TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 243, 14 October 1933, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

(By A FAMILY DOCTOR)

THE BABY’S EYES. Eyes are worth a good deal more than their weight in gold. You can be provided with a wooden leg, some false teeth, and a wig, but if you lose your eyes there is no artificial substitute. Beginning at the earliest years of life. 1 have to remind you that new-born children are liable to an inflammation of the eyes which is dangerous to the baby and dangerous to others who may catch the infection from the matter which freely flows from the infected eyes. It is because this disease is so common that the very proper precaution has been recommended of dropping a few’ drops of some disinfectant into the eyes of every new-born baby. The disinfectant used is a weak solution of silver nitrate, and such a solution ought to be found in the outfit of every midwife. It is ghastly to learn that of all the children in a blind asylum, onethird of the number owe their blindness to this disease of the new-born. It ought to be banished from the list oi‘ diseases. After Measles. Coming now to the children a little older, we find that measles may be fol lowed by an inflammation of one or both eyes. You know wc never say now ‘ r l.t is only measles;” we regard measles as a disease that recpiires a great deal of care both ?tt the time the rasl is out and also far a few weeks afterwards. And this infection of the eyes is one of the reasons why wc insist on your watching over your children with measles with especial care. I really cannot have you allowing the child to run about directly the rash is gone: bronchitis following measles is a common cause of death in infants. But for tho moment I am talking about eyes, not chests, and. I want you to remember that the eyes may be affected by measles if you are not careful. Eye-strain in Schools. Then, following the child through his life, we come to the school age. The school doctor will find out if glasses are needed ,and all I want to impress on you now is the urgent need of carrying out the doctor’s suggestions. It makes me weep when 1 find in a school 20 children suffering from eye-strain, and when J come round six weeks after to see what has been done, I find that only four out of tho 20 have got glasses. The eyes of growing children must be taken care of. and I cannot allow a child who need's glasses to go on straining his eyes. He gets headaches, and no wonder, and you buy some disgusting medicine and ram it down into his long-suffering stomach, and think you have done your duty by him. 0! dear! A bottle of medicine in his stomach wl- n he wants glasses for his eyes. You might just as well get, him to swallow a pair’of glasses to cure a stomachache. Glasses at Forty-five. Now wc jump a. good many years and arrive at the age of 45. The large majority of people need glasses for close work at, 45. Not for seeing dis tances, but for close work. As age ad van cos you become long-sighted; you see granny holding the book father and farther away from her as she grows older. A pair of glasses for reading or sowing or playing music will often cure headaches. It, is worth while paying a few more shillings to get a good pair. And you must not wear glasses ordered for someone else; it is bad for your eves, and may do more - harm than good. Inflamed Eyes. Just two hints on cases of inflamed eyes, accompanied by a yellowish discharge. The first is that you must not allow that discharge,to collect behind th eyelids at night-time when the patient is asleep. When the eyelids are stuck together the discharge is pent up against the eye and makes the. inflammation worse' To prevent the sticking of the lids, smear them well with vaseline, or boracic ontment; it will not hurt if some goes in the eye. And the second hint, is that this complaint is catching. You must take scrupulous care to have one towel, handkerchief, and sponge sot aside for your own use. Yov must not use tho same handkerchief for yourself and your little boy. And if’the patient is a child he must sleep alone, as the discharge gets on tho pillow. If you go to work in a factory, where you have to wash in a common lavatory with a roller-towel behind the door, I advise yyu to avoid that towel and take your own. The Effect of Alcohol. It is such a common belief that under any emergency whatever the first, thing to do is to rush for alcohol that it may be ar. well to put on record the exact effect of alcohol, and then we can act with discretion. The immediate effect of alcohol is to make tho heart beat faster. Faintness is due to the enfeebled action of the heart, and, therefore. alcohol may be given in order to restore the action of the heart in cases of sudden pallor and faintness. (If course, lying down and the breathing of fresh air will nearly always be sufficient, especially if the fainting attack comes on in a stuffy church or theatre. Alcohol, however, should not bo given to a man who has received an injury to the head, or to a man in a fit; alcohol confuses the brain and makes concussion all the worse. Nor should alcohol be given to anyone, bleeding from a deep wound; the quickened action of the heart would make the, bleeding worse. It is only very rarely that al cohol should be given to a child, and never without the doctor’s orders. Apart from accidents and acute troubles, alcohol is forbidden in some chronic complaints —for instance, chronic Bright’s disease, gout, epilepsy, and those who have suffered from a stroke should never take alcohol. Young people, if tho v will ta.kc my ail vice, will be total abstainers until they arc 21 How to Increase Your Weight. To increase your weight you must take plenty of milk, cream, salad oil, butter, the fat of meat, and, in fact, any good food. You must cat slowly, or the food swallowed will not be absorbed. Drink plenty of water. All measures for improving the health tend to increase the weight. Exercise that, gives you an appetite, fresh air that stimulates you, baths to keep the skin