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Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 58

HEALTH COLUMN.

• atinjr ami Driaildiig-.

Sensible as man has grown, and clever as he hos been to devise and manufacture rare and tempting dishes, the " Home Companion " says he oversteps the mark sometimes. He takes salted and preserved foods in too great quantity. Human food should be plain — old-fashioned meals of roaat or boiled joint with its own grayy — not some abominable extract — and a plain pudding of some sort to follow are much better than six or eight course dinners. The reader will be careful to understand that variety is advisable up to o certain point only : a person maj have a different dinner for ever}' day of the year very well ; but there should not be different foods for every three mouthfuls of those dinner-. — that is the point. And, of course, plain cooking is better th\n the more elaborate. Extracts, .sauces. essences, flavouring*, chemicals, and such things are far more used now than they ought to be. A little mustard, pepper, salt, or horseradish may be taken with various kinds of food to advantage ; but chemically doctored salts and questionable relishes should be avoided. Stews, fried foods, hashes, sauces, and very many soups for that nvitter, have a stamp of artificiality and deception about them in many instances that should excite suspicion. Oils, greases, fats, drippings, JUrcls, margarines, and butters are very often quite unwholesome ; but fortunately they are subjected to influences of great heat, so that poisonous germs are destroyed ; yet filth may exist in any compound, heat or no. and it should be revolting whether boiled or alive and lucking. Turning to our drinks, there is one thing that leads to excessive drinking which has never been pointed out before, and that is the state of the digestive tract. Certain errors in digestion will, cause more or less thirst. And the reader "will do well to bcai this in mind : that most drinks will tend to make these conditions worse. Indigestion will often lead to beer or stout drinking, which, again, will make this affliction worse still. One of the best pieces of advice that any one could take at this moment is this : nevei" sip drinks as a rule ; never drink between meals, unless a thirst is particularly uncomlortable and caused by excessive heat or exercise : drink in good mouthfuls at the end of a meal ; do not wash down each bite hy a sip. Neither drink very hot drinks nor very cold, unless the digestive tract is perfectly sound, and the tongue is habitually clean.

Butter foi Children. — A medical authority believes that no dietetic reform would be more conducive to improved health among children than an increase in the consumption of butter. Are not children generally trained tn take butter with great restraint? And does not this as forcibly apply to young adults? Is not butter regarded as -i table luxury, giving a relish to bread, rathei than being in itself a most important article of food? Even in private families of the wealthiest classes do not the restraining rules obtain afc table? A Stimulant for Infants. — The following is an excellent stimulant for infants who are feeble at birth, ov who from any caubc become too weak to take their oi'dinary drink : — Toke a pint of new milk and bring it to the boil, and pour in eight tablespoonfuls of sherry wine while the milk is boiling ; do not stir, and allow it to come again to the boil. Then the paa aside, and pour off the clear whey for u^e. A few drops of this poured into the child's mouth from time to time has a wonderfully reviving effect. Value of Fruit. —Fruits arc of yreat value in many forais of disease^ because of tho

acids which they contain. These acids, rthen taken into the blood, break up some of the compounds of waste substances which havo bp'jn formed. In his way fruits are of a great advantage in the treatment of rheumatism, gout, gravel, and nil the different morbid condition* which accompany the so-called urici acid ciiathesis. The observations ot Haig respecting the relation, of uric acid to neurasthenia give to fruit a great dietetic value in this disease. He has shown that neurasthenia, is almost always the reMilt of the nccnmulation within the system of tissue was.es largely in the form of uric acid. The free u^o of fruit acids assists in the elimination of these poisons, nol only by breaking up the compounds which they form within the body, but by stimulating the kidneys to increased norrml activity.

Cod Liver Oil For Children. — Children who do not feed uell, and who are thriving badly, would be sure to benefit by taking a sxjoonful or so of cod liver oil daily. The iona in which it is least unpleasant to take, pnd easiest of digestion, is Kepler's solution ot cod liver oil ir nit- It extract. When dissolvrd in milk it has no sickly oj. nauseous finvoi'r. ]Jor on infant fed on the bottle, who i* thinnsr than he should be, a teaspoonful dissolved in each bottle will soon mike his iimbs plump and round. The oil, which is very sweet, takes the }Dlace of sugpr. When a child suffers from constipation the daily dose of oil will induce i sgi.larity. It is very valuable also in ca^e-' of i - icket«, for the malt extract, bei'd.- bdng lich in phosphate, assists the digestion pnd assimilation of other foods. It .'•: usually considered that lime water is a remedy for rickets, as oidinary food does not supply sufficient lime for the bones in siiich h condition ; but it is not the food that is at fault so much as the assimilation of it, and it is in this respect that this form of cod liver oil is useful. Children get to be loud of it, as it is so sweet, has no af tor-taste, and dr.es not repeat.

Treatment for Headache. — I venture to offer some good advice to sufferers from " a bad headache." Bare your neck, brush your li'iir into a loose knot en the top of ycur heac' — J aiii, of course, supposing that a lady is vending this: — then take a sponge and a ba^in of hot water, as hot as you can possibly bear it. Pass the hot, wet sponge slowly and steadily over the face and forehead 20 times, or more. By that time 3 r otii- xace will look as if it were parboiled. But do not worry. Then bathe the back of your neck, as you have done your face, carrying the sponge each time well up the back oi your head, and keep this up for as long a time as for youi face, being sure that the water is equally hot for both operation?. Then, ivithout looking at yourself in the glasi — for that would be sure to disquiet you — dry your face and neck softly, and lie down with your head raised as little as pofsible. (Shut your eyes and think of nothing except how heavy you are on the touch, and how easily It supports you. This is really a part of the " cure." Lie still for half un hour, if you don't fall asleep, as you probably will — and then you may get up and take that deferred look in the glas«. The headache has — in 99 cases out. of 100 — gone: the tired look is gone, the muscles have regained their tone, the wrinkles have disappeared, and you look like, say, your youngest sister ! — " Kathleen,' 1 in Leeds [Mercury.

— That card-playing is still a popular pastime in Britain is shown by the fact that during the last financial year the stamp duty of 3d was paid on no fewer than 1,952,4-56 packs made for sale or use in the United Kingdom. .From this source the Exchequer received £24,4-05 14s, was supplemented by a sum of £5346, representing the customs duty of os 9d per dozen packs on play-earda imported from abroad. Add to these figures £M paid as license duty by makers, and we have a total revenue of £29,785 14s.