HEALTH COLUMN

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 17 July 1890, Page 41

HEALTH COLUMN

Succi's Fast.

The completion by Signor Succi of his self -imposed fast of 40 days, regrettable as were its surroundings, is undoubtedly a remarkable feat. The penitential fasts of the Ohurch in the Middle Ages, though sufficiently severe, yet permitted bread and water to be taken, with sometimes a refresher of dry cooked beans and small beer, and an occasional small fish in the evening ; but we (Lancet) can recall no modern instance in whioh total abstinence from food has been, we were going to say indulged in, or at any rate practised for so long a period without Berious results. Most physiologists would, we think, before the fact, have prenounced it impossible. The loss by the lungs, the skin, and the urine would have been considered to be too great for the nervous and circulatory system to bear without the breaking down of some part of the machinery. Cases are on record where an animal has lived a much longer period without food— as for •xample the fat pig that fell over Dover cliff and was picked up alive 160 days after, being partially embedded in the debris ; but h«re little motion was allowed, warmth was retained by the surrounding chalk, and life was sustained by the animal on its own fat. Dogs and wolves, again, are said to be able to sustain a complete fast for a month ; but for a man to resist the depressing effects of a 40 days' fast with nothing but ■ water, which hardly can be called food, is certainly exceptional. Signor Succi is described as looking wan, thin, and Ballow, and it is stated that he lost weight at the rate of £lb a day during the latter days of his fast. The loss was no doubt in great part due to the elimination of carbon dioxide by the lungs, and of watery vapour by the skin and lungs. His temperature was well maintained ; his pulse varied, but was during the latter days more frequent than natural. The room in which he lived was judiciously kept at a high temperature, and he did not exhaust his nervo-muscular apparatus by exercise. Perhaps the conclusion may be drawn from this experiment that a considerable proportion of our ordinary food is not applied to any useful purpose in the economy, and that many of the inactive inhabitantsof cities habitually eat more than is required to maintain their mental and bodily functions in the highest efficiency.

The Pulse.— Feeling the pulse is a portion of the examination of a patient which is rarely omitted by the physician ; in fact, such an omission would be very apt to be looked upon by the patient as a sign of incompetence. Yet we fear that this is too often a mere matter of ceremonial routine, and that little information in aid of diagnosis is gathered from it.— Saturday Eeview. Milk From a Diseased Cow.— The Fresno Republican recently gave a brief report of a case in that neighbourhood where a child was taken seriously ill. The physician whom the mother called in decided that the illness had been caused by drinking the milk of a diseased cow, and a ringworm on her arm was ascribed to the same source. The family had been using milk from a neighbour's cow which was afflicted with an ulcer in her hindquarters, and it is believed that the poisonous matter in her blood had tainted her milk.

Condensed Beeath on Window Panes. — If the condensed breath collected on the cool window panes of a room where a number of persons have been assembled be burned, a smell as of singed hair will show the presence of organic matter ; and if the condensed breath be allowed to remain on the windows for a few days, it will be found on examination by a microscope that it is alive with animalculaa. The inhalation of air containing such putrescent matter causes untold complaints which might be avoided by a circulation of fresh air. Longevity. — The first, and perhaps most important, condition for the production of longevity is a good start — i.e., a good family history from a health point of view. One who begins life with the germs of premature decay already present in his organism is hardly likely to withstand the buffeting of the world for a lengthened period. The means for attaining long life which are greatly within the control of the individual may be summarised in the words " temperance in all things" — namely, in work, in play, in eating, in drinking, and in sleeping. Neither vegetarianism, nor teetotalism, ncr indeed any other " ism," appears to give any special advantage in prolonging life. — Saturday Review.

The Garter no Source op Disease.— Contrary to the general idea, the garter is not, as a rule, a source of disease. The Medical Record says : " Varicose veins occur oftener in men than in women, and proportionately oftener in athletes and men trained to severe exertion. There are many things, indeed, which cause them, and artificial constriction of the limbs seems to be a very remote and rare factor. In England we are told that the demand for ' anti- varicose ' stockings is chiefly made by full-fed men who lead sedentary lives and drink more wine than is good for them. A wearer of the anti-varicose stocking feels worse after a series of dinner parties, when the tempting varieties of the menu lead him to indulge too freely in the pleasures of the palate. Obviously no very bad case can be made out asainst the garter, provided it is a good garter, combining the maximum of support with the minimum of constriction, blending harmoniously with the hosiery and the circulation. The gartar has come to stay, and the doctor had '.ipttnr proscribe a proper kind than preach its abolition." Most people, except those happy specimens

who have " never known a day's sickness " in 'their lives; 1 are at s'om.e period of their existence interested in the' question as tohowmuch a man ought to eat, and look for some anthoritive scientific statement of what is enough. But such a statement is hardly obtainable, because every man eats one part of his food to meet the actual necessities of Nature, and another for his own pleasure, and about this latter portion science can dictate nothing very definite, because it varies so much from individual to individual. Some recent statements of Dr G. M. Smith bring out prominently the faot that almost everybody eats far more than he needs, whereupon the ascetic cries out that everybody is therefore a disgraceful glutton; but the ascetic does not know that up to a certain point all real pleasures are good for a man (apart from his bare necessities), and that the extra food which he eats for pleasure may be as good for him as the extra air he breathes when enjoying a sea trip. It is only when people go beyond their fair pleasure allowance (and plenty do so) that they injure themselves. Dr Smith states that the average Englishman eats just twice as much as_he could do his day's work on without loss of flesh ; but women keep nearer to the line of their strict necessities, as on the average an active* working woman eats only three-quarters of the food consumed by a man of the same weight.