HEALTH TALKS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8355, 15 February 1913, Page 9

HEALTH TALKS.

"Health is the second blessing that wo mortals are capable o£—a blessing that money cannot buy." Out of 204,000 children examined in the schools by the London County Council doctors during last year more than half showed physical defects. One-third suffered from enlarged tonsils and adenoids, and four-fifths from bad teeth. The death occurred at Norwich (Eng.), at the ago of ninety-eight, ol the Rev. James Landy Broun, who was chaplain of Norwich Castle Prison from 1852 to 1879, and in that capacity attended many public executions of horse and cattle stealers. He smoked hard at one time, and gave up tne habit for fifty years, and then began again. He constantly walked about Norwich, and strongly objected to “coddling” of any kind. Why should diarrhoea single out babies and calves and leave the rest of nurslings more or Jess exempt from this’ special curse of summer? lu warm weather the young of horses, pigs, dogs, cats, and the rest are almost uniformly healthy, while calves in all directions are victims to “scouimg,” and few babies escape tho same scourge under the name. of ’ summer diarrhoea.” AVhy does nature single out calves and babies? Calves are sacrificed because man takes the cow s milk for himself, and feeds the calf out of a bucket. The baby is sacrificed because the mother’s breast is denied to it also, and improper food, contaminated with germs, is substituted for the pure, perfect, blood-warm, living stream direct from tho proper source. The important practical question which we have to face at the present moment is this; —Are ill-health and diarrhoea inevitable during the summer time for calves and _ babies who cannot be suckled ? Certainly not 1 In both cases the trouble arises hot from the mere fact of artificial feeding, but because proper care is not exercised to secure suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babies, humanised milk supplies by far the nearest approach to the mother’s milk, and if kept cool and given according to the directions contained in the instructions issued by the society, there would be little risk of disease. Even with breastfeeding a baby may suffer from summer diarrhoea, but immediate suitable treatment of such infants, or of those who have been judiciously fed by artificial means, soon brings about recovery in th© great majority of, cases. Among babies who have been improperly fed, on the other hand, the risk of death from an attack of ’ diarrhoea is very great indeed, and lasting debility is often felt when the baby does not actually succumb. In the autumn, when colds are so common, the clothing that is best suited to avoid chills may well be discussed with advantage. It must be pointed out that it is not so much the cold weather In itself that is dangerous as the sudden changes from a warm house to a cold street. W e could easily stand a low temperature all the time, but no organism can resist the heavy strain put upon it by the rapid alternation of heat and cold. First the cold bedroom, then the warm breakfast-room, then the cold walk to the station and five minutes standing about in the draughty railway station; then the stuffy journey with ten- people breathing the same air over and over again, all the windows being, tightly closed; then a cold, shivering ride on the top of a ’bus and the incarceration in a badly ventilated, over-heated office —no wonder we get chills. Constipation is a common complaint in people of a nervous temperament and in those who lead a sedentary life and don’t take sufficient exercise. It is also brought on by improper food, such as pickles, cheese, too much meat, or salt foods, also a carelessness in not attending regularly to the function of the bowels. An altered diet will often make matters right. Take plenty of coarse brown bread, fruit, and vegetables. Stewed prunes and tigs for breakfast and boiled onions for supper will be very efficacious. Salads made with oil and milk puddings are .also beneficial. Beware of taking pills or drugs constantly; they are most harmful, and bring on a worse state of the bowels, which may become most difficult to cure. Drinking a glass or two of tepid water on rising in the morning, and a walk the last thing at night before going to bed, will often have a good result. An occasional aperient may be taken, such as citrate of magnesia or a small dose of salts.

In the views of the public the standard enemy of disease germs is carbolic acid, but it is well known (the “Lancet” remarks) that there are many substances with /pleasanter general properties than this acid which are equally effective. It is interesting to recall some of the antiseptic agents which are used commonly in conjunction with certain articles of our daily diet. One of the most refreshing ana palatable non-alcoholic beverages, for example, is lemon squash, and it is somewhat remarkable that the constituents which give this beverage its attractions prove to be germicides. In the case of lemon squash there is present besides carbonic acid gas (if the mixture is not violently and erroneously stirred with a spoon, as is often ignorantly done) the citric acid of the lemon, and citric acid, even in weak solutions, has been shown to be inimical to the growth of certain pathogenic organisms. Tartaric acid appears to have a similarly destructive effect upon organisms, so that, from the point of view of bacteriology, grape-juice and soda-water, also a wholesome and agreeable beverage, should present the same advantages. The eating of lemon-juice with the oyster becomes thus a scientific proceeding, as hidden infections may thus be destroyed. Vinegar, with its acetic acid, of course, acts in a similar way. Lemon-juice and vinegar, in fact, may be counted as dietetic antiseptics, and their use as adjuncts in salads and raw shell-fish and so forth has a greater significance than at urst sight appears.