"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 75

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

September 8. j The foobba.ll season, of 1911 opened on Saturday last with a thermometer 85deg in the shade!—and 120 deg in the son, J -where thousands of spectators stood or pat. Not was Saturday the only day of i the week that over 80deg has been reached. Day after day the golden sunshine pours down from a cloudless sky i and the holiday-makers still revel by the J sea. In the country the unusual spec- j tacle of stubble fields—for the harvest is j over—and the "sear .and yellow leaf" in thick carpets under a blue canopy is rare. ] It upsets calculation. Ploughing and . footballing in summer heat in England is upsetting. "Yon wait!" says the pessi- ; mist, "We will have to pay for this." j Probably, most probably ; but don't we : have to pay for everything?—for evil as . wall as good, and for good as well as evil. But who would refuse happiness , because "a, sorrow's crown of sorrow is j remembering happier tilings"? But, is it? . To have known good surely cannot make j evil worse. The remembrance in sorrow ] of happier things should be a certainty that. happiness is, and a hope for its recur- j rence. To have had the good —the good circumstance, the good friend, the happier j hope,—how can that, in remembrance, crown the sorrow of a darker day? I Well, perhaps we shall have to pay for this summer of sunshine later on; but we j shall have had it. Let come what may of j winter, we sball have had our day of summer in England. Too much summer is the general complaint. Yesterday was ! the hottest day since Aaigust 13 in Lon- I don, registering 89deg. This has been the hottest September first week ever • known since records were taken in Lon- ! don. But that excessive heat is not the ' natural condition of England the health and the temper of the people testify. In places the drought has not broken at all, and in Wiltshire and Carmarthenshire there "is a serious water famine, milk is diminishing, and in some parts dairymen are obliged to kill their calves. j Death has taken a heavy toll this sum- ' mer among the children, chiefly the children of the poor, who cannot be protected from extremes as can the children of the j rich. But the heat itself has only been the indirect cause of the colic that hascarried away thousands during the last few months, impurity of diet and milk toeing the direct cause in hundreds of cases. The new sea-water cure for in- . fantile cholera has had a public and won- ! derful test. The sea-water is specially prepared and injected under the skin by j the hypodermic syringe. When the summer cholera first broke out this year attention was publicly drawn to the newtreatment, and that there was a Quintou Poly-clinic in Soho where infante would be treated free of charge. The dispensary had been opened m July, but was vary little known until special attention was drawn to the fact. Then the rush of patients was so great that the doctors were hard put to it to deal with all the babies that were brought from all parts of London, many of them in a dying condition and given up by other dectors. The discoverer of the sea-water cure is Mr Quinton, and for five years the treatment was a success in Paris before being introduced into London, where, during the past weeks, its effect has been marvello'us. But the fact that many of the babies had to be brought for treatment each day from long: distances and taken holme again by train or tram did not help the cure, and a call was made en the charitable for funds to enable the physicians to open a creche or temporary i hospital near the dispensary, so that cases could be in the charge of nurses and under the eye of the doctors until the crisis was past. Within a day or so of the appeal this was made possible. The floor of a warehouse opposite the dispensary was taken, filled np with cots, a nursing staff provided, and all arrange- • stents made for the little patients to have the rest in bed and the hot blankets and ■bottles and pure milk which ro much help ! the cure. j In answer to many questions from doc- • tore concerning his treatment, R. Quinton wrote from Paris: Here is the- way in which the sea-water ' method should be applied: I A child suffering from a severe attack of infantile cholera should receive two injections . of the marine plasma each day, on© in the morning, the other in the evening, each injection being of at least one hundred cubic centimetres. In very grave oases which have j reached the period immediately preceding j the agony, with flabby and hollow stomach, j hollow eyes, motionless eyelids, fixed stare, I

pinched nose, hot forehead, cold cheeks, still colder lips, etc., •each injection should bs at least 200 cubic centimetres. As no inconvenience results in less grave oases from giving this dose, the doctor may, if he has the least doubt, use it for all the eases ho has to deal with. We frequently give in the most extreme comatose-"" cases doses of 300 cubic centimetres, jat least on the first day. These injections morning and evening, of 100 or 200 cubic centimetres, should be continued for six consecutive days. After these six days the child should be injected with a dose of 100 ot 200 cubic centimetres per day for at least a week, and this whatever its state of apparent prosperity. This recommendation is very important. The diet to prescribe is as follows:—The child should be nourished immediately with milk. It should receive daily in six or seven bottles, according to its 'age —and this during the first six days—a ration of milk equal to the tenth of the weight of its body. To each bottle should be added 20 grammes of pure water without sugar. Between each bottle cf milk the doctor should offer to the child a bottle of pure water, also without sugar, each bottle of water equal to half the bottle of milk. The child will «eeep* n?rt or all of this water according to itfl tfairet; H may decide this for itself. Tin fhst loft!. i water should be given o.:.- hom after the first injection; the first bottle oi milk caw ioux after the first bottle of water,

(Specially Written for the- Witness Ladies' Page.)

