HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3033, 1 May 1912, Page 68

HEALTH COLUMN.

The Tongue in Health anil Disease. The tongue is a structure of muscular fibres mingled with a considerable quantity of cellular ami fatty matter, and abundantly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. It is covered with a close mucous membrane, on which there are numerous points'Or papillae, smallest at the tip, but becoming larger toward the base. The tongue is the organ of the special sense of taste, and it is largely concerned in the processes of mastication and swallowing. By its means we are informed of the qualities of cur food, and it is the sense of touch possessed by the tongue which determines when the food is of the proper consistency to bo swallowed. By means of its muscles it collects and moves the food from one side of the mouth to the other, and with the aid of the lips and cheeks keeps it in position for the teeth to do their work on it. When at last the food is in a sufficiently softened state, the tongue passes it backward into the pharynx, and starts it on its way to the stomach. Then, again, the tongue plays an important part in speech, as will be realised by anyone who takes the trouble to read a short passage aloud, keeping his thoughts fixed on his tongue the while. —What the Tongue Shows. — In the diagnosis of various diseases and conditions of ill-health the appearance of the tongue often gives valuable information. The perfectly healthy tongue is delicately pink and moist, the papillae looking smooth. In catarrh or ordinary cold, in affections of the .stomach, and in feverish conditions it is white and furred. In typhoid fever it wiU be brown and dry, and sometimes very red and glazed in diabetes. •An appearance peculiar to scarlet fever is what is popularly known as the “strawberry tongue,” when red points project from the white fur. People who suffer from dyspepsia often show a furred, flabby tongue that retains the marks of the teeth on the sides even when it is put out. Small blisters on the tongue tire generally indicative ot a bact condition of (he stomach; paleness occurs in antenna, and yellowness in jaundice. It should bo the aim of everyone to keep the tongue healthy in appearance, and this can generally be done by attention to the bowels. Food must bo wholesome and plain, well masticated so that digestion may not be interferred with, and plenty of water should bo taken between meals as well as on rising in tfio morning. Fruit and green vegetables should be used largely, and then with daily exercise in the open air there will bo little (rouble with constipation. In this way the tongue will bo clean as a rule, and will prove a true indication of the general health of the system.

Dangers of Whooping Cough. At this period of the year whooping cough and measles sometimes make their appear-

ance. It is unfortunate that both these complaints are popularly regarded: as ratjier unimportant, despite the fact that in health statistics they are noted as two most fatal diseases to children under five years of age. So far tho public has not realised tile danger that attends the late stages of these diseases and the period of convalescence, but it cannot bo too widely known that both conditions strongly favour the development of pneumonia, which is most dangerous to life, and is indeed thd true cause of death in most cases rather than the actual measles or whooping cough. The latter is often spread through ignorance, people looking on it as a common ailment of childhood which had better be had and done with. But because one child has a mild attack of whooping cough which passes off without any serious cpnsequences, it does not follow that he may not give ii to his playmates with a very different result. The infectious period may be counted as lasting at least six weeks from the beginning of the cough, and this should bo borne in mind by all who have the care of children. To allow a child who is actually suffering from, or who is just getting over this ailment, to play with other children is nothing short of a criminal act, those who do so are actually responsible for many a death. Tho little patients should be cared for in warm rooms, and protected from draughts and sudden i changes of temperature, for the chief attention must be directed to the prevention I of complications which may affect the lungs. I It is dangerous to let a child with whooping cough sit in a cold room or go out in a cold wind, as the lungs are for the time being very much weakened. It is because people do not realise this that so many unfortunate consequences occur. No one so far has ascertained the exact cause of whooping cough, but it is generally supposed to be a microbe. Infection seems to cling to articles of clothing or furniture rather than to be transmitted through the air. Edison's Advice on Health. The American inventor, Thomas Edison, comes of a long-lived race; he is now 6!3, his father lived to be 94, and six uncles all passed 90 years. Their father reached the patriarchal age of 103, and his father was 102 when he died. The basis of Edison’s health he is firmly convinced, is abstemious diet, and this it was which ensured health and longevity to his ancestors. l, The body, ’ says the great inventor, “is only a piece of machinery, and every practical man knows that to get good work out of a machine and to keep it in repair at tlie same time one must know how to take care of it. Now, if you have a 100 horsepower engine, and a boiler big enough to drive it, no wise. engineer will fire that boiler to its full capacity when he onlv wishes to take eight horse-power of work out of his engine. If he does this he sooner or later burns tho grate bars out of his fire box. But that is just what tho majority are doing; burning up 100 horsepower of fuel in their bodies and taking out eight horse-power of work. Is it any wonder that the boiler flues —the arteries — get clogged up, that the pipes burst, causing apoplexy, end that the machine breaks down before its life is half lived out?” To-day Edison is as youthful in his feelings and as eager for work as ever. He says he never gets tired. He can fall asleep at any minute ho wishes, and get up refreshed and go on with his work. A caller tho other day noted that the inventor ran downstairs to meet him, taking two steps at a time, and when something was wanted which had been left upstairs Edison ran up to get it like a schoolboy, again taking two steps at a time and returning not at all out of breath. So much for strict mediation in eating. Drink at Heal Times. The habit of drinking fluids at meal times has been widely condemned; but, as a matter of fact (says Popular Science Siftings) there is nothing in the recognised facts of physiology to indicate that a moderate amount of fluids at such times will do harm, unless the fluid bo used to wash down halfchewed food. It is difficult to make people understand that the fluid should, be taken into, the mouth only when the mouth is empty. One of tho favourite practices of the rapid eater—a big mouthful, a big swallow of tea, coffee, beer, or water, and down goes the lot into a stomach which cannot possibly convert the large, hard chunks of food into .blood-making materials. A good rule is to take but little fluid at meal times and to take fluid only when the mouth is empty.