TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16417, 4 May 1921, Page 6

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. WHEN APPLYING POULTICES. If a child is suffering from bronchitis, and you read in a book that poulticing is a useful plan for relieving the congestion of the lungs, you mrst not put an enormous poultice weighing several pounds on tho tiny mite’s chest. Oh, yes, 1 have seen it done : the wretched child has enough trouble to breathe as it is with half its air-sacs blocked up with mucus: when, in addition, a great poultice is jammed on the chest it almost stifles the poor patient. Try it yourself; put a heavy book wi*apped up in flannel on your chest when you aro in health; you will soon want to throw the thing off. For home nursing, a woollen jacket is best. The poultices need very careful making; they are often put on too hot so that thej- scald the skin—a most painful proceeding; and then, in a- short time ,tney become cold and clammy. Many a grown-up person have I examined who is still carrying the marks of the scald his kind-hearted mother gave him when he was a baby.

MEDDLESOME NURSING. We have to guard against doing too much when we are tending a sick person. Maybe) Nature is doing the work very well if we let her alone. Scalding the skin is a. good example of meddlesome nursing; it does no good and adds to the patient’s sufferings by keeping him awake through the pain. Then, the poultices may be putt on too often ; if the child is asleep, do not waken it to have a poultice applied ; sleep is better than many applications. Another common mistake is to keep the rooen too hot and too stuffy. It stands to reason that if only half the lungs are working they must have extra fresh air to allow the freshening of the blood to continue. But with all the windows shut, two gas jets burning, mother, father. Aunt Alice, and two cats using up tho air all night, the lungs are not given a chance. MAKING LIFE MORE PLEASANT. The following hints, if carried out, will save you and your family much trouble and expense. Wash your feet every night, and do not wear pointed boots. Paint all cuts, however small, with tincture of iodine ; a tiny scratch can admit a thousand poisonous germs. In addition to what yon drink at meals, drink four tumblers of water during the day. Water is a grand tonic. Begin to save Tip now for your summer holiday. Time's are hard, but money spent on a change of air at tlio seaside is well spent—and will help to ruin me, which is what you all ought, to try and accomplish. Please reduce your expenditure- on beer and tobacco by one-half, and put the savings in tho money-box. SOME USEFUL TIPS. Open your mouth in front of the glass and look at. your teeth. Now shut your mouth again, and repeat these words after me: “In January 1922, T shall be in great pain and suffering from loss of sloe]) owimr to the abscess m my lower jaw which that decayed tooth I saw just now is goineto cause.” lake your weight on a correct machine' to-day, and again in three months’ time ; if you aro depositing lumps of fat too quicklv, moderate* your appetite; excessive fat is of no Vise ; if you are going down, consult a dool tor, unless you are already so fat that a loss of weight is a good thing. ! ’~y eating very slowly, keeping the food a long time in vour mouth before it is swallowed, and using your back teeth to crunch up tile food; you will be surprised how much this will help yen to overcome those pains inside the skin is a good exaple of eddlesoen*

SWOLLEN GLANDS. The glands in the neck never swell of their own accord; there is always an underlying cause for the swelling. The glands are in close sympathy with the structures in the neighbourhood, and a careful search will nearly always reveal some unsuspected reason for the trouble. I need not tell you that in every example of this complaint germs are the true cause. The questiou is— How did the germs get- there? The glands aro really sentinels: they catch hold of germs that want to get into the system but find themselves collared at the outposts. There is that consolation about enlarged glands—they contain germs that are comparatively harmless in tho glands, but would Le very dangerous if allowed to get into the lungs or joints. When the neck shows enlarged glands, look in the mouth for bad teeth; if any are found have them removed at once, if you want to prevent the formation of an abscess in the neck. Look at the back of the throat, and if the tonsils are much enlarged and unhealthy they should be removed. VALUE OF FRESH AIR Test the child’s breathing- If he has a stuffy nose he may have adenoids, and they give rise to swollen glands. Adenoids can only be dealt with by operation. Examine the child’s_ scalp ; there may be one or more septic sore places; the glands will never disappear until the scalp is quite clean. Give the child all the fresh air possible, by night and day; give him fats in his food—bacon fat. cod liver oil, cream. If he has a kind aunt living at the seaside, ■wid him down to nee her for six

months. Take no end of trouble to cure the swollen glands- the child’s whole life may be altered bv what you do now. RESTING THE HEART One cannot and must not under-esti-mate the benefits of bed. Nothing rests the heart so much as lying down in bt?d. I was once treating a littlo girl with a weak heart, and we began b\ keeping her in bed on Tuesday end Frfdays. We tried to get her to walk short distances, gradually making the walks longer and longer. Even a heart that, lias been damaged by rheumatic fever can be made to support life quite tolerably, and this little girl got stronger as the months went by. To her mother I gave caution? and what f hope was helpful advice. To the little girl I always pretended that t here was very little wrong. When I listened to her heart I should have heard a sharp slap as the valve closed, but, instead. I heard a blowing murmur, because the diseased valve leaked. She will always have to be careful : she cannot run about like other children. We must keep her warm, and, above all, kee»> her happy.

WORK A STIFF JOINT. Let me again remind you to persevere with injuries. When T was n young man there were 110 massage departments at the hospitals. The man with a stiff back or injured joint wus told how to work his muscles and then sent away to carry out the treatment at home. It was uneatisf actory. If there is one thing none of you will do it is to work a stiff joint. It hurts, and that settles you once for all. I have a great many cases of injury to examine for insurance companies, friendly societies, and other bodies, and this question of recovery from injury by active, exercise is always cropping up. Again and again I have to report that the man would been well -long ~ he had shown .1 little pev^evemno*