STAND BACK "AND THEN LOOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2400, 1 March 1900, Page 63

STAND BACK "AND THEN LOOK.

i Madam," said a wise old physician *,o .% 1 woman who had brought a feeble, anaemic, and poorly developed daughter to him for ex*. i mination. "Madam, the treatment of t'iU girl should have been begun two hundred , years ago." "Sir," she exclaimed, "I don't understand what you mean." ' "Probably not, madam," replied this student of men and of medicine, "and you wouldn't even should I try to explain it." ■ How do you best see a picture on a wall? I Why, by standing back and looking through, your hollowed fist or through a tube. Well j then, let us first read Mrs Coombes's letter, , and afterwards get a little of what painters call perspective on it and see if we can understand the lesson it teaches, j '" In the spring of last year, 1895," she says, i "I had an attack of -pleurisy, which left me . , low and weak. Subsequently I -could not get ,up my strength, do what I would. My appet tite was poor, and after eating I had severe ; pains about my chest, at my side, and between my shoulders. I had muscular pains in my ■ arms and shoulders — in fact all over me. I got little or no sleep, and felt quite worn out i in the morning j "As time went on I got weaker and weaker , ! and was scarcely able to get about. I came | to be so low that I thought I never should be , | better again. I saw a doctor and took medicines, but nothing did me any good. j "In December (1895) my sister, who lives at Oxford, told me of the benefit she had de- ( rived from Mother Seigel's Syrup. I ocot ? 1 bottle from Mr Cooper, chemist, Oldburj Road, and after taking it found great relief, 1 I could eat well, and food agreed with me. 1 "I now gained strength, and after takir.j four bottles was well as ever and free frora . j all pain, muscular or otherwise. I know others who have been benefited by the same medicine. You can publish this statement as you like. (Signed) Charlotte Coombes, 177 Oldbury Road, West Smethwick, Birmingham, October Bth, 1896." That is her letter — a plain, truthful, and well-written letter. But what do we ses be- : hind the simple facts as she sets them down? j Is there anything suggested by that attack oi j pleurisy she speaks of? Was that the begin- | ning? No. Pleurisy is the name given to an , inflammation of the spaces or cavities in whi"a , the lungs rest. -When the inflammation attacks the lungs themselves we call :5 ' pnbumoxia ; if the bronchial tubes, bp.oxcht- ' ' tis ; and so on. But they are the same thing, from the same cause — namely, impure blood, j When the blood is thus polluted, the smallest* I provocation — a slight cold — may set up any of ' the above ailments. Rheumatism (which .Mra I Coombes had) belongs to the same group or family of maladies. But how comes that impurity or corruption of the blood in which these things arise? T'U tell you, in the hope that you will remember it. Indigestion, dyspepsia, fermentation of food in the/stomach, torpid liver, which leaves the bile acids in the blood instead of removing them, poisonous dirt and filth from the stomach getting into the circulation — that's where the trouble cornea from. So we see (hat in cases of pleurisy, etc., there is always what ! the doctors call a " history " of dyspepsia. • Although this lady had keen dyspeptic sympi toms AFTEB the pleurisy, a previous Imper; fection of her digestion — whether sh,e realisea it or not — laid the foundation for tlie pleurisy, the rheumatism, and all that followed. i Now that is what we see as we stand oael» and look. And this is the practical use yoi," i are to make of the knowledge: Take care oi , the condition of your :'omach, and the FIRS! I day you feel anything 'vrong with it, resort to j Mother Seigel's Syrup, vithout waning to fine 1 out whether you are going to be woi«e or not, , When your house takes fire, you don't wait t< see how bad it is likely to be ; you STOP it immediately. Do so with indigestion.^ The old doctor was right in what he said ta the woman about her datighter. The girl couldn't help the neglect of her ancestors ; Uufc we can do something towards taking care of j ourselves.

— Four brothers named Kovpnagh, fronv the County of Wexford, who have just been admitted recruits to the ranks of the Dublin? j Metropolitan Police, have created a mild sensation, as each of the brothers stands exactly 6ft 6in in height, and is built in proportion. They are sons of a farmer, and are men of splendid physique, in "addition to their ; unusual height. Two other brothers remain' ' at home, who are presumably the dwarfs of I the family, being Gi.ly 6ffc 3in in height — ■ j but perhaps they have not yet attained \ their, iull elevation.