PERSONAL HEALTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 86, 28 August 1912, Page 6

PERSONAL HEALTH.

THE GOSPEL OF FKESH Affi. At the P>rotherhood on Sunday, Dr. Home ((('livcrcil mi interesting address on "Personal Health." Dr. Home began his address by explain ing that his title had been wrongly advertised in tlie press as "Personal Help." ''This,'' he said, "suggested a lame dog and a stile. It is certainly «i good idea to keep before you, but what i am going to talk to you about relates to the maintenance of personal health, on the idea that it is better if possible tu id-event the dog from getting lame, -o that he can help himself over the stile. I hope that at least some of you who hear my remarks will get a little -personal help' from them. I hope you will also notice my disinterestedness in telling you some things by way of maintaining the health of your bodies, so that you will perhaps not so often require the doctor's services. Now the body is apt to be neglected, or even to some extent despised, on the one hand by philosophers, who reduce it by chemical analysis to a multitude of small particles of carbon, oxvsren. hvdrocen. nitrogen, snl-

phur, phosphorus. etc.—such stuff as earth is made of—on the other hand by ! the old-time theologians who bracketed | it in unhallowed partnership with the > world and a still more irrepressible agent whose short title I need not mention. Shakespeare makes one character in a noted play refer to it in very disparaging terms—"while this muddy vesture of decay doth grossly close us in." Now the br>dy is quite entitled to a great deal of respect; it is a very complex combination of masterpieces of design, and regarded merely as a machine—it is capable of being a very ellicient and economical work producer. Tt is often perverted by neglect and unfair treatment under the social conditions, which we call civilisation. Primitive man, it may he assumed, was a being whose clothes' consisted—as the Irishman put it—priii- I cipally of daylight. Jle was a hunter' and a fighter, and a tiller of the soil. I Now he is a very mudi-elothed creature, j living in houses, and working not so : much with his hands as with'his bead. ! His brain is therefore developing at the | expense of his body. Machines do the . work of his hands, and vehicles—motor

cars and railway carriages—replace and amplify the work of his legs. It is quite conceivable that the ultimate result of the use of machinery will be that man J will become all brain and little else. But j man still has his j ANIMAL REQUIREMENTS, and disease is almost always due to neglect of or offence against those. Man I -—and more particularly woman—is inclined to take guidance less from Nature, , and more from fashion, which lends to bodily derangements and disabilities. . Let us regard man from the nature ' or annual side and studv from that aspect what Nature meant him'to do with ' hi* body. First of all, it was obviously meant to lie used, that is! to do work. Work is aptly dehned'by Ma'Tk Twain as that which one is obliged to do— I play is that which one'is not obliged to do. If a man were sentenced to carry a bundle of stick* for, say, three, miles I on a hot day, up hill and down dale, ho, could quite" rightly regard it as work! : But if he puts a small white ball on the ground and adds to his 'walk the'extra exertion of smiting it into' and out of j difficulties with one >or 'othe : r %{ the : sticks, he regards it as plav—he soine- \ times calls it golf.'The point is; he. is not j obliged to do it. The modern aspect |or regarding work is as something re- > quiring to be done which % rather i against the inclination. This"is:a good' training both for health and-chWactor. ) The mortt dissatisfied anti-unhealthy peo- ( pie are the idle, whether • rich: or poor! J Idleness is a most potent enemy to a j healthy existence on botl'r the physical J and the moral side. Carlyle has written ] some of hij most eloquent and convincing passages on "work." ''There is a per"' eimial nobleness and even saeredh'ess ill work. Were he never so benighted, for-' getful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works. In idleness alone is there perpetual despair. The latest; gospel in the world is "Know thv work 1 and do it." "Know thyself"—long'enough has that poor self of thine to'rmented thee. Thou wilt never get to know it, I believe. Think it not thy business thte knowing of thyself; thou are an unknowable individual. Know what thou ciinst, work at, and work at it like n Hi-rcules, that will be thy better phin. Jilessed is he who bus found his work - let him ask no other blessedness. He j has work, life-purpose—he has found it, ■'and will follow it." It may' not' be at all times obvious, but it requires very little thought to arrive at this general conclusion—it is a most salutary thing to have to work for one's living.

