Woman's World

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 92, 14 September 1914, Page 6

Woman's World

TALKS ON HEALTH. L'Y A FAMILY DOCTOR. si!"'- - LEARX TO SWIM. If you do not learn to swim this summer, I will never forgive you. Jt ij a most healthy exercise; everyone should know how to swim. The sauij wearisome old story is told every yeiiv without variation. Someone frets pu'led out by the tide or falls out of a boat, and instead of giving a few strok .s that would bring them to safety, they give a yell and sink. Very sad. Of course it is, but how stupid to venture in tiic water or on the water when yy.i have not learnt to swim! Jt is so feeble to flop to the bottom when sueii little trouble would teach you how to save yourself. liar the wetting, it imore or less of a lark to be upset on a river if you can swim to safety. It is supposed to be my job to save life. Yen' well, 1 propose to save thirty lives this summer,by insisting en your taking swimming lessons at the baths.

LIFE SAYIN'G DRILL. Then have you taken the trouble to learn bow to restore a person apparently drowned? No, we have not. Very well; then it is about time you did. See that the mouth and nose are deer of mud, weeds, or other obstruction, l'ull t!ie tongue well forward. Turn the patient on his stomach with his face turned sideways. Kneel across the patient's hips, and place the palms of the hand across the lower part ■)' the patient's back, on the loins. Lean forward so as to compress the body of the patient, and then release your weight from the patient by bringing your back up straight again. Do this steadily and -rythmieally a'"out ten or fifteen times a minute. Persevere for half an hour. Send someone to get iiot blankets-'ready, and hot water bottles, and hot milk to drink.

SOMK COMMON MISTAKES. The commonest mistakes are to get excited, always a bad tiling in an emergency. Then too much force is often used in compressing the body; I have ofti n seen ribs fractured in the process. Then the artificial breathing may be carried out before the mouth and no;e have been cleared, and so no air enters at all. Or the tongue may be forgotten. It annot be too often repeated that a patient, unconscious or scmi-uneon--Bfi*.us, can be suffocated by his own tcngne. A doctor, while administering chloroform for an operation, ban a special pair of forceps always by liim to seize the tongue and pull it forward lif necessary. Xow then. lam accustomed to being obeyed. OH' you go to see about the swimming lessons. A BAD HABIT.'

Many people have a bad lialiit of always suspecting consumption , when a p?rson is at all weak or pale. I am always Jiaviiiy to correct this idea, especially in regard to children. Consumption is common, but not nearly as common as some of you scorn to imagine. Never let a child hear you say that you think he is weak. Always pretend that he is strong. Wlle:i you go to the doctor, leave the child outside wirle you describe the case,' mid thcincall the child into the j-oom afterwards. And never despair about a child's health: marvellous cures at'-: brought about by time and care. POLYPI'S IN THE NOSE.

Polypus in the nose is a common can"; of obstruction to free breathing through the irtistrils. It is not so common in children as it is in adults; this helps to distinguish the condition from the obstruction known as adenoids, which is far commoner in children. Polypus should not be neglected, as apart from the habit of breathing through the mouth, which i.s in itjelf very undesirable, the polypus may give rise to complications in tile small bones and internal passages of the nose. There is one passage which leads from the nose up to the forehead. If this passage gits blocked up. it interferes with the free flow of mucus from the forehead down into the nasal cavity, and the result is a frontal headache. Also, the unhealthy discharge coming down from the polypus falls down the back of the tinoat and produces a catarrh of the plmrir, x which may travel to die larnyx or voice-box. and lead to the loss of voice: or the discharge may be swallowed and infect the stomach. THE SIH'IH I'. OK THE TKOlT.l.li. This instance may remind you that to* cure one organ it may be necessary to treat another. A lozenge or a gargle will not cure a sore throat or larnyxg'uis ii the real source of the trouble is up in tie.- nose. Anil it would be unwise treatment to (ill the stomach r.p with drugs to cure the catarrh when infection comes to the stomach from l : ie hi'.ck of the nose or throat. If you constantly feel is a collection oi mil.-ii, Ht the back of the throat,oll siuiiil.l teir.io'.ir doctor when you ■•ii to cen.-u't him.

