The Diary of a Doctor Who Tells

Evening Star, Issue 23693, 28 September 1940, Page 3

The Diary of a Doctor Who Tells

Parents 5 Age ■ No Matter

‘ Monday, September 23. “ What do you expect,” said little George Itymin s eldest sister, to-day. ‘“Mis father was over H) and lus . mother in her 4U s when he was born.” 1 don’t think that that necessarily makes him a weakling,” 1 protested, but the eldest Miss Ityinin tossed her head unbelievingly. She has never got over her father's second marriage, and is willing to believe evil of any outcome of if*, even to little George.

Recent scientific research claims that no physical disadvantage ■ accrues to the child of an old man and a middle-aged woman, ihe health of the parents is surely the deciding factor, and possibly the expressed rumour that a “‘child of old age” is less healthy than a child of youthful parents has some support in that young people are generally healthier than older ones. But it is the health, and not the age, •that is the important factor. One risk from which the “ child of old age ” may suffer is that he will be deprived of healthy companionship it he is pampered and guarded as something too precious to be allowed ordinary games. Such a child, in my opinion, should be particularly fortified with all young people of the same age it is possible to collect in the neighbourhood. Another mvth is that the * lovechild ” is a different kind of person from one born in more conventional circumstances. Here, again, the health and outlook of the child are - dictated by upbringing and environment, and not by the circumstances of conception. And. alas for those romantic souls who decide that their first child shall be conceived when both are in the right state of mental outlook, the moon is at the full, and beauty shines around— Dame Nature, a very practical old lady, takes no more notice of them than if'the night were pitch black and there was an air raid on.

Tuesday, September .24. I haven’t been so badly treated , since I was forcibly separated from an imaginarv tape-wpnn when I. was about live,” said Brenda Yillen. indignantly. Sbe had come to pay a bill this morning in connection with her recent removal of tonsils. “The night I went in they insisted on my having some castor oil, and for days after they gave it,to mo. As soon as I got out of bed I poured the filthy stuff down the sink br threw it out of the window. I’ve never needed anything like that in my life, and T saw no reason why 1 should start just because I was in a hospital.” “ Quite so.” I said. “ But 1 thought yon ordered it? said Brenda.' in some amazement. “ Not at all.” I said. “ It’s routine , in some hospitals, apparently.” “What on earth for? ’ asked Brenda. . “ Now you’re asking me something I can’t answer.” 1 said, “ though probablv other people can.i Personally, I regard it as a relic of the days when it was the custom to purge the body of evil humours, no matter wha.t the ailment was. In my opinion, each case should be judged on its merits.” “ Then,” said the practical Brenda, “ why don’t you do something about it nest time vou visit hospital? ” “ A thought,” I said. “I’m afraid we too often accept the habits of the years and forget to keep an inquisitive eye on them in the light of new thought.”

Wednesday. September 25. “ I've boon a very healthy person, really, Doi*tor,” said Harold Jrenn, “ except tliat in my student days I overworked and- had a bad .attack of brain fever.” „,, _ , , “How did it affcot you? I asked. “ I don’t remember much about it,” he said, “ being almost 30 years ago. But I seem to remember getting temperatures in the early evening and bein(£ terribly tired, as if lid worked too hard. The doctor who attended me sad I’d have to have, a good long rest, so they kept me away from work for a year, and sent mo to the country for most of the tune.; '• Oh. and I used to get bad heads and feel generally out of sorts. I didn’t want to eat anything for a while, and lost weight.” It'would have been no good asking him was he X-rayed, for even in those days it was unusual to X-ray anyone for suspected chest signs. It’s only really since this war began that officialdom has awakened to the fact that every young person should be X-rayed in the latest ’teens or early twenties, and that many a small and easily curable sign of, tuberculosis, ab solutely undetectable by other means, can be picked up by a good X-ray. Brain fever, as the novelists know it (i.e., a fever of the brain itself, due to

Names in this Diary arc fictitious (Copyright.)

overwork) probably doesn’t exist. Conditions like meningitis are another matter altogether. Jt is highly probable that many oldtime cases of “ brain fever ” were probably early tuberculosis in the stage (preceding the cough, and curable by a long rest, good food, and good country air. Thursday, September 26.

She was a little old ilady. and she was doing the family shopping with an old-fashioned basket over her arm. She lived on the other side of the railway lo the shopping centre, and after an hour or so’s pottering here and there she returned to the railway bridge and began to climb the steps. Jt was a hot morning, and she realised that a joint, some potatoes, and a few groceries were quite a load. At the sixth step she felt dizzy; at the tenth she staggered; at the eleventh she dropped and died.

That was an onlooker’s story of the death of my patient, old Mary Gray. On the certificate I wrote something about heart failure and hardened arteries. Old people suffering from either of these should bo wary of steps and heavy packages these wanner spring days.

Friday, September 27. He was a stranger to me, and as he came in he played nervously with his tie.

“ Mind if J smoke? ” he asked. “Have one of mine,” I replied, offering the case. He took a few puffs while I filled in his name and other particulars on a new card and then bumpered almost three-quarters of the cigarette in the ash tray.

“.1 can’t sleep,” he said. “ T’vc been [ike it for about three mouths now, and it’s getting me down.” Ho played with his tie again, and this time I noticed that his finger nails were bitten short. He went on with the usual story of headaches in the back of the head, disinterestedness in life in general, and lack of appetite for food. Then lie took a cigarette out of his own case and lit it quickly and nervously. “ You’re worried about something? ” 1 asked.

“ Yes, and no,” ho replied, after a couple of quick puffs. ' “Will it help to talk about it?” I asked.

He bumpered the second cigarette and started to play with a small gold ring on the wedding finger, twirling it aimlessly round and round.

“ I don’t think it would help.” he said. “ I just want to sleep 5 bettor.” “ Calm sleep is an expression of a calm mind,” I replied. “ T want you to go and see someone you can talk to, like a psychiatrist, if you won’t talk to me.”

“Give me some soothing medicine to day.” ho pleaded, “and I’ll come hack and talk to you on Monday,” 1 wrote him a prescription with bromide in it.’ and asked him to return in four days’ time.

Nervousness, over-worry about office or home life, and general anxiety shows itself in a number of ways ... of which incessant fingering of the tie “ bumpering ” of cigarettes only a third smoked, and bitten finger nails are a number. It is said that when the American gangsters note that a colleague is indulging in the neck-tie and bumpering habit they endeavour to persuade him to quit the game till his nerve recovers. Respectable civilians noting the same combination of svmptoms in themselves might do worse than have a yarn with the family doctor.