HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2057, 27 July 1893, Page 49

HEALTH COLUMN.

A Protest. A medical correspondent of the Lancet, who writes from Adelaide, South Australia, has enteied a much-needed protest against the indiscriminate shipping of invalids, and especially of those suffering from phthisis, to the colonies. Each year, as he says, about October, certain sailing vessels which have the name of being " invalid ships" leave England for Australia, arriving there in January or February, when the temperature in the shade is often lOldeg or 105deg F. The trip generally takes from 90 to 100 days, out of which about half are in warm climates. If ■ practitioners at Home would consider that their patients would be shut up in stuffy cabins and saloons, with ports sometimes closed for days together, surrounded by fellow sufferers, he is convinced they would think twice before recommending such a voyage. The warning concludes with a tragic little story. " Only a^few days ago," says the writer, "I saw a young fellow who had left home with slight physical signs at one apex, who, on arriving here, was simply dying of general tuberculosis. On recommending him to return by the fastest mail boat the following day, he went back to his hotel -and committed suicide by shooting himself, being so depressed at the idea of another voyage." The best voyage, in the opinion of the Lancet's correspondent, to take for health's sake, would be by a Bteamer coming round the Oape of Good Hope, with plenty of cabin space, good food, and a thoroughly qualified medical officer on board. Hoi Watee Applications fob Head" aohb. — Headache frequently yields to the simultaneous application of hot water to the feet and the back of the head. A Man's Daily Bbead.— A very eminent authority on diet says that the average man, in a state of absolute rest, can live on 16oz of food a day ; a man doing ordinary light work can live on 230z; and a man doing laborious work needs from 26|oz to 30oz, A Simple Eemedy.— An effectual means of stopping bleeding from the nose is to move the jaws up and down as if going through the process of mastication. If the patient is a child, put some paper in his mouth and tell him to chew it thoroughly. This method is ridiculously simple, yet it has never been known to fail even in the mest aggravated cases. Olive Oil. — The value of rubbing with olive oil a young child who is in delicate health and has a naturally dry skin is not generally appreciated. If this 1b done properly, every portion of the body being anointed and the, oil rubbed well into the skin by the hand, any exoess being wiped off with a soft cloth, it will not soil the underclothing ; and there is no better way of giv-^ ing such weak children necessary nourish* ment for the skin through the pores. — Health. Health and Cleanliness. — Olean people are better able to resist diseaße than those who are untidy. Frequent bathing prolongs health and retards age- Next to sleep, there is nothing more restful than a bath when the body and mind are fatigued. Actors and public men who are busy all day, and have exhausting duties to perform at night, find the best stimulant in water. Hot Milk as a Stimulant. — No one who, fatigued by over-exertion of body and mind, has ever experienced the reviving influence of a tumbler of this beverage, heated as hot as it can be slipped, will willingly forego a resort to it because of its being rendered somewhat less acceptable to the palate. The promptness with which its cordial influence is felt is indeed surprising. Some portion of it seems to be digested and appropriated almost immediately, and many who now fancy they need alcoholic stimulants when exhausted by fatigue will find in this simple draught an equivalent that will be abundantly satisfying, and far more enduring in its effects'.