HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2631, 17 September 1902, Page 64

HEALTH COLUMN.

The Proper Use of the Lung>.

There are two sorts of lungs distributed amongst the human race — tlio lazy lunga and the energetic ones.

It is not too much to assert that lungs properly U3ed in a comparatively close room will do more good than lazy lungs in ah open field. This trick of lazy lungs is a habit, like any other, and may be overcome by persistent effort.

Many persons, for example, are afflicted with a nervous habit of holding the breath unconsciously. These are the people who. i« spite of plenty of time spent out of doors, yet catch cold easily, digest poorly, and are always moce or less "under the weather" physically.

Many other persons — and they constitute the great majority of mankind — breathe only with the upper part of the lungs, and although they may breathe regularly, do not draw in sufficient air at a breath to fill all the lung cells.

When once the pernicious habit of poor, shallow breathing has been broken up, the hp^alth undergoes such marked improvement — there is such brightening of the spirits and improvement of the looks — that the luxury of deep breathing is not likely to be readily given up.

A good way to start the new habit is to devote a few minutes at stated intervals to proper breathing. If this is done systematically, the reformer will find himself unconsciously breathing more and more, until very soon, he is obeying Nature, and really breathing to live.

Besides the gain to the general health which comes from the habit of deep breathing, there is created a reserve strength and preparednes-a which is often of great service in warding off acute pulmonary diseases.

The Nasal Douche. — A writer in the Lancet says that children should be taught to use • the nasal douche when they are taught to use the tooth brush. If the organ were daily cleansed, he says, with a slightly astringent douche, such as a weak solution of sea salt, colds and germ diseases would be much less frequent. Tobacco the Bane of Students.— The effect of tobacco on youths was recently piesentpd by Dr Herbert Fish, of the Xoitli Western University, Chicago. A student should quit uriag' tobacco (said Dr Fiih), or conclude in his own mind to leave school. Not a single student übing tobacco has stood in the fir-t rank this year, and this has been 'the case for the last nine years, with one exception. It is a fact that as the scholarship lowers the ratio of tobacco users increase Dr Fi=h pointed out that tobacco in any (orm had a tendency to dull the mind of the pupil. He showed by reciting statistics taken at the university during the last nine years that the student addicted to the cigarette habit made a much lower average in hie class percentages than those who were not given to the use of the little paper cylinders. Walking the Best Exercise.— Doctors who have closely studied the matter unhesitatingly assert that walking is the best exercise a woman can engage in for tho development of her physical charms. The woman who is in the habit of taking an omnibus or tramcar every time she wishes to travel a few hundred yards is the one w T ho has a bad complexion and complains of growing stout. She will tell you that her spine troubles Hier, and that her feet are rheumatic, that she cannot walk — positively must not do so. If you are among the number, take a walk every day, give up the omnibus and tramcar habit unless you have some real riding to do or time is an object, and every day walk a little farther. An excellent thing is exercise, and if you do not find walking agrees with you, then take to the gymnasium. After you have tried all the indoor physical culture exercises try the open-air ones.

Cheap, But Effective. — "Many so called disinfectants," remarked a sanitary engineer, "are merely deodorisers — that is to say, they mask evil odours without destroying tho disease germs of the. infectious matter to which they are applied. The fact is, that some of the cheapest and simplest methods of disinfecting are tho best. Any article of food pr drkik ■which has been heated for * feir s&iuteo to about tke boiling point of

water is quite safe from the danger ot disease germs. Clothes which have been through the laundry in the ordinary way are also as completely disinfected as though they had been treated with the most expensive disinfectant. The same applies to tho3e domestic utensils which are cleaned jby being scalded with boiling water. Even , light and fresh, air have a powerful dis.nj fecting' influence. Light is fatal to many disease germs, while fresh air admitted freely into a room sweeps out of it the poisonous particles that would otherwise remain suspended in its atmosphere."