FRESH AIR. The .speaker then passed on to a ditl'crenl topic- -fresh air. Alan's body was meant to have fresh air, And it wa's a "realcharge against modern civilisation thai man's body doesn't always or even .oftrn get: it. The necessity foV if niiLj'l'iL ' lie .put. strikingly thus-the hotly' could cr.ist. fornix weeks or more without food, fn- a week or more without water, but in.l, more than a few minutes without air. Therefore an adequate, supply to!" ait, or, more cxactiy. of oxygen', Was ncrv necos-nry than jitivtliiiiir el-e. and it must ]>e breathed in through the nose, for nature bail pMCed in the nasalpass* ages special means of wanning, moistening, and alt-o purifying the ingoing air by ; intercepting all material, particles, ! mil-robes, dust, etc. This was extremely ' important, and if anv one was unable It. bre.'.lhe thrui!.!.'!! his nose, or if his nteii.'.s and children were unable so-la.) brealhe. their medical man should be < na-'.ilt t-d to ascertain and remove or treat lh" cause of ohstruei ion. A brief description of the inspiratory apparatus was given, and the importance of daily deep in-piraiion and expiration was eni-pha-i-.-d. parti.-ularly of forcibly breathing out. and ilir-n in through ea-'ii single n»strii alternately. Attention was dra\Tn Id the fact that very few civilised people knew bow to properly blow their noses. Tli.- 1 usual method was to gather the handkerchief into a hall, hold both nostrils closed with it, force a pressure of air into the nose, and then let go suddenly to effect a kind of explosion. The jii-upcr method was to stop wiih the handkerchief each nostril singly in torn and blow through tile oilier. The ploughman's method, was really the physiologically correct one, Put w a*. of c.our-c. inadmissible in .-ueh places as drawing rooms. A lesson was pointed ~i:l from the fuel lli.it tuberculosis generally attacked the upper carts of the lungs, which moved very slightly during ,-, .titration, end lb'' edvi-nhiiily ol" full lung ev|i;;nsions every day for the |mrpos" of mainia'e.ing health. w:is a.-'.'■••! I, : i. !;, d upon, 'idtis 1...1 o;i in Hi,. ■'.!,. i, el. of YKXTILATION". i j ;i:.d the speaker hastened to eonlrovert I i'm' popular mistake that, nigh! air wis | harmful. It w;.s poir.od mil thai ihe I idi a gvose from m ; -s-or--e;-t ions ivtriie-.-malaria -that the night air caused ti 'chills which characterise ih.-.t d lit was flhown that malaria! f"\-: r cod \re r'-wh'-n- am' elwa'.. ceo -ae : - iao <■■ iioci the d's-e -eh vim; m„ o-rtas night air was {he heallhii at iking that e >■'!.! be admi: t-.-l iyg. a hi d-r.■■'•■'; n" a »u-k room. A reference to draughts i!i"u followed. When the southerly ..tea arose and.there v.aw a wide .body

f of air movenu'iit from skyline to skyline, | it was not regarded as a draught] and , .hough it illicit cause slight inconvenij ices, people generally remarked wha} h althy weather it was. They made ...aughts" of it by admitting it gingerly .. in their living rooms through small ■•>, ..nings, chinks, and casual crevices, it ,i> much better to get a good body of .■ moving, though perhaps a bit rough i window curtains and photographs .Hiding on the mantelpiece. Fresh air -cold fresh air—never did any harm if the body was kept adequately warm.. A very instructive contrast was drawn between the old fatal method of treating tubercular disease by close confinement in a heavily curtained and carpeted room with a regulated temperature, and arranged Id exclude all draughts, and the new curative method of fresh air and plenty of it, day and night.

