HAY FEVER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21837, 27 December 1932, Page 12

HAY FEVER

It is common knowledge that some people cannot go into the country during summer without paying a heavy price for the luxury in the form of an attack of hay fever. Superficially, hay fever resembles in many ways the common cold; there is generally a good deal of sneezing, catarrh of the nostrils, and watering of the eyes. Not unnaturally, when the germ theory of disease obsessed all medical minds, it was thought probable that hay fever, like so many other hitherto

inexplicable ailments, is due to some living organism or germ not previously recognised.

We now know that germs have nothing to do with the matter, but that hay fever belongs to the great group of what doctors call allergic diseases. Some individuals are, for reasons not yet fully unravelled, peculiarly susceptible to certain chemical substances occurring in Nature to which these diseases are now attributed. Hay fever and asthma are perhaps the two most striking examples of these allergic diseases. Urticaria, or nettle-rash, is another. Most of us, when we lightly touch a stinging nettle, experience some unpleasant reaction. The part which is stung itches and burns, and a localised swelling or wheal manifests itself; but usually these symptoms soon subside. Certain hyper-sensitive people, however, have but to eat a plate of strawberries, or indulge in a lobster supper, or eat a few’ perfectly fresh whelks off a stall, or even touch the leaves of certain species of - primrose, to experience an attack of nettle-rash as severe as and much more prolonged than most of us would experience if we fell naked into a bed of nettles.

Equally remarkable are the asthmatic attacks which some people experience every time they come into contact with some particular substance —one with the dandruff of horses, another with cats, others with this or that article of food to most people altogether innocuous. The special reaction which we call hay fever belongs in the same category. It is commonly brought about in those people peculiarly liable, by contact with the pollen dust of certain flowers, which bloom about the time of hay-making. This pollen is wafted by the breezes, and, being inhaled through the nostrils, produces its strange local and constitutional effects. The treatment of hay fever has not yet reached a satisfactory stage. By suitable injections a measure of relative immunity can be secured in certain individuals otherwise peculiarly subject; but neither prevention nor cure can yet be guaranteed by any method other than that of avoiding all contact with the offending pollen.—-Weekly Scotsman.

THE WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

BRANCH ACTIVITIES

Mrs King presided over a good attendance at the December meeting of the Heriot Women’s Institute. A letter of appreciation was received from the West Otago Sports Committee conveying their thanks to the members for their assistance at the recent sports. The motto for tho evening was: “ Scatter your (lowers as you go, for you will never go over the same road twice,” and the roll call “Filling for sandwiches’’ was very helpful now for the picnic season. An interesting demonstration on cake icing by Mrs A. Edic, of Edievale, followed, and several members tried their skill at the art of rose and scroll making. Mrs Foster supplied the social item and played a bracket of Irish melodies, her playing being much enjoyed. Two young members were congratulated on passing their examinations —Miss Una Sinclair, who gained her A.T.C.L. in music, and Miss Gwen Sim in gaining her higher local in elocution. The competition for “ Best Christinas gift costing not mqre than 2s Gd ” brought forth a fine selection of articles. Miss Ivy Paterson's large black rabbit was placed first, and her three

dainty boxed handkerchiefs second. Mrs G. G. Sim gaining third place with a knitting bag. The hostesses for the evening were Mesdainos Sinclair and Smith and Miss T. Black.