HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3200, 14 July 1915, Page 69

HEALTH COLUMN.

HEADACHE. It would be difficult to name a maladymore universally felt at some age or other by everybody living—except, I believe, the negroes. They don’t use their heads much we do; and a headache is the penalty for using it improperly, or to excess —as the university student knows. In cold, days, those who were working hard for their degree, used to sit reading with a wot towel wrapped laround the head to keep it cool. That is, at Oxford and Cambridge; the Germans did not know of tiie plan. If they did—at any rate if the Kaiser and bis Berlin advisers had adopted it, I guess wo should not have had this war. But beside over use and improper use. the causes of headache are legion; and some people suffer through inherited disposition with other things over which they have no control, passed on from their ancestors. We do not know the remote causes of epilepsy in families. But whenever there is a tendency to fits, wo find some members of the Ip-mily affilictcd with severe headache. Sometimes that precedes the ordinary' fit; sometimes it takes the place of the more severe convulsion._ For headaches in persons of this constitution, half a teaspoonful of bromide of potassium in a tumblerful of water should bo taken at bed-time. —Other Forms of Headache.— But most headaches arc" due to some perfectly avoidable cause, some broach of natural law for which wo are thus punished. Every man knows the consequence of overindulgence in alcohol—that is, of course, except the total abstainer. The best preventive of headache for those who suffer from constipation—usually' the source in women—is from a dessertspoonful to a tablespoonful of Epsom salts in a tumblerful of warm water before breakfast every morning. Plenty of fruit, rhubarb, vegetables should bo taken. Outdoor exorcise is essential; and the bedroom window should be always loft a littlo open. The head should be well raised on the pillow. The best cure for an actual headache is from 10_to 15 grains of phenazone dissolved in a wineglassful of water. Phenazone is the official name for Knon-’s antipyrine. It usually removes the pain, “like a charm,” and if the drug be pure no ill-consequences follow. Be sure and got pure phenazone from a reliable chemist, who keeps pure medicines. Some go in for cheap drugs, purchased from the cheap wholesale chemists; and then ill results follow, the doctor who prescribed usually- suffering the blame. The law, unfortunately, does not prevent the sale of impure and often noxious drugs; although it is supposed to do so, and nominally makes “an offer” at that most essential desideratum. THE CARE OF THE EYESIGHT. Whenever an organ is perfectly sound, it does its work easily and painlessly—wo are wholly' unconscious of its existence. Whenever wo begin to fool that organ —eyes, cars, stomach, etc. —there is always something wrong, or going wrong. The human eye is a remarkably imperfect organ. No one has perfect eyes. The present ■ writer was once told by a prominent London oculist that his eyes were “absolutely perfect.” That was after ho had consulted some nine or 10 others, who had advised various spectacles, all of which did him no end of harm. Eventually he found out he had astigmatism. —No Two Eyes Alike.— As a rule (without exception, I think) nobody has two eyes exactly alike. One differs from the other- has a different focus —commonly needs a different lens, if spectacles are resorted to. Only in youth—happy youth—comparatively few know or feel this difference. The muscle within the eyeball is sufficient to overcome the inequality. and make the pair of eyes work together. But when age begins, and particularly if strain be placed on the eyes by sewing. reading to excess, or the like—then we feel our eves —they get sore, and sometimes dim. The writer, when ho was told his eyes were so “perfect,” could not read for half an hour without pain, and everything blurred. —The Best Light.— It is a great thing to preserve all one’s faculties in youth from undue strain. Even people with good eyes should always read, if possible, in a wholesome light, and with their backs turned to it; so that it falls over the shoulder on the paper or hook. Incandescent gaslight is about the best for reading, next to a lamp or wax candles. The very worst is the ordinary flickering gasjet, -which incessantly quivers, and so irritates the sensitive optic nerve. People should never rend in a bad light, as at dusk; or when they are conscious of undue strain Everybody, without execution, has some degree of the “aaligmafsm” aforesaid. That means that a certain littlo bit of the curved cornea—tiro horny front of our eves—is thicker than the rest; and so admits tire light differently. It requires a different thickness of lens to the remainder, when there is a question of spectacles. But youthful muscles overcome the difficulty: unless the degree of astigmatism is severe. Then spectacles have to Ire procured early, A squint is only an example of the point noted above —that people’s two eyes never exactly correspond. In tins condition they differ very materially indeed, so that Nature impels the child to turn one eye in —to shut it up practically—and Jet the other do all the work. Tire use of proper spectacles quickly removes the squint. Whenever a child begins to squint, it should be promptly taken to the skilled oculist, before the deformity becomes fixed. The best eye lotion whop- the .eyes become sore and heated is two toasponufals of boric .acid, loz of glycerine, and a tumblerful of warm water. They should be dabbed with this, when cool, by the aid of a small soft, sponge. Of, if there be 'actual inflammation, dissolve Igr of zinc sulphate in loz of water, and apply a few drops with a special dropper night and morning. If the trouldo then continues, go to a skilled and export oculist, and have your

eyes properly tested. Even if your sight is excellent, you are probably straining it too much, and need the relief of suitable spectacles. But don’t try these without the test, or you may injure the sight irretrievably. You are certain to choose glasses which are improper and wrong, if left to yourself.