TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12777, 22 October 1919, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

HINTS TO BATHERS. _ .Before you go bathing this year have the wax in. your ears syringed out, when ycm duck your head under the water two things happen to Hio wax. One is that the wax is forced down the ear until it is pressed against the drum; and the other is that the wax, being soaked in water, is swollen ,to twice the size. Th© effect is to make the ear deaf. The complaint you always make is that some water has stayed in the ear ; that can never happen. The only cure is to remove the wax and leave the ears clear from obstruction. It is not an infrequent, experience to be consulted by a person who complains of deafness and to discover on examination that the deafness is due to—what do you think-’ "Why, a piece of cottonwool that has been thrust in too far and forgotten. Or else a.piece of wool is put in the ear and only half of it withdrawn. Never put tobacco in your ear; it is very harmful. HEADACHES AND THEIR CURE. One hundred people suffer from' headaches. I am going to cure them all. Ten of them need eye-glasses for the first time; they must go to a proper doctor or a-hospital; they . must not buy their glasses from a toyshop or a barrow in the street. They can see the church dock from the end of the road, but the close work of doing figures or typewriting all day is a very different thing. If your job was to look at distant church clocks all day yon would not need glasses. Ten others diavc glasses, but they are of a wrong kind. They have had the same pair of glasses for five years, forgetting that "while the glasses remain the same the eyes alter. The defect in their eyes is a very complicated one, and. only r skilled physician can order the correct kind of glass. DANGERS OF CONSTIPATION, Twenty others are constipated. The poisons that ought to bo thrown out are retained and affect the brain. Most people who suffer from constipation are very stupid; they have no sense; they do not know how to look after themselves ; constipation, is curable so long as you keep away from opening; medicine. I have never read a medical hook yet which did not give the constant dosing with aperients as one of the chief causes of constipation. That is why pill merchants make such enormous" fortunes; the more pills yon tako the more you need. - The silly girls who neglect their health are just the ones to take a heavy drug in the form of a headache powder to cure a pain in the .head that really comes from constipation. Now I have cured forty. There arc still' sixty more. Thirty-five of these are suffering from brain-fag from overwork; they work in a stuffy atmosphere; travel home in a stuffy tram;, sleep in a. stuffy room; read stuffy hooks and' think stuffy thoughts. They go to bed too late. The only cure for them is to study health a little bit more. THE CURE. Twenty more cases owe their headaches to anaemia. They can he cured by fresh air, good food, sunshine, exercise and sleep. They are made worse by the opposites. Bad food .badly cooked: dismal homes, and breathing usedup air, and, in a word, bad hygiene produces amend a and consequent headache. It takes time and patience to cure them,. A few suffer from headaches that are due to diseased • cars; they, must see the doctor. Others cannot breathe through their noses freely; they would lie cured by a small operation. Some,suffer from neuralgia, starting in the had teeth; they would be cured by a visit to the dentist. And I think that completes the hundred. Most of them, you see, can be cured by a little commousense. NATURE THE HEALER. I like to remind you once a- year of the curative power of Nature, 1 was taught in my earliest youth that my duty as a doctor was to place the patient in as favourable a position as possible to allow Nature to perform the cure. Nature does the work and I take the fee. I get the credit, and I always take it with a smile on my face because I get a • good deal of -unjust blame, and I reckon that the blame and the praise cancel each other. But to return to this curative power of Nature. No one knows about it except you and me, dear reader. The most extravagant claims are made for methods of treatment which have no curative value at all; they depend, one and all, on the curative power of Nature. MOTHER’S KISSES. Take as an instance a cut finger. It is very wonderful to watch how each tiny _ particle of flesh and skin grows into its place until the wound is soundly healed; Nature is’ very clever. But what happens in this funny, old world of onrsP Old Airs Blbggins makes an ointment of lard, spiders’ webs, honey, and hartshorn, and swears that the finger would never have got well without. The little Japanese maiden sits I before the shrine of the goddess of lieali ing, and calls the attention of the gocl- | dess by tinkling a bell; she blows that i her finger would never have healed un- | less the bell had been tinkled. The | Christian Scientist sits up all night reading Mrs Eddy, and, sure enough, there is no getting away from it, the linger does, heal; Mrs Eddy does look after her disciples. The tiny tot firmly believes that mother’s .kisses make the place better. That is the most sensible vmw of all ; the tiny tot has more sense than a whole university of professors. Uf course, mother’s kisses heal. I hope my own mother can see. me writing this, ■ THE DOCTOR’S ARTIFICE. "What do .1 do, I, the Wise One, the All-knowingP A*el], I put in a.couple of stitches to draw the raw surfaces together:'! wash wound in a, dilute antiseptic, and I cover it with a dressing that will protect the wound from'dust, dirt, and germs. 1 am hokUenough to * ay i t , , lny nietlK,< l ifj-the best of all. And why t Because I placed the wound in the best condition to allow Nature to complete the cure. ■