HEALTH HINTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 816, 24 February 1910, Page 4

HEALTH HINTS.

REST AND PLEASURE. Dr, Randone says that “the body is a substance composed of chemicals, and these chemicals are at the mercy of emotions. Anger, hatred, and sorrow poison the fluids of the body, while love, cheerfulness and happiness serve as eliminators of poisons. Pleasure stimulates; that is why, when we are tired and worn, an evening of gay dancing to music will remove all signs of fatigue, and one will sleep better and le more rested than if one were to attempt to sleep fatigue off." BARK FEET. There are at least two reasons why children should be allowed to go bare-footed in the warm weather, and one of these reasons applies to every family-—namely, it is a good thing for the health of childien and grown folks logo barefoot. Many foreign sanatorium?, whither wealthy people to be relieved of their various ailments, make one of the features of the cure that the patients shall wear nothing on their feet ; and so rich merchants, dukes, duchesses, and the aristocracy of the land travel around in the wet dew without stockings and shoes. RAW APPLES. Ripe, raw apples contain more phosphates in proportion to their bulk than any other article of food, fish not excepted. A writer on this point declares that in this lies the secret of heatbful longevity. “ Eat uncooked apples constantly, although in moderation, and drink distilled water only, and years will be added to your life, while the evidences of age will be long in coming.” This argument is based on the supposition that as age advances the deposits of mineral matter in the system increase, and that aging is little more than a gradual process of ossification. PREPARATION OF FOODS. The careful preparation of foods is half the winning of the battle against consumption, says Dr. Thomas D. Wood. “ Domestic scientists,” he declares “haveno greater opportunity in the fight against disease than in the nicety of the preparation of foods for consumptive victims. Nutrition is an important factor in the cure of the disease. The patient must eat only that which can be properly digested and assimilated. The food must be made palatable and every accessory in its preparation must be watched with care. It is also highly important that the cook should work under the direction of the physician in charge of the case. It is equally as important that the patient should have the utmost confidence both in the physician and the cook. CONCENTRATED FOODS.

Concentrated foods are of great use in certain extraordinary circumstances, in travelling, and in some cases of illness, but they should not be used to any great extent in ordinary life. It must be remembered that any organ or muscle in the body which is habitually left unused will sooner or later lose its proper power of doing its work when called upon, and will disturb the balance of the body. Thus the teeth, when habitually spared their work of mastication, or only used for the chewing of soft and already halfprepared food soon lose their health and decay. A great portion of the food eaten by a healthy person should consist of material of a certain bulk, and should contain at least a fair share of hard substances which require careful and thorough mastication.

SOUR MILK CURES MELANCHOLY

It occurred to Dr. Hubert J. Norman, records “Science Siftings,” that melancholy being due to poisonous materials in the blood, the sour milk treatment, which has proved so useful in chronic diarrhoea, and constipation, owing to the hostility of sour milk germs to other germs, would also be useful in melancholic troubles. In one case in particular the result has been marked. It was an example of hypochondrical melancholia. The patient had the jaundiced eye, the sallow complexion, and a more than ordinary constipation. He was given sour milk treatment, and the result must be described as satisfactory. The complexion has cleared in a marked degree, and in the space of three months he has increased his weight by ulb. Mentally he has become brighter, has taken more interest in bis surroundings, has read the papers and books provided, and has conversed freely with his neighbours.