WHY YOU ARE SEA-SICK

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17181, 26 October 1923, Page 3

WHY YOU ARE SEA-SICK

MYSTERIOUS CANALS IN THE EAR. THE POWER OF SUGGESTION j The purpose of this article is not to j give instruction in the art of seasick- j ness (writes “Exul,” in the Sydney “Sunday Sun”), it is an instinctive. | almost an elemental matter. Unless you are horn with a flair for it, no amount of teaching will make you really proficient, while if you are naturally gifted in this direction nothing will stop you from exercising your talents whenever the occasion occurs. Death is frequently spoken a.s a* “the great leveller,” but it cannot be compared with seasickness in this respect. Visit any cemetery and you will •see monuments of varying splendour and costliness, emphasising even after their souls have fled the difference in the worldly status of those whose remains they cover, "but when the wind whistles through the rigging and the. good ship rises and falls, and pitches and tosses and rolls, in the sportive arms of ocean, the seasick have all ; earthly distinctions abolished, and one 1 and all are brought together into » common welter of woe and misery. Side by side are stretched, sinner and saint, the jn.«t and the unjust, with all their ANTAGONISMS AND MUTUAL j H ATREDS FORG OTTEN. and their hearts feebly beating with the unanimous and overpowering desire that death will come quickly. Such a one was King in his bunk when a, very vigorous lurch of the j ship threw many pieces of crockery j with a loud crash on to the boor of , the ship’s pantry. To him rushed a : friend ‘whose coarser fibre was not. ins fluenced by the poetry of nautical moj tion, and as a jest said urgently, ' We’ve just struck a rock, and will I sink in ton minutes; came on deck at. , once.” His friend looked at him with i lack-lustre eyes. “ Can’t you make it i 1 fuy sooner?” was the solo reply. j ! Given a congenital capacity for sea.- j i sickness, there are certain well-known J circumstances that serve as stimulants • ; for an exhibition of it. One of the ! chief and most efficient of these is sug- : | uiune against this influence. i POWER OF SUGGESTION. • An amusing instance of the power of | suggestion in this regard is supplied . . by one of P. G. Wodehousc’s stories, 1 lin which one of his cheerful idiots. assisted by some friends, meets an I aunt who has just arrived in Enganld , after a rough Ghanuel passage. After greeting the lady, who is still suffer- , ing from the effects of the trip, the man begin to discuss the cause of sea- j sickness. Several suggestions arc made, and then one of them main- | tains that it is entirely due to the boat moving up and down in a wax : that he illustrated w ith his hands. Tht i effect- of this demonstration was al- { most disastrous to the aunt, but fortunately she. was a strong,-min dec i woman. She shut her eyes, swallowed ! hard, and between clenched teeth ! S Tlhj actual physical elements con- ! corned in the' production of seasick- • are very numerous, but nearly ; all can he classed under the heading | of excitement ol : the brain by excessive I stimulation of the senses. ’1 he ear? j arc assailed by strange, continuous ! noises, the nose by close and unpicas- ! ant smells, the eyes by the ever-shjft- | ing horizon, and so on. and all these ! factors combine to produce headache, | which is the forerunner of nausea. 1 THE CAUSE OF SEA-SICKNESS. ! But most important of all, and the j cause that ,is suspected ,by very few j people, who nearly always think that j their trouble is due to their uooffenclj ing stomach, is the part played by a [located three semi-circular canals set !at right angles to each other, and 1 filled with fluid. Tt is due to the warnj ing given by the movements of this | fluid that we are enabled to keep our j balance when walking, or to right oura ship tosses or when we are rapidly j turned round and round, this fluid ! is made- to rush to and fro in an iri regular and somewhat violent manner. I the result is the production of giddi- , ness,' which ii : prolonged, easily passes ; TtlE ONLY SURE METHOD. ! The doings of the stomach are eni 1 irely dependent upon the orders it j receives from the brain in response to the irritation caused by messages de ; - j rived from these canals. | And the treatment ? I n most cases i fortunatelv, if the trip be long enough, the brain lean s to neglect these messages, and the traveller be- ! comes himself again—until his next I trip. | It is plain that it fs of little use i hoping for salvation through diet, al- | though it is not vise to put out to | sea a. long time after a meal. Different : people swear bv different kinds of ! food and drinks!' various articles from j cucumbers to porter having all their j advocates as specifics. A friend of i the writer’s who had to go to sea. tried i ever vt hi rig that was suggested to him, ! even to going on board drunk.' That i was by tar his worst trip. Although nothing is certain, many people have Auto-suggestion should he strenuously j practised. Of late good results h:i\\ j < fton been obtained from the injection of preparations of ließarlon.ua. i-.. - this is a dangerous drug, and in !- : taken only under doctor's orders. But for the roallv bad sailor. tin i only sure method of not being sea j sick is to stay on land and avoid a! ! well rnovomouls ns pre