HEALTH HINTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 257, 3 November 1906, Page 11

HEALTH HINTS.

BABY'S CARRIAGE.

MANAGEMENT OF INFANTS. J I should bo remembered that every Infant, no matter of what age, must have a liberal supply of fresh milk every day. He must be taken out for an airing at least once a day. He must have a bath at least once a (lav. Uf should be allowed to sit at the table with his parents or with older relatives. lie should not be fed whenever he. cries, but at invariable and regular times. He must on no account be given teething powders and soothing medicines, or. indeed, any patent medicine, no matter how well it may be "'recommended by the nobility, clergy, and medical profession." The latter always condemn such remedies, but their vendors always put it the other way. Lastly, if is always a safe principle to take time by the forelock, and when the baby is ill and not thriving to have him *een to at once by a competent authority.

CAXCER A DISEASE 01 CIVILISATION.

A medical man who lias prosecuted studies among aboriginal races in various parts of the world lias become convinced that cancer is purely v disease o"f civilisation. "There is absolutely no cancer among tbc Central African natives, who are animals pure and simple. From that 1 am led to assume," he says, "that if we hud natural mothers, and were allowed to be brought up simply and on the plainest food, the spread of cancer among us would ho. quickly checked. "My investigations showed mc that cancer is not a parasitic disease, but i 3 merely erratic tissue growth, and when we have found a. method to ripen the undeveloped tissue, which is a cancer, the cure will be sure and absolute."

DIGESTIVE DISTURBANCE.

Jf, sometimes happens that at the close, of a. holiday, and returning homo, people are apt to suffer from varying forms of digestive disturbance, just as they are liable to such ailments when on leaving home they sojourn for a \vhile by the sea or in an inland health resort. It is not necessary to attach very great importance to such ailments, but at the same time it is well that they should not be neglected. In many cases constipation is experienced, and this is perhaps the mo»t common of all. Beware ot getting into the habit of taking purgative medicine?, and remember that a little care in diet will in all probability cure the ailment if persevered in tor a few days. All indigestible substances such as salt meat, cheese, pickles, and the like should be avoided, and let your diet consist largely of vegetable matters and fruits. A tablespoonful of pure olive oil. taken at night, will aid the cure. Tf, on the other hand, diarrhoea is present, as sometimes the cars. tb n n car? in diet in the same way and a little of the following siioulfl be taken : Tincture of eatacbu three drachm? tincture of opium one drachni, compound cinnamon powder one and ahalf drachms, and chalk mixture up to isix ounces. Give, a tablespoonful to an adult as often as the diarrhoea occurs.

11l days not so very long gone by, sensible mothers used to wheel their offspring about in four-wheeled carriages which enabled the baby to rest casil}' on its back, the little hood on the carriage protecting its face from the wind and the sun. This four-wheeled carriage, which permitted of the lying-down posture, was a distinct advance on the old perambulator, in which the child had to assume a half-erect position. Nowadays baby's carriage is constructed in the form of what is called a "mail-cart. , ' That is to fay, it is a vehicle in which '"Herr Baby" is compelled to assume almost as upright an attitude as a person seated in a cab. Now all this is wrong, very wrong indeed when we have regard to the baby's welfare, and more especially to that portion of its nmitomy included under the name of the spine. Let mothers remember that the backbone of the baby is in an undeveloped condition. and i< utterly unable to withstand the strain and the stress of the position proper to later lite, namely, the erect posture. A very great deal of harm is done to the spine in. babyhood by the attempt, to make the child assume a positiou which is not proper to its age. Let mothers take warning, and reject all such disease-producing vehicles. Let them also remember that there is nothin" better or healthier for the true develop" ment of baby's limbs and muscles than to place him on a thick rug or mattress on the floor, and allow him to tumble ! about and perform at trill the little acrobatics exercises peculiar to his race.