The Diary of a Doctor Who Tells

Evening Star, Issue 23681, 14 September 1940, Page 3

The Diary of a Doctor Who Tells

The “Ideal” Age?

Monday, September 9“How old are you, Daddy?’’ said Wendy at tea this evening. “ Too old to think about it,” said I. “ Don’t be silly,” said my daughter, reprovingly. < “ How old are you, really?” , , “ I should say about 102, I replied cautiously. . “Oh, you are mad! said Wendy. “You can’t be more than 75.” “Wendy,” said her mother, in a horrified voice, “your father’s only in his 40’a.” . „ „ “Well, that’s old, anyway,” said Wendy, defensively. “ What’s’ the dif- . feronce? ” ♦ * *• • Age is relative. Twenty-one seems aged and experienced to sweet 16. When you’re six, vour big brother of 10 seems a regular man of the world. When you’re 40 a youngster of 20 might ns well be at school, and when you are 70 I suppose you regard your. 50-year-old son as still wanting watching and reproving. Young girls usually fear growing old. •* I’d hate to be old! ” is their constant remark. . They needn’t be frightened—unless they rely exclusively on their physical charms. What is the ideal age? To a man, I would say the 40’s, at which decade he has tasted most of the joys of life, and, being still capable of enjoying them with vigour, has .learnt (or should have learnt) restraint in the use of them. " A middle-aged man is merely a young man with experience.” « ' '* * ♦ I gave my views to the senior physician .at tea this afternoon. He smiled 1 tolerantly and said: “ My dear boy, you don’t know what life begins to hold till you are 55at which stage, except for a certain limitation in the really useless field of physical exertion, you’re beginning to reach the height of your powers.” The ideal age is—or should be—the age we are at the moment. Tuesday, September 10.

“ I can’t get rid of his cough,” said Mrs Osborn, speaking of her 10-year-old son this morning. “He seems healthy enough, and eats well. I’ve tried a number of cough mixtures, but ho hasn’t improved.” ’ “ Does he cough much during the day? ” I asked. -“No,” she said. “I think it’s worse when he lies down and then it begins* to ease off. Occasionally he might have a bad bout during the night, but not very often.” “ Has he any mucus, or anything to bring up? ” 1 asked, and was told that there was no sign of anything like that. The boy looked sturdy enough, and hia. chest sounded perfectly clear.’ The nose and throat showed signs of possible adenoidal obstruction, as well as moderately swollen .tonsils. Investigation of the ear showed a fair amount of accumulated wax, which 1 removed witla a powerful syringe. “ See how he is in a week,” 1 said, aftor the syringing was over. “ I’ve known these irritation coughs to be connected with wax in the ears before to-day. His tonsils and adenoids may also cause the trouble, though they aren’t by any means bad. If he doesn’t improve, we’ll send him along to an «iTj nose, and throat specialist.” . But I can’t see how ear, nose, or throat trouble could' affect his lungs,” •aid the mother in a puzzled voice. “ It doesn’t,” 1 said. “ A cough does not by any means indicate lung trouble ia the'absence of other symptoms.” » » » *

Some of the non-lung causes of a cough, beside trouble in the ear, nose, or throat, include aneurism, a relaxed and ejongated uvula, over-indulgence in smoking, and even a tumor. It is thus seen that though cough mixtures are beneficial in certain cases, the indiscriminate use of them for a cough, the cause of which has not been sought, is father, an illogical (proceeding.

Wednesday, September 11, " I’ve been to one of these first-aid, home-nursing classes, and all that,” said Mrs Youllon, “ with the result that I don’t know a vitamin from a protein. 1 don’t know how anyone can expect amateurs like ns to remember vitamins A to K. Isn’t there some simpler way? ” “ I don’t think it matters very much whether you know that a food has vitamin (B or Z in it,” I said, “ so long as you remember it’s worth eating.” “ Our lecturer tried to help ns by saying that vitamin foods protected you,” she said. “ Is that right? ” “ They help to protect you against

various diseases,” 1 said, “ but we haven’t reached the stage whore we can bo sure of results.”

“ Then, some foods repair vour tissues, while others give you energy?” said Mrs Youllon.

“ Quito correct,” I said. “ Briefly, this is the position:— “ Some foods are body builders, and they’re quite simple to remember, being meat and fish and the dairy products —milk, cheese, and eggs. “ Other foods give you energy, chiefly the sugary and starchy foods, like jjotatocs, flour, bread, rice, sugar, honey, butter, and so on. “ Lastly, there are protective foods, which include manv of the above.” “ Which ones? asked Mrs Youllon.

“ The dairy products—milk, cheese, butter, and eggs,” I replied. “Certain meats, like liver, and certain fish, like herrings or salmon, fresh or canned. Also fruit and green vegetables and wholemeal bread. Thursday, September 12.

“ Don’t think me too old-fashioned if I tell yon that you ought to go home more to evening meals, have a quiet read or listen to the wireless, and then have an early night,” 1 pleaded with Beryl Clinken, who came to-uight complaining of being underweight. “ I don’t like going home to meals. I’m afraid,” she said. “There’s enough bickering in the office without going home to it. Sometimes it makes me feci so sick of everything that 1 can’t eat a thing.” She suddenly bit her lip. as if she realised she had said too much. I wont on with her examination in silence, and at the end told her that there was nothing physically wrong with her, the solution to her underweight being the old, old recipe of more rest and more food.

“ Every time you move your finger it burns up energy and nervous tissue,” I explained. “ To- make good the loss we must rest and eat.”

“ I do both,” said Beryl. “ It’s a matter of degree, certainly,” I admitted. “We doctors cannot help worrying over the fact that while tuberculosis is showing a sharp decline practically everywhere, it is showing an increase among young girls in their later ’ teens and earlier twenties. I’m not insinuating that you are in any way infected, but to do without sufficient rest or the right amount of the right food is to prepare an inviting breeding ground for the germs.”

Pleasant environment lias more to do with good meals and proper digestion than is commonly supposed. Hence, tuneful music by the cafe, or radio orchestra, friendly conversation, and, more especially, absence of argument all help in this regard. Happy marriage is a matter of comradely compromise between partners, and a valuable arrangement should be that family fights shall not occur during meals, not so much for the sake of domestic harmony as domestic digestion. Parents would probably be sur-

prised to learn how deeply their children are affected by hearing them squabble.

Friday, September 13. It’s midnight and I’ve just come back from the hospital and .attending two accident cases. Both needn’t have happened. Harry Lunnly went looking for a “ small ” gas leak he could smell, and took a lighted candle to help him find it. Young Wallace, home on weekend leave, went to a party and received too much of a welcome to make it .wise for him to drive his father’s 30 h.p. vehicle.

Which reminds me of a sign outside an American filling station: “4,076 folks died of gas last year--29 inhaled it, 47 put a match to it, 4,000 stepped on it.”

Names in this Diary are fictitious Copyright,