EXERCISE BETTER THAN MEDICINE

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3181, 12 November 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)

EXERCISE BETTER THAN MEDICINE

« . Much of the food actually digested and assimilated i< not used to the fullest extent for want of sufficient oxidation to make it yield the greatest amount of vitalising power to the tissues of the body. Such partially unoxidized products have an irritating effect on the organs and tissues, and predisposes them to disease if they do not direotly affect them with it. Exercise has a stimulating affect on all parts of the body by inducing further oxidation in all the tissues and organs. This increase! oxidation is attended by a greater demand on the part of the system for oxygen—as indicated by the greater number, force, and frequency of the respirations. During exercise the heart beats faster, and forces more blood through the lungs to all parts of the body, bearing in its little blood cells the precious life-giving factor, oxygen. These little cells—one constituent of which hcomoglohin, has the wonderful faculty of quickly loading and unloading itself with oxygen—thus act as direct aids to the process of oxidation in the tissues and organs. It is the combining of oxygen with unoxidized products in the blood that gives to each individual cell its possibility of sustaining life. Any process which increases the oxygen supplied to all parts of the body tends to strengthen the life in each individual oell, and to give it more power to resist disease. Exercise of all factors does this most effectively, and besides actually producing in each individual cell a greater vitality, it gives a favourable opportunity for the waste products of the tissues to be thrown off rapidly. By thus causing a further oxidizing of certain matters in the blood, it conduces in a double sense to life and health. Habitual outdoor exercise, with suitable protection from extremes of weather, is the most effective means of prolonging life to old age.

IMPORTANT MEDICAL DISCO VERY. Wi-: extract the following from our mctlic.il contemporary the Lancet, respecting an important new nfethod of treatment for tuberculous diseases discovered by Dr. Harrison, of Clifton, the lion, secretary to the Zoological-gardens : — '•' In a striking and suggestive paper read before the recent meeting of (he llrifish Medical Association at Nottingham, Dr. A. J. Harrison, of Clifton, described n new treatment for lupus, which, so far as it has at present been tried, holds out every promise of success. Wo have ample evidence that tuberculosis is curable. At posc-mortem examinations old tuberculous nodules arc frequently found at the apices of the lungs, and the investigations of !)rs. Kingston j Fowler, Sims AVoodhead, and Sidney Martin have shown that though some of them may still prove infectious to animals, others are completely inocuous. The process is a strictly logical and scientific one. The germicidal action of sulphurous acid is tfell known, but hitherto it has only been taken advantage of for disinfecting purposes. An outbreak of tuberculosis occurred among the monkeys in the Clifton Zoological-gardens. On burning sulphur in the house further infection was stayed for a considerable period. This was the first in the series of ideas which led to a trial of the treatment. The second was the powerful action of gases in their nascent condition. The first part of Dr. Harrison's process consists in saturating the affected tissues with a solution of hyposulphite of soda, forty grains to the ounce, and then applying a lotion consisting of five drops of strong hydrochloric acid to the ounce of water. An improvement in the patient's condition is speedily noticed, islets of healthy scar tissue first making their appearance. The process of healing rapidly extends, producing a healing surface unequalled by any that has yet beeu obtained by other methods, except perhaps after frequent scrapings ; but there is no loss of substance. Some ten cases have been thus treated, all with satisfactory results. One case, which was exhibited at Nottingham, was so advanced that operative measures were out of the question, but after six months' treatment a series of healthy scars is now all that remains. In some of the cases the treatment was purposely suspended for two

months before all the lupoid tissue had disappeared. At the end of this period there were no signs whatsoever of any breaking down in the scar, and even the lupoid tissue which remained was contracting, as iE the pabulum upon which the germs fed had been rendered unsuitable for their further extension. This was especially marked in one case, where previously there had been an ulcerated surface the size of a fiveshilling piece. With the exception of three small points this had entirely healed, and only a healthy white scar remained. Logically there would, appear to be no reason why this treatment should not be equally beneficial in cases of phthisis, although the difficulty of satisfactorily causing vapours to penetrate deeply into the lungs is well known. Indeed, Dr. Harrison has under his care one case in which sprays of the two solutions were used with marked decrease of physical sigus and symptoms and considerable improvement in the general condition. It remains to be seen, of course, how long the improvement already noticed will continue, but the result in lupus affords encouragement for further trial o£ this treatment by other competent observers."