HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2167, 5 September 1895, Page 49

HEALTH COLUMN.

A New Form of an Old Cnrc for Stiff Joints.

The application of heat is one of the universal remedies fox the various forms of rheumatism. Almost every modern city has its Turkish or Russian bath, and innumerable uncivilised tribes enjoy the same luxury in cruder shape. Travellers in the Navajo country will often find close to trie trail which'leads to the neighbourhood of water small huts tuch as children nvght build in Imitation of Indian tepee?. These are the •• sweat huts "of the Navajos. When one of that intelligent and thrifty tribe finds himself beset by severe cold or rheumatic pains, he goes to a secluded spot close to wat«r, and builds a little conical hat of sticks. The bottom ends of ths sticks may ba possibly 2ft apart, and the upper ends are lashed together in a point. The interstices t>f this rough edifice are carefully chinked up, and the inside is covered with a layer of mud, which makes it absolutely airtight. TheD, builditg a fire, the Indian places stones on the embers. When the stones begin to crack with the heat they are cast inside the hut and water is thrown upon them. The Indian creeps in, oloses the narrow entrance aperture and remains there in the steaming atmosphere nntil he 1b nearly suffocated. The latest form of tbis crude therapy is used in a London hospital. It contistß of a copper cylinder about 3ft long and 18in in diameter, which will hold an arm up to the shoulder or a leg up to the middle of the thigh. The patient who is suffering from spr&irjs or gout or rheumatic affections is placed in an arm chair, the limb is introduced into the cylinder, and the joint made air-tight by a rubber band. The inside temperature of the cylinder is raised if necessary to 300deg or 400deg Fahr. by means of gas burners. When the enclosed .xnoistnre begins to have a scalding effect, which occurs at about 250deg, the end of the cylinder is opened and the moisture •scapes. The effeots are greatly increased local circulation, profuse perspiration, and relief from pain.

Cuke foe Eabaohe.— The most effectual remedy has been a small clove of garlic, steeped for a few minutes in warm salad oil, and put into the ear, rolled up In muelin and thin linen. In Borne time the garlic is reduced to a pulp, and having accomplished its object, should be replaced with cotton to proveat the patient getting cold.

Injurious Sea-bathing.— Dr J. Simon says that it is a mistake to give a cold sea bath to children under two years of age. The •ea bath is also contra-indicated In nervous children, those who are called irritable, in children who are incessantly in excitement, in those whose intelligence is continually alert, whose sensibility is exquisite and whose sleep is light. Sea-bathing increases the excitement of such children, diminishes their amount of tl9ep, and renders them absolutely unbearable. Epileptics, hysterical children, and those with chorea are equally badly influenced by ssabathißg. Children subject to torticollis and to so-called growing pains ought not to be taken to the sea shore. Acute and chronic ophthalmia, diseases of the ear, and all the cutaneous affections are contra-indications to sea-bathing ; also pulmonary tuberculosis in its incipiency_ and most of the pulmonary diseases and kidney troubles are harmfully iLflienced by it.