"CATCHING COLDS." The subject of "catching colds" was next deal with. This phrase and the suggestions that it carried constituted perhaps the most pernicious and fatal misconception that the. general public were possessed of. A prominent author ' said that we live principally by catchwords. This catch-word, or "catch-cold" phrase, was one by which many people died, for it was the greatest "possible obstacle to adequate ventikriion. Anxious female relative* put a superlative degree upon it: "You'll catch your death of cold." There was a reason for this misconception which the speakei explained thus: "Physical cold causes a shivering. This, shiver is due to eontraction of the blood vessels in the skin whereby the blood is driven into the larg; blood vessels deep in the body. The skii> is temporarily inadequately supplied with blood, causing the feeling of co'diK'sa. The nerves of the skin send mes.'i'g.'s te the brain and muscles of the body are put into rapid, involuntary contraction in response to a bodily command for more heat. Microbial invasion also usually causes a shivering by the same mechanism, but in a widely different set of conditions. Poisons are produced in the body by the invading microbes. These poisons cause, by a* effect on the nervous system, a rapid relaxation and dilatation of the large blood vessels in the body. Blood leaves the skin and outlying parts to keep these distended large blood vessels filled. The skin is thus again deprived of blood, and the sensation of physical cold may be produced, even to the shiver, for the nerve endings send messages again to the brain to be dealt out to the muscles. But in this case the patient is not really toll. Hi.-, temperature is from one to six: ov more degrees above normal. Tltiij shiver is then not a cold effect, hut a nerve-poisoning effect, and it can tak» place quite violently in a person covered with layers of blankets. The distressed relatives inform you that "he must ha\e caught cold, but they can't think how lie got it, for- he hasn't been out of bed." This sctious popular mi«i take has aiiseri becatwe the public mind .is .constantly mistaking t'he '".shiver" of bacteiial inwision, which is due to nervepoisoning, with the "shiver" of phjsical cold, which is really That is |how diseases like pneumonia, pleurisy, rheumatism, influenza, are attributed to a "chill." Cold could iiex r'c'fntse these illnes>es if the genu infection wete not theic as well. - The sj «,il:er nipntionwl ' as specially badh ventilated places s.ick looms, bedrooms, public meetings/ lailwaj car 1 school ailrf (•"hurt'lres". Taking a ease of influenza in {\ sick room—the disease being commonly ascribed' to "chill" —cieiy window-anti opening wore shut to "keep out the cold." The : • patient constantly coi'ighcd infection into t,hc atmosphere of the room and then ,J kept on le-hifect'ihg h'ininWf'w'it'h his 6\ym

breath. The air of the room became a l ' concentrated essence-.of infection, not

only very harmful to the patient him-

self, but highly dangerous; to*all who U'.ame iiml went.- 'The-infectiousness of I'jiiftuenza was easily killcil by fresh air. and simple adequate ventilation of the I sick-room in every., /'use, \yould very [greatly <liminish the of'influenza land similar diseases, through -the community. In schools when classes are .being changed every door and window j should be widely opened and the scholars, standing up, should take deep breaths whiiu the air is moving through. Sleepiness in church was ascribed by the oldtime preacher to a. wile <>£ the devil which prevented the congregation from taking in the sermon. The sleeper probrably ascribed his condition to incapacity on the part of the preacher, who should at least lie able to keep liiui awake. As a matter of fact the fault did not lie with either the preacher-, or the other agent mentioned —it was a gas known to the chemist as carbon dioxide, which is .the 1 main waste product in human breath. The speaker concluded with another reference to the success of the. open-air system of treating tuberculosis. ■'People," he said, "of delicate lungs, who should l>e most susceptible to lira lights, were taken from their wirm homes and put suddenly into open shelters, aipl windy corridors. If there were any truth in the 'chill' theory these" people'should godown like autumn leaves. l,!ut they did not. There is instead an iiicr'ea'.se in ,-weight and vhiour with'arrest 'and, in many instances, cure "of the disease. People who exist on the 'chill' and ■'catching cold' theory arc constantly delicate' and unhealthy, and usually furnish in themselves siiliVti'Tit 'evidence against their own methods. Fresh air, day and night, especially night, is advisable in hrallh. and si ill more advisable in sickness, particularly for those disorders in the treatment of which the general public think it should be most excluded—disorder* of the respiratory system--and it need not: even be warmed if the patient, is able to breathe bv the; way nature jntemied. hint- -through, his'niise. Let every one start this coming spring and get used to the feeling ofWeiuiu: with all available ventilators of their bed-rooms open to. th<\. air ,of night. They will never want io sleep with closed doors and windows again."