TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19807, 26 November 1919, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR,

THE EFFECTS OP FLATULENCE.

As you havo all heen to school, you ■frill remember that the body is divided into two parts; the upper part is called Ihet hroax, and contains the heart and lungs J and the lower part is named tho abdomen, and contains the liver, stomach, bowels, and other organs. The division between the two is a tint muscle called the diaphragm. This muscle moves down when th© lungs expand to allow more room in the thorax, and it follows that in descending it presses on the contents of the abdomen, if the stomach and bowels are blown out wtih wind the diaphragm cannot descend, and a. feeling of suffocation is experienced. The suffocation is felt in the chest, and the patient is apt to attribute his unpleasant feelings to a detect in the lungs- But the explanation given above proves that the trouble is to be attributed to the accumulation of wind in the stomach. All attempts at cure must therefore be directed to the digestive organs. In nine cases out of ten the teeth are at fault. I f the doctor cannot persuade the sufferer to have a clean mouth, he gives 1 lie case up in despair; he knows he can never work a cure if his advice is not taken, so he just gives the silly person ■i bottle of medicine to get rid of him. ffut if the teeth are cleaned, scaled, extracted, or filled, B and the food is well masticated, the stomach digests the

food without th® formation of wind. It assists matters if green vegetables, potatoes, bread and stodgy cakes are excluded from the dietary. A large glass of hot water should be taken on rising, after dinner, and on going to bed. Tea and moat should not be taken at the same meal. Aperients should be administered in strict moderation, as the body grows used to them, and, in the end, refuses to act naturally, and the dose of aperient has to be increased to an alarming extent. USE A TOOTH BRUSH. -

Obviously, good teeth mean good health, bad teeth bad health. If only you would keep your tooth in order as a good engineer keeps his engine in order, you would considerably reduce the cases of neuralgia, faoeaohe, swollen face, gum-boil, toothache (with its attendant sleeplessness and loss of appetite), sore gums, stomach-ache, dyspepsia, gastritis, and gastric ulcer (to which a doctor has to attend). My advice to you all is—use a tooth-brush. CURING INDIGESTION.

By tho way, I have been much, amused at some of my .successes in treating indigestion. Yon mill not believe it, but I have actually been called a. clever doctor, because 1 liave taken the trouble to find out the habits and mode of life of my patient. I have been complimented when all 1 have done is to limit tho dietary of a. patient who was eating too much. I am far too wise to blurt out. ‘‘ Eat less and yon will bo well.” That might give oftence. No; I make out a carefully type-written diet sheet limiting the quantity of food to about half what the

patient has been used to. Elderly people generally eat too much; as ago advances wo get fonder of the plea-sures-of the tablo and we take less exercise. And the letters T get from grateful livers and stomachs which have been relieved of a. daily source of torment would bring tears to your eyes.

SEEING AND SQUINTING. Now for th eyes. Pin up n piece of the advertisement pages of a newspaper with typo of .different sizes on it. -See that, it is in a- good light, and let the child have his back to the light. Now nsk him to read out any letterbo can see at a distance, say, of twelve feet. Compare the letters he can see with those you can see, and compare the other children as well. When .they have all tried with both eyes open, try covering one eye at a time with a piece of paper or an. envelope. You

u'ilj find in some cases that the boy lias one good eye which he always uses, and one bad eye which is jiot used at all. By a suitable glass the bad eyd can in' saved and perhaps cured. If neglected, he will have to go through life with the handicap of iia.ving only one efficient oyc. A scpiint should never bo ignored. it go no rally means that the sight of one eye is weak. The mother always Inn; some explanation of the squint, which is generally wrong. Leery fluid has trights at some timo ot its career, just ns every child bus a fall. i alls and Irights are often given as the cause of 'delects which are really due to the pur ants’ neglect. SUPERFLUOUS HAIRS.

-Vs 1 continually receive letters asking tor hints on. how to remove suporSuoua hmr-s from the face, I take this opportunity to <lcvoie a little space to the subject. 1 should like to begin by snying that some of you are much too .sensitive about this defect- I quito agree that all women ought to maio t hem selvos look as nice as possible; it 'rir” '' w *’ €ll a girl is quite inuiffereiu as to her appearance, but there must bo a reasonable limit to all things, hypersensitiveness becomes almost a, disease in itself, and you must noi, imagine because you have a few hairs on your face that everyone is laughing ui you and making fun of you, behind your back.

DON’T USE DREGS. In any case you must never resort to internal remedies: it is useless* and most ridiculous to swallow medicine for superfluous hair on the face. if you imagine lhai. the drug j s going to oblige you by picking I,ln.- tiniiv- on your face and making thou, fall off. v,ni are very much mistaken. Besides," if tho drug would make the hair conic out it would also take it off the head, and every one of your *'.yehi,-hes would fall out. What, a sight, you would look then! Your eyebrows would disappear, and. von would look anything hut a respectable a.nd wholesome young lady of the twentieth century, DESTROY 111 hj ROOTS.

Tt necessary to bear in mind the difference between, the hair and the loots. \ou may pluck the daisies ftoiu your lawn a? often as yon like, but unless you dig up the roots yon will never get rid of tlie daisies. It is the .same with hairs; mere, plucking out or the hairs or destroying the hair with, some depilatory is iisdcss if yon leave Ike mot. or hair-follicle. The hair will grow again immediately it ike root is left, alive. Hair grows very fast. So tiiat \u. must have nothing to do with internal medicines, and nothing to do with applications which, destroy the hair mid leave the root alive. Such preparations have to he used over and over again, and the sensitive skin cannot stand ii. I cannot recommend the use of -X-rays for the removal of hair from the lace. If ;he rays are used in moderate doses, the hair always returns in a very short time, and if a strong dtc-e is used (here is danger of causing a burn, which is dreadfully disfiguring.

A FKW DO.VTS. Don‘l no;ir Loots that are not; of ;i proper Pujipo. m) Ih;iL you liMTu bunion~ i.n-i iinnoviiip; loe-mdl.s and eoriih and nliMvs*'i k s of tin loot, Don't dri.uk strong um. and don't oat. mussels and cookie, or things that you know disagree with you.