DE!BTi3 AND THEIR PAYMENT.

j After six days of this diet the doctor can ' increase the ration of milk and bring it ; daily to the ninth, then the eighth; then tita . seventh of the weight of the body, j In oases where the temperature exceeds . before each injection 103 degrees Fahrenheit I the doctor should give the child a bath ol ! 15 minutes in water of 99 degrees Fahrenheit. I As you have already stated in the Daily Mail, doctors can obtain the flasks of m*?™? plasma, necessary to the cure from MM. j Carrion and Co., Faubourg Saint-Honor©, | Pari®. Tbov will do well to ask at the same, j time for the rubber injection tube furnished with its' platinum needle. All the injections should be given in the. ' back near the shoulder-blade. .The very ! simple method of injection is fully described , in a pamphlet which accompanies each flask. ; At the end of the injection the doctor should j stop up the little hole made by tire needle | with -a plug of wadding soaked in collodion, so that the liquicj shall not escape. i One of the deeply-regretted deaths of | the week is that of Mrs Thurston, the : famous author of the novel "John ChilJ cote, M.P." Mrs Thurston was found i dead dn her room at an hotel at Cork, I where she had retired at 10 o'clock the ' previous evening, apparently in good ! Health. But it transpired at the inquest ' that she had lately "consulted a doctor : concerning fainting attacks, from which ! she had been suffering, and being seized j wit one of these attacks, she had partly fallen from her bed and died. She was found by a maid who took her breakfast | next morning. ] The tragic end of the well-known novelist made a painful sensation in Cork. ! Mrs Thurston was born there, being the | daughter of the late Alderman Paul Madden, who was twice Mayor of Cork. In : 1901 Katherine Madden married Mr ! Ernest Temple Thurston the famous 1 novelist and dramatist, and for the first six years the marriage was very happy, husband and wife helping each other to ' success. Then came sudden fame for Mrs Thurston with "John Chilcote," which first appeared as a serial in Harper's Bazaar, and afterwards in the Daily Mail, j being published in bc«k form by Messrs • Blackwood and Sons. It was the book 'of the year of 1904. But fame did not bring -Mrs Thurston domestic happiness. I Mr Thurston felt that her—as he expressed it —"personality dominated his," and that it was necessary for his literary work to lead his own life, and, against Mrs Thurston's will, they separated, and ultimately she obtained a divorce, and Mr Thurston married again a few weeks ' ago, and is, it is stated, on his honeymoon now with his second wife, j The book "John Chilcote" is a wonderful story of a dual personality, and when it was dramatised Sir* George Alexander, who played the hero, had great difficulty in finding a double to- himself. Ultimately Mr W. J. Thorold, editor of Smart Set, was chosen. The big sensation of the week is the cross-Channel swim by Burgess, who, after many attempts, has at last been triumphant—a triumph of perseverance and endurance. It is now 36 years ago since Captain Webb succeeded in swimming the Channel, although many have attempted the herculean feat. Burgess himself made many attempts before his triumph and in 1908 he got within a mile of France. Mr T. W. Burgees is a Yorkshire-man. He married a. Frenchwoman, and is in business in Paris, bait denies that he is a naturalised Frenchman. " Although not much over 40, it has been his hobby for years to swim the iil miles ot water. There was as much excitement in France as in English sporting circles, and congratulations poured in. ; And among thean a telegram from the King from Balmoral, where the Court is new in residence : —'' I am commanded to convey to you the hearty congratulations of the King upon your determination and endurance in accomplishing the wonderful feat of swimming the Channel to-day.— Sta-m-f oirdham." i Burgess was taken back to Deal in the steam tug, after a great ovation on the ; French side, where many of the people : wanted to claim him as a Frenchman. I "No; English," answered the hero, and : all England is talking of the feat. "Old I England must have a look in now and | again," said one great sporting authority, ' and proudly claims "the porpoise man," although France has captured flying honours. When interviewers sought Burgess at his mother's cottage in Deal the next morning, they were surprised to find i him swimming. After a good night's ' rest he found himself all right after his i ordeal, except that his muscles were stiff, I and the swimming, he said, was the best

way to take off the stiffness. Socially this ha.s been a stagnant week. The King and Queen and Princess Mary and her youngest brothers are at Balmoral, their beautiful Scottish home. The country houses are full, and shooting is the order of the day—days that are stifling in town. . Paper Towels. America, (says the Daily Telegraph) seems to have been first to .appreciate the hygienic properties of paper towels. In many of the schools, in clubs, in hotels, where expense has to be considered, and in many cbheof instancies, these towels have been introduced. After being once used they are thrown away. It is easy to realise the importance of this movement towards individualism. Doctors have readily stated that, the custom will do much to prevent the spread of skin diseases: and ophthalmia. The superintendents of certain States have requested that all schools adopt these towels. In Sacramento, towels made of paper are introduced by ordei" of the High School, the School Board of Ottawa, Canada, has

put paper towels and cups into all their public buildings. The Superintendent of Public Buildings in New York has issued a similar command, the price of the towels being one-eighth of a penny each. There are also towels, in size 12in by 18in, sold at 450 Is 2d, so that the cost of each is infinitesimal.

Germany has taken up the subject with a good deal of care and attention.. At a recent congress of the German Public Bath Association a competition was opened. The feeling was that the frequent w.ashing of hands might be promoted if a cheap and convenient means of drying were provided. Three prizes were recently offered for a gocd paper towel in Berlin,, and the winning specimens will be introduced into schools, railway stations, restaurants ; indeed, into all places where people congregate and require some apparatus for drying newly-washed hands. It is impossible to contemplate the treatment accorded to towels in some clubs and many other places where the rules of hygiene, might be better understood. Frequently the linen towel is merely dried and placed again ready for use In order to induce people to buy the prize towels and use them, each article will hear the name of the maker stamped upon it, so that purchasers may readily find out where to get them. A trial was given, to paper cups in London on the occasion of the King's entertainment to children at the Crystal Palace, ,and they teemed to act very well. America has once more taken the lead in this matter, which seems so natural and so easy of accomplishment. The growing demand for cups of this kind h.as induced the Chesapeake Beach railroad to order paper drinking cups. A nickel-plated vendor has been put into each car, holding about 100 paraffin paper cups for individual use at the water cooler., The cups are placed inside a glass, dustproof tube, and" are released, one at a time, automatically, by turning a handle. Other railways ore taking the matter up, and it is probable that ere long the whole, country will use hygienic towels and cups.