clumsy arid floppy, lwlmsA. cannot always be applied neatly to •he painfu area. Now, the hot-water bottle will retain its heat for many hours, ; r - which is a great blessing to the unfortunate nurse who may have to do duty flight and day. The hot-water bottle u » well-meaning, good-natured, reliable in- '■;. strument of healing. Jja ' ■ \ ' ■ A Bottle is Bed. ■:.-'■■",' ', ■ The bottle, if H is a stone one, should „ . carefully covered with flannel. If an '■ordinary person puts his foot against a ■;'"•' fjottle that is too hot, he promptly takes Sw^ 1 ---' off; but in the case of invalids, who nay be aged and helpless, or paralysed, I • v or under the effects of chloroform after an j or delirious, in all these cases I IplPKiM'roost important to avoid the burns result from contact with a very I.'- •just, may result from contact with a very not surface This warning is not super«?>ous; every doctor has seen cases of ,:: ; *Wns from hot bottles, and very troubleJ .■•■:-■ cases they are. IS Poultices Should be Light. I ',;. Talking about poultices, it is imporI »nt that they should be made very light : Kbift' ft* 6 c hild* with bronchitis may be half , ll?'v under an enormous poultice \'lt n 8 • several ounces. Now a child J a . gasping, heaving chest wants to ■" I ■»rV ree "P' av > and a weight on the chest; I ~ ?«Kly adds to its distress. And although I ..->*Powtice should be hot, let there be modI ' Ja 1 ? j 0 all things. Scars have beeh g jwtou little children's chests from scald- §{: ; • Poultices. It is true the poultice may II l . 2iJ?P°wed by recovery; but, sometimes H '■'%iO l i? lta recover in spite of what is done IP-'