TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 16

TALKS ON HEALTH.

The Blessings of Civilisation. (BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.) A bunion is the enlarged end of the toe-bone. Wrenched out of its proper shape, the big toe can no loqger sustain the weight of the body or retain its springiness in -walking. The foot is a delicate instrument with a score of little joints and arches and pivots, and the distortion produced by savage treatment has the effect of completely destroying the designs of nature. Fortunately, however, I have arranged for some ladies and gentlemen from the South Pacific Islands to come over as missionaries to teach and educate the fashionables of Christchurch. With the help of these missionaries I hope to banish bunions, corns, hammertoe, and ingrowing toenail, all of which are quite unknown to the King of the Cannibal Islands. A Broken Leg. If a leg has been broken or badly damaged in an accident, and the man to whom the leg belongs has to be moved, the injured leg must be protected from still further injury during the passage home or to the hospital. If there is any doubt about putting a splint on it is always best to apply the splint, whether the leg is broken or not. If the support is applied to a leg that is not broken no harm is done, and it may give ease to the bruised muscles. If the man is to be carried all the way, he may have his two legs bound together, so that the sound limb may support the injured. Danger of Blood-poisoning. If a limb with a fractured bone is not splinted, the sharp ends of the broken fragments of bone may be thrust through the skin. In that case, germs are admitted from the mud of the road or from the clothes, and dangerous blood-poisoning may result. It is because of the danger of pushing a sharp bone through the skin that we are taught to leave on the ground a person who has fallen or been knocked down until the real state of the limb and bones has been ascertained. Some kind-hearted onlooker may rush forward and lift up the injured man on to his feet, only to find that a bone is broken, and down falls the poor fellow again, doing further damaee to the bone. Difficulty in Swallowing. Difficulty in swallowing may be a symptom complained of by a young person, man or woman, of about twenty or so. If the tonsils are swollen and painful, the explanation is simple: but the throat may be perfectly clear and yet there seems to be some obstruction to the free passage of the food. The obstruction in the case of a young person probably has no real existence. There may be a temporary spasm of the swallowing muscles. Such a spasm is comparable to a stammer in the speech. In both cases the will-power is unable to insist on the obedience of the muscles. The Rubber Tube Treatment. Sword-swallowers can pass a sword down the gullet into the stomach, and they do not suffer from spasm. I do not recommend anyone to practise sword-swallowing, but the passage-of a proper rubber tube down the gullet may cure the patient of any difficulty in getting the food down. Hysteria accounts for a fairly large number of cases, and it sometimes happens that the mere threat of passing the tube cures the patient. If at any time in the life, years ago it may be, some caustic acid or other corrosive substance has been accidentally swallowed, a scar may form that contracts the gullet, and then an indiarubber tube has to be passed to make the way clear. When we come to deal with this same symptom of obstruction in swallowing in middle-aged or elderlv men. it is a more serious matter. There may be a growth present, and a doctor should be consulted without delay. Miners’ Nystagmus. There is an affection of the eyes known as miners’ nystagmus. Nystagmus is characterised by a rapid, jerky movement of the eyeballs from side to side, or sometimes up and down. There are many diseases with which this condition of the eye is associated. Sometimes the incessant jerking is the result of a defect in the vision, and a pair of glasses may help to cure it. In other cases a general disease of the nervous system is present. But the complaint is particularly common among coal-miners. It comes on in apparently healthy men, and many hundreds have been permanently incapacitated from following their employment through this complaint. An Important Discovery.

For years the actual cause was hidden, but at length, through the researches of a doctor who lived and worked among miners for many years, part of the truth was found out, although there is st-ill something to be studied in the disease. The most important result of the doctor’s inquiries was the discovery that the better the light with which the miner works the less likelv is he to suffer from nystagmus. There are different kinds of miners’ lamps, some giving a brilliant illumination and some giving a comparatively poor light. In the case of a miner working with a poor light a great strain is thrown on the eves, and when this is continued for a long tim'e this distressing and uncontrollable jerking of the eves sets in. When once nystagmus has started it is difficult to cure. Our aim should be to prevent it hv using as brilliant a light as can be obtained.