TALKS ON HEALTH

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 37, 20 February 1930, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

JUST WHAT TO DO

15 V A FAMILY DOCTOR

This is the time of-the year when old people pas.s away into a better world. Next nionth the old man will • have breathed his last, and you will send a wreath" worth, one pound. Strange that some folk meet with more kindness after they are dead than when they are alive. Please go round and see him now; take. him some sensible gift tha,t will make him happy;, let it cost ten shillings, and let the wreath cost ten shillings instead of a po'ind. Better still, pay five shillings anonymously to the hospital. The question is: which would you prefer' yourself —a bottle of. port while you are alive or a bunch of flowers after you are dead^ Posssiblya nice hot-water bottle weuld be welcome, or a packet of dress-' ings from the chemist to save the large weekly, bill from that tradesman. Anyway-, whatever you Gjo, see that it is ddn6; before death. You "can then s pocket your share of the insurance money with a better conscience. HELP YOUR NURSE If you attend the message department of a hospital back up the efforts of the nurse by your own exercises at home. Sometimes I find that the patient thinks that his part is purely passive when it ought to be active. The exercises at the.j hospital take up-'twenty minutes three or four times a week.: but the efforts at home should occupy a few hours every day. Rest will not restore a wasted muscle; rest will-not remove the stiffness from an injured point; rest will not bring back the use of a damaged hand. Leave off all. bandages an&i splints as v soon-as the doctor will allow you and start the movements at the earliest date possible consistent with your medical advice. Help massage nurse and she will help you. FRESH AIR VALUES In the atmosphere that we breathe are found several gases. The one present in greatest quantity is called nitrogen; it is a neutral gas. The more active gas is called oxygen. This is a- life-giving gas; we should die without it. Enclose the head in a bag andi a few breaths will bring a feeling of suffocation. .Place.a lighted candle under a bell-jar and it 6oon goes out^ the candle cannot burn without a free suply of oxygen. We should go out too, unless our blood coulgj carry oxygen to every part of the body. j When the oxygen has been used up it lias changed! iuto another gas called carbon dioxide.-I am sorry that it is such a difficult name. All it means is that the qxygen" has gone, it has changed into something else which is of no value to human beings. I - wish this gas were coloured so that we could see it. If it were green we should at iJnce perceive how foul the air of our bedroom was in the 'morning, the air would be green. The worse the- ventilation the deeper the green colour. But we ought to know that fresh air is good for us without waiting for the fanciful evidence of a graen gas. When I come out of the fresh morning aii" into your „ bedrooms I almost choke with the musty odour. The carbon dioxide must be blown out and the oxygen admitted if you are to keep healthy. THE PACE THAT KILLS I made a lot of money out of street accidents and if I thought of nothing but mj' pocket I should* encourage all this reckless driving through bur main roads. But I am human under my skin, an& I am deeply impressed by the sad injuries I see, very often in young women who have their lives' before them. These accidents are getting worse. Yesterday I saw a young man withl both arms broken, and to-day a young woman with her face terribly cut by flying glass, one eye being blinded. As I have often written, I want to go back to the ages when we lived by keeping sheep and walking on our feet. I do not think the world is one whit happier because men can hurl their bodies thi'ough the air at a hundred miles an hour. But I agree we cannot keep -the" clock back. We have started civilisation going along this path of "madness and nothing will stop its insane career. We are-deceived into thinking that if a nation can whizz its inhabitants at two hundred miles through the air it must be greater than the poor grovelling wretches who can only wish by at a hundred and fifty miles an hour. It is nothing but speed nowadays; such

trifling thiug3 as unselfishness, devotion Ito duty, chivalry and kindness take a back -sent. I know it is useless to protest -but I cannot turn from ray bruised and broken patients, crushed and maimed through somebody's carelessness on the roads, without feeling that I must make an appeal to motorists to moderate -their habits and to take some thought for the sad. cases I see every day. Oh^fpr my cottage in the country and a walk in the woods where a snail may cross the path leisurely and in safety. HOW TO KEEP WELL. Rheumatism, is thought to be the outward result of poisons floating round in the blood. Some of these poisons arise from an improper or. excesive diet; You may try the following experiment without doing yourself any harm. Strike out all butcher's meat and sausages from your list;'take fish, eggs, milk puddings fruit (especially apples raw or baked), -wholemeal bread and large quantities of water, hot or cold. See that the skin acts well. A. good rub down with a rough towel will promote the circulation through the pores and glands of tie skin. Try to preserve all movements by reasonable exercise; do not sit still to watch the stiffness get worse day by day. Have all septic teeth removed. ' . jLbt mother rest. After you have recovered* from water on the knee> you will find your leg weak. Take a tape measure and compare the two thighsj the tiigh on the injured side may have lost .an inch or two in circumference. Now sit on the edge of your chair, with you* legs bare. Try the experiment first with your sound limb. Keep the knee stiff and raise the heel two feet off the ground; you will see that the muscles on the front of the thigh,are hard and knotted; in other words, they are working. The same muscles on the injured sice have not boon working for a few weeks and , so they are smaller, flabbier and slightly .wasted.-Now., try" the same movement with the "injured leg as described above. The one thing you are not to do is fb rest the injured leg because it gets : tirerj. You must work it; rubbing is* of "li'l I)"*- not so useful as the '•'M-fi^o's.' Don't be lazy;' you get your olii wo limn to do the rubbing while- you ~•• ~r.: v,,>ty ,] o a of work with -the '■■f!r '.vKile mother looks on. ■ .