Dress in Relation to Health.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1428, 11 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

Dress in Relation to Health.

It has always been a stereotyped statement of physiologists that the respiration of woman differ from that of man in being limited almost entirely to the chest. On the other hand, we have the apparently contradictory fact that abdominal or deep respiration is the most potent of all factors for letuming the blood through the veins to the heart. It is, therefore, a necessity for the prevention of blood stagnation in the lower portion of the trunk.

We have, at last, some investigations which promise to solve this interesting problem. These investigations tend to show that the exclnsive nse of the chest iv raspir ation is a result of the restrictions of civilisation, and is hence unnatural. In order to investigate this subject scientifically, Dr. Mays, of Philadelphia, devised an ingenious instrument for examining the respiration of the native Indian cirls in the Lincoln Institution. The girls had not yet been subjected to the restrictions of civilised die^s. The results of his investigation v. ill

be found recorded in the Tkciapeuiic Gazette of May 16, 1887. Ha s'tys :

- i: In all, I examined the movements of eighty-two chests, and in each case took an abdominal and a costal tracing. The girls were pure and p.irtly mixed with white blood, and their ages ranged from between

ten and twenty years. Thus there are thirty-three full-blooded Indians, five onefourth, thirty-five one-half, and two were three-fourths white. Seventy-five showed a decided abdominal type of breathing, three a costal type, and three in which both were about even. Those who showed the costal typs, or a divergence from the abdominal type, came from the more civilised tribes, like the Mohawks and Chippewas, and were either one-half or three-fourths white ; while in no single instance did a full-blooded Indian girl possess this type of breathing. " From these observations it obviously follows that, so far as the Indian is concerned, the abdominal is the original type of respiration in both male and female, and that the costal type in the civilised female is developed through the constricting influences of dress around the abdomen. This is markedly shown in the greater prominence of the costal movements in those girls who were either ouc-half or three-fourths white, and who were hence dominated to a greater or less extent by the influence of civilised blood. While these tracings were taken an incident occurred which demonstrated that abdominal constriction could modify the movements of the thorax during respiration. At my first visit to the institution I obtained •an exceptional costal type of respiration from a full-blooded Indiangirl. At my next visit I concluded to repeat this observation, and found that, contrary to my instructions concerning loose clothing, etc., this girl at my first visit had worn three tight belts around her abdomen. After these were removed she gave the abdominal type of breathing, which is characteristic of nearly all the Indian girls."' To us these facts arc invaluable. It shows the faulty construction of modern female dress, which restricts the motion of abdominal respiration. It explains why, as experience has taught us, it is necessary to restore this abdominal rhythm, by proper movements, in order to permanently cure the affections of the lower portion of the trunk. It demonstrates conclusively that woman's dress, to be injurious, needs only to interfere with the proper motion of respiration, even though it exercises not the slightest compression.

Treatment of Dysentery.— ln a correspondence from Bombay, Dr. C. MacDowall, physician in the British army of East India, sneaks with great enthusiasm of the treatment of dysentry by ipecacuanha. Like other friends o£ this treatment, such as Docker, Evvarl, Cuuningbam, Malun, etc., he says that it is almost a specific, renders tbe disease easy to cure, and prevents the complication most feared, i <?., hepatic supuration. But he emphasises, particularly, that " the remedy be given early in the disease, at the proper time, and in the proper manner," The pinnciples of the treatment are :

1. To give a large dose of ipecac, at least thirty grains for an adult. 2. To prepare the stomach to accept and retain such a large dose by about twenty drops of laudanum an hour before giving'tbe ipecac ; also the application of a sinapism over the stomach, and to administer the ipecac in the form of large pills, not in solution. It must also be given at night, at the time of going to sleep, never in the morning, and not during the day, and no liquid is to be taken after the dose has been given. Sometimes the patient vomits a little muens toward the morning hours, but the greater portion of the remedy has by that time been absorbed. This treatment must be renewed every night, and usually the improvement is marked by the third morning, or sooner ; blood, mucus, pain, all three having disappeared. A disease which formerly made us despair now has lost its terror to us. Tbe opium may be substituted by a hypodermic injection of morphia. Bismuth subnitrat may be given during the day. Small doses of ipecac are more than useless ; they have been tried in India for over two centuries without lessening the mortality in dysentery. Since more than twenty years the above has been adopted as almost the only treatment in British India, and has given the best results.

It is observed in the French army that diseases of the heart are very common. In a recent study of this subject, certain military doctors show that they arise from the fatiguing duties imposed on recruits at an age when, generally, the development cf the body is not in harmony with that of the heait, being either in advance of it or behind it. In tbe latter case, there is hypertiophy of growth ; in the former, insufficiency (the more common occurrence). An instance is given in which a regiment in garrison in the AVest, in IS3O, had on an average twelve to fifteen men per thousand invalided annually (the normal figure for the French army), of which number two or three hai hypertrophy of the heart. A colonel came to the regiment who had very faulty notions as to the drill and fatigue the men could stand. By September 1883 the number of heart-invalids had risen steadily to twenty-two out of forty five (i. c. about one in two).

Take the Proper Bath.— There is a number of varieties of bath at each temperature. Thus, if the entire body is submerged, it is a full bath ; if only half, it is a half bath ; if the feet only be immersed, it is a foot bath, etc. Sponging the entii c surface is an easy and convenient means of securing most of the advantages of the full bath, while the trouble of the latter (expense also) is avoided. If cold water is used, the skin is stimulated and the nervous system receives all the tonic effects to be had from bathing. The shower bath is still more stimulating to the nerves and skin. If it is cold, there may be considerable risk of doing injury. This is true of all forms of " cold " baths. No one with degenerated heart or arteries should incur the dangers of the cold "full" or " shower bath." The first effect of the application o£ colcl to the sltin. is to cause a surklen contraction of all the small blood vessel, thus driving the blood in upon the central organs. An additional strain is thus placed upou the vessels of the lungs, brain — in fact, of the whole interior department. If their walls have been weakened by disease they may give way : apoplexy or rupture of an aneurism may follow the injudicious applition of cold bathing.

Organisations may change or dissolve, but when parties cease to exist liberty will perish, r Q<il