HOW DID THEY COME TO DO IT?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9875, 21 October 1893, Page 6 (Supplement)

HOW DID THEY COME TO DO IT?

_Only to think that any man—in the daytime, with his eyes open, not being crazy and not wanting to commit suicide—(should walk straight into, a canal or a river! Only to think of that, I say ! Yet a good many did it in and around London in Christmas week 1891. The dense fog it was, of course, that made them. People could hardly see 6ft ahead of their noses ; maybe less at times and in some spots. For you understand the difference between mere darkness and a fog. In the dark, no matter how black it is, you can always Bee the lights if there are any. But a fog ! A fog is to have your eyes put out; it is—blindness. As for shipwrecks and other calamities due to fogs—why, there's no end to them. The London papers have wondered why somebody hasn't invented a way to tcatter fogs. Ah, yes, why ? Here's a woman's story about a fog—one of. thosa thick mists that hang over most of us 12 months in the year. She says that from April to September 1889, she was too ill to have any pleasure or comfort. This was a thing to notice, inasmuch as her disposition was naturally cheerful and lively. The trouble, whatever you call it, came on her gradually, much as a fog rises. At first she Bimply felt languid. Very little exertion made her tired. Her breath came to be very short, too, and she often felt faint. She couldn't eat; that is, not with any relish, and her sleep was broken up into naps and SDatches instead of b&iog solid and straight away, as good sleep always is. Her spirits were dull and depressed. To be sure. How else could they

She had great pain in the region of the heart, which frightened her, as it would you, for the heart is a vital organ and weare properly scared when there's anything ailing it. Every morsel she ate distressed her. Even the swallowing of a mouthful of water was a painful niitter. For severil weeks she went on in this fashion. She kept on with her work in the house and shop (a bakery), but it was as much as ever.

Simple medicines, such as we all know of— these She tried, but no good came of it. So she next consulted the family doctor, a man who hag a large practice and is considered very clever. He examined her carefully and then said, " Mrs Plowright, you are suffering from congestion of the liver, heart disease, and dtbility." , This was a statement fit to make the poor woman give tip in despair. Indeed, it nearly did. But the doctor was right; that is, trom his point of view. He treated the patient for some time. For a short space, occasionally, he relieved her; then she was bad as" ever. " Once m a while," she says, " my heartalmost stopped beating, and I looked and felt like a dying person." This, she was told, was the incurable complaint called angina pectoris; but it wasn't, nor anything like it. Still it was serious and dangerous..

Her letter ends in these words: •' I had read in a book about Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, and my husband had taken some of it and thought highly of it. But I had not much faith in it. I began by taking 15 drops, but as this had no effect I took 30 drops and followed the directions. This dose suited me, and after having used up tha bottle I felt batter. I could eat and digest food, the pain in my chest and side gradually went away, and after taking two bottles more I was well, and have been well ever since." * (Signed) Mes Ploweight, wife of Mr William Plowright, of the Lincolnshire Bakery, 23 Cheetham street, North street, Cheethao), Manchester. What are we to think of this case ? We are to think that this lady's " heart disease " was what is called "functional," not "organic" disease. In plain English, the heart's action was disturbed by the blood poison created by indigestion and dyspepsia— her real and only malady. The liver trouble and debility were parts of the same puzzle. And so was the asthma.

Now, what is the worst fog that ever darkened England ? It is the fog which keep 3 doctors and people from seeiog that nearly all the complaints they suffer from are nothiDg more or less than symptoms of indigestion and dyspepsia, and curable by the remedy mentioned by Mrs Plowright. By reason of this fog folks walk straight into open (/raves — evert/ day.