TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 204, 29 August 1936, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

(By A FAMILY DOCTOR). >

THE DANGER Of KISSING (By a Family Doctor | Occasionally in the papers on comes across a paragraph about kissing, and i | some very earnest and serious per- ! i sons say it ought to be avoided as a practice likely to lead to infection. 1 , am afraid I cannot consent to become ' a vice-president of the Anti-Kissing i League, as its proposals scarcely fail ; | within the limits of practial common sense. No amount of law-giving would stop kissing. Nevertheless, it is only i too true that a few very grave diseases can be transmitted by this comparatively harmless custom, and the subject came into my mind when I saw a patient infected in this manner with a constitutional disease. Mothers and Children Prhaps one is apt to treat the sub- j ject of kissing with levity until such I a case as I am describing comes to I one’s notice. It was a case of a girl with a sore lip. The sore would not | heal, and was eating «way her lip, ■ and it brought home to us both, doc- { tor and patient, the real gravity of the j circumstances. Some complaints are 1 readily transmitted through the . medium of the lips; hence the danger j of smoking borrowed pipes, and of I using public drinking lountains, or ; drinking out of glasses that have not 1 been thoroughly washed. A wellknown instance is that of a glassblower who infected a number of his mates who used the same glass-blow-ing tube. Mothers should not kiss their children, when vhe children have sore throats. This seems hard when the little child feels poorly and needs comforting, but kissing anyone with a sore throat is a practice to be condemned without reserve. It is nice to spoil one’s little patients, but I refrain from kissing them, not only from hygienic reasons. However, the kiddies often blow me a kiss out of the nursery window when I drive off. 1 like it, too, and blow them one back, without making any charge for it on the bill. If you kiss, do it with disscriminat.on. Ringworm Ringworm is catching. is ■ only a name—there is no worm ! it. The parasite that causes it looks ; like a lot of little round balls packed ' closely together. It lives in the hair I itself, and xveakens it so that it. breaks off sharp when it has attained a : length of about a quarter of an inch. The X-rays treatment has been used . with success. It first makes the 1 patch on the scalp completely bald, having destroyed the hair it destroys the home of the growth, which then ! dies and disappears. The hair ahvays | grows again. Curvature of the Spine Curvature of the spine can never | be cured. With some people it is caused through partaking of foods of little nourishing character. The most that can be done is to prevent the ’ curvature getting worse. The treatment is divided under two heads: 1 General; and2, Local. General treatment comprises fresh air, good food, attention to the regular action of the bowels, bath, and cleanliness, care of the teeth, the cure of anaemia—in short—sensible hygiene. The local treatment consists of rubbing the back with liniment to improve the circulation through the weak muscles of the back, and gentle exercises tor the xveak muscles to improve their tone. The muscles of the back can be strengthened by suitable exercises just as your biceps caq be strengthened by dumb-bells. These exercises must be done under the direction of a doctor. He will tell you what particular exercises are best after he has examined the back. After the exercises, the patient must lie down for an hour or two so as to rest the back. As time goes on the exercises may be increased, and the periods of rest gradually shortened. Following Diphtheria When a child who has had diphtheria comes home from the hospital there are three things to watch for. Of course we all hope he will get steadily fatter and stronger. We are not going to be disappointed because he is weak; of course, he is weak after the illness. You and I are sensible people, and we are quite capable of watching for complications without becoming alarmists and worrying ourselves into a fit over possible complications which may never come. The three things you have to watch lor are (1) a weakness ol one or both legs. Perhaps one leg is dragged, or the child may fall over when pushed very gently. (2) He may bring back his milk through his nose; and (3) if he is old enough to read he may complain that he cannot see the letters | clearly. If any of these signs show I themselves, it means that the poison I of the diphtheria is si ill in the system. | You must take the child to the doctor I at once, or, if you are not able to ’ see the doctor, you should keep the i child in bed. He will get better with i rest and care, but the weakness or | paralysis following diphtheria must be ' treated with every caution. i Good Food and Fresh Air Two things are needed to make the blood richer. Good food I have been I harping on the whole time; the other | thing is fresh air. Do sleep with I your window open all the year round. | The night air is not poisonous. Try j and change your job if you have to ! work in a basement. Do not, stay in I an office where you have to work by I artificial light all the year round, i If you are being robbed of air, do j not take it lying down. Fight for all you are worth to get fresh air; if you don’t, you will never have heaithy blood-discs. The Week’s Motto. The motto for this week is, “I am i not so bad as I think I am.” You > must write it out and stick it up on | your looking-glass. Get your little girl

to work it in wools of different col- I ours on a piece of cardboard. When I everyone asks you how you are, you I must answer, “I am not so bad as I think I am.” You feel that you are 1 justified in being rather disagreeable ' because those around you will forgive J you on account of your infirmity. I Very well; this week, with the notice i staring you in the face on the look- ( ing-glass, you must not be quite so j disagreeable; you must do a little bit more for yourself to save trouble. I Anyway, you can make the house a j bit more cheerful merely by refrain- j ing from grumbling. For the space of . a week we are to hear no complaints ' about your joints or your poor back { or ‘‘them funny feelings that ki’le ’ { Auntie and will kill me.” It is such a > bore to other people to have to listen • to the same old complaints week j after week. Do find something else to ! talk about besides your diseases. And | xx'hen you die at the age of 85. have it put on your tombstone, “I am not ‘ so bad as I think I am.”