A SIMI'i.K oPEItATIOK. I'ol.vj i i-iin In- i-i'iiiovccl liy operation viihoii; chloroform t«i send tin- ] ;'t i■ 111 in s'ren. It is quit:; safe. ID .ompcd-nt li:miils. to have tin- operation i!nn.' nii.li-r i <>-:iilie. A win- snare is ii-eil. iiml it is u yn-iit lcli.-l' to tin; ,:.«.- ti"iit unit In llie ilortor to sec- t'le of-fi-nilinj; |ii>l.v|ins ciiujj'nt like a lisli on llie cud of u line. Tin- p.itiont walks up anil down (In- room .snill'inj; the air liii nose: for the nioinrnt In: rci|iiiivs, no oilier amusement lint to In- nllmrrd to take- a ikun bmilii Uuougli tlie nose;

fy is better than a round of golf. P;itients never show much gratitude if yaa skilfully perform - a most dangerous operation, but if you remove a polypus from the nose, a speck from the eye or a splinter from under the nail, you have made a friend for life. I must not promise that polypi never return; tiny may grow again.

FLAT-FOOT. There are many causes of aching feet, but a very common one is flat-foot. As is well-known, the foot is really an arch, specially adapted to give spring ii ml elasticity to the gait. When fjr any reason the arch falls, the condition is known as Hat-foot. There may 1m every degree of flat-foot; from in almost imperceptible defect to the most advanced eases, when the sole of the foot is as fiat as a pan-cake. To test yourself for flat-foot try the following simple method: Make the sole of your naked foot wet, and then plant the sole on a dry board or oil-cloth, and examine t!u impression left behind when tlie foot is taken up. If the foot is in a normal, healthy state, there should be a broad patch in front for the ball of the big toes and oth?r toes, and a large patch behind for the heel, and between the two patches there should be only a naraow line running along the outer side of the impression.

ARTIFICIAL ARCHES. It is this narrow connecting line tln'.t is the important one. If the arch is high, the line is very narrow. If the arch has fallen the arch is fallen, and it the foot is so fiat that the arch has entirely disappeared, there will be a broad mark between the toes and the heel, so that tlie impression looks more like the impression of boot than a naked fcot. Fir the slight degree of Hut-foot, it is not necessary to wear an instrument; the foot should be strengthened by rubbing and massage with oils and by giving the foot as much rest as can be managed: In the more advanced cases, it is necessary to wear a support to make an artificial arch; these pads consist of steel covered with leather, and they are worn inside the boot; it may be found more comfortable to wear boot a size larger than the ordinary pair, as the steel arch takes up soum room.

MARRIAGE AND LONG LIFE Dr. Hans Curadzc, the German statietistical expert, has discovered a new "barrier" between men and women. After studying the statistics of deaths and marriages, he declares: "If meu want to enjoy long life they should marry; if women want to grow to an age they should remain spinsters."

He admits that his conclusions can be established with greater certainty j when the city of Berlin publishes its | proposed statistical tables' of widows, : widowers, divorced person, and persons, who secured separations at various ' ages, but he says that tables already available show that married women die sooner than the unmarried, whereas married men live longest. Statistics show ■ that the fatal age for all males, married and unmarried, is about forty-four, whereas for tha married men it lies between fifty-five and sixty. The'fatal a.ge for all women is about fifty, ten years more for unmarried women, and nearly ten years less for married. Thus', if Dr. Curndze's statistics are to be believed, the woman who remains single' may expect twenty years more ol" life than her married sister. " Marriages dissolved by the_ death, of the wife last, on an average, ten, to fifteen years; those dissolved by the husband's death, usually last from twenty to twenty-live years. According to this, the average number of widowers in the average community is always considerably in ; excess of the number of widows. This is only one of the interesting questions which will be answered the elaborate statistics now being collected in lierlin. PERSONAL NOTES. The engagement is aiuiouwod of Miss Cant, of New Plymouth, to Lieutenant Frank Tanson", of Ilobart.