TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16571, 2 November 1921, Page 6

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. You have heard of catarrh of the nose, of the bronchial tubes, of the ear, of the vocal cords, and I want to-day to deal with jaundice, which is the result of catarrh of the liver. The liver is the largest organ in the body; its duty is to store up food after a meal until it is wanted. After a Christmas dinner the liver is congested to its fullest extent * after a long walk on an empty stomach the liver is empty. All the blood from the intestines is collected into one large vein .which empties itself into the liver. One of the functions of the liver is to manufacture bile; this green fluid is poured into the bowel a few inches from the stomach, and it helps in the digestion of the food. You will remember that catarrh can travel along a tube like ink travels along blotting paper. A cold in the head may fly to the chest. “Fly” is a bad word; “creep” would be better. The catarrh creeps along the back of the throat, past the vocal cords, and ends up in the bronchial tubes; and then you have a cough. TO PREVENT JAUNDICE. In exactly the same way, catarrh can travel from the stomach into the bowel and then up the tube that conveys the bile from the liver to the bowel. So you see the first step is catarrh of the stomach brought on by defective teeth and badly masticated food. This is where we fall out The patient with jaundice believes that the sole cause of it is his liver being out of order. I know very well that his four teeth, black and evil-smelling stumps and inflamed gums are the first cause. The teeth seem n long way from the liver, and the good patient cannot understand how the two are connected. His expression says, “This doctor is a madman.” Well, he is a ticket collector—and I suppose he knows beat 1 All I can say is that it is my job to prevent my readers from having jaundice, and I can do it if I can persuade them to attend to their teeth as one of the first duties of life. WAR AGAINST GERMS. I will tell you an encouraging fact. Tuberculosis does not have it all its own way. Millions of people in England are attacked by tlie germ of consumption and repel him with great slaughter. In fact, the germs cannot, grow in a healthy person. The wretched germ stands about as much chance as a rat among a hundred champion terriers in a closed room. My word, those germs do get jumped on 1 I must have swallowed millions from my consumptive patients; but if ever_ a tubercle bacillus gets into mv system it never smiles again. Now l must tell you a little bit more about how this is done. When a family of tubercle bacilli settles in my lungs the lungs set about surrounding them with a hedge of fibrous material which will prevent them from spreading; later on, this fibrous wall will be infiltrated with chalk, and then the cruel bacilli which were going to convert my wife into a widow are walled up and die. When I die, and mv useless body is examined at the post-mortem examination, the doctor will find little pieces in my lung marking the graveyards of tubercle bacilli, and he will show these little fibrous and calcareous patches to the students and will explain their meaning. “ The old doc. put up a good fight, I see,” he will say. You will understand that I expect to die in the poor house, and 1 shall not regret it if my body can be used to point a moral or adorn a, tale. GOOI> FOOD AND COMMON SENSE. You will ask me why everyone cannot put up a good fight against the germs in the same way—then there would not be a single case of tuberculosis in the country- Ah ! now you are asking questions. I chose my father and mother very carefully, and they gave me a grand start in life. A sound heredity is the main thing. The germs feel that they are biting granite when they find themselves in the- body of a man who had parents and grandparents who lived to a hale and hearty old ago. I am graeful to think that I had good, plain living, warm clothes, and an unleaking over my small head. I had no luxuries, but plenty of jolly good food, which I ate with gusto. I was taught cleanliness and common sense ; I had nice summer holidays at the. seaside, and so oil. And I grew up strong, and that is the whole story. There is no rovsterv. That, sir, is how T won the battle of Waterloo aga nd the forces of Tuberculosis. I shall not live to see consumption stamped out, blit you will. And it will not be done bv any mysterious new rays, nor by electricity, nor by magic. Just good food and common sense. THE DAILY BATH. The daily bath is very important. It is always unpleasant to be in a crowd ; the people smell nasty. This ought not to be. Tlie skin secretes water and a natural oil to keep the skin supple and healthy. But this oil can go rancid just as butter can, the unpleasant smell from other people arises from this cause. Let us start the day with a sweet skin, beautiful’y fresh from a, rxlb down ; special attention must be paid to the feet and armpits. An antiseptic soap should be used in jt good lather, and then the whole lot washed off with a sluish of water. I have frequently remarked on the value of soap and water, but I still find some folk (not you, kind reader) who are strangers to the virtues of it. KEEP WARM. Food has two duties to perform: 1. To provide energy; 2, to provide warmth. On warm days we do not require much warmth, the sun kindly does that part of the work for us. Wo need some warmth from the food because the body is always kept at a high temperature, summer and winter ; it is ( our nature to be warm. The temperature of the body is nearly lOOdeg Fahrenheit.. PRIDE OF STRENGTH. There are two groups of people in any health insurance scheme. One I group is made up of the strong, who contribute subscriptions and take nothing out. The other group is formed by the sick, who also contribute, but take something out. It is a, proud position to bo among the strong. Has the fin© old feeling ot pride and selfrespect quite died out? How many men do you meet who tell you with uplifted head and swelling chest that they are glad to say they have novel* drawn a penny of sick pay ? Answer, None. How many men do you meet who grumble and exclaim, What have I got out of the insurance scheme? Answer, scores. BE GENEROUS. It is a rotten state of affairs when a man is disgusted at having, during a long period of strength and good money, contributed his share to help some poor beggar who has had a broken I leg or pneumonia. He ought to be glad to have had the opportunity of doing one kind action in his life; be has not a great number to his account. It is self, self, self, first, last, and all the time. Never n, thought for others. T cannot benr to hear the strong grumble because their subscription* °o to help the weak; it is a destestable habit, and must cease forthwith.