Health, Happiness, and Longevity Part 14

_Antipyrine._--Dr. T. E. Smith, of Cincinnati, had his whole right side paralyzed by a ten-grain dose of antipyrine. The dose is an ordinary one. This powerful drug is much resorted to by grippe victims.

=Removal of Foreign Substances.=--Considering the frequency with which foreign bodies are swallowed, especially by children, the best treatment to employ in such cases should be generally known. A variety of such methods have been advocated, but just now the so-called "potato cure"

appears to be the most popular. One physician not long ago reported that he had successfully applied it with the best results in three cases. One was that of a 6-year-old boy, who swallowed a small weight; another that of a girl, 9 years old, who had swallowed a nail; and the remaining one that of a woman who had swallowed a set of teeth. He fed the patients for three days on nothing but potatoes. This treatment is a method in vogue among the pickpockets of London, who, swallowing their booty, live on potatoes until the stolen articles have pa.s.sed down and out of the body.

=Rheumatism.=--Those who have a tendency to that disease should "take a st.i.tch" now and free their systems from all injurious retained matter.

They should live abstemiously, exercise freely, keep the skin active by frequent bathing, the bowels open with fruits, and drink water in large quant.i.ties. Water dissolves and washes waste matter out of the system; it is therefore an absolute essential where there is any impairment in the action of the kidneys, bowels, or skin. He who applies this simple treatment, and takes proper care of himself otherwise, may feel quite secure from attacks of rheumatism.

"Practical Medicine" suggests: "Make a concentrated emulsion of black soap, 200 grammes; add thereto 100 or 150 grammes of turpentine, and shake the whole vigorously until a beautiful creamy emulsion is obtained. For a bath take half of this mixture, which possesses an agreeable pine odor. After remaining in the bath a quarter of an hour, the patient should get into bed, when a p.r.i.c.kling sensation, not disagreeable, however, is felt over the entire body; then, after a nap, he awakens with marked diminution of rheumatic pains."

Flour of sulphur dusted into the soles of the shoes and stockings is said to be a perfect preventive. The exciting causes of rheumatism are cold or wet applied to the body when in a state of heat, exposure to cold winds, remaining long in wet clothes, sleeping in a damp bed, or blood-poisoning. Acute attacks of rheumatism should be treated by painting the affected part with tincture of iodine.

=Seasickness.=--Experts claim that seasickness can be regulated by a system of breathing. One must sit still and time the breathing to the upward and downward motion of the boat. As the boat falls there should be a full expiration, and as the boat rises start on an inspiration ending just as the boat begins to drop.

=Sleep.=--The "Home Maker" says: "Up to the fifteenth year most young people require ten hours, and till the twentieth year, nine hours. After that age everyone finds out how much he or she requires, though, as a general rule, at least six to eight hours are necessary. Eight hours'

sleep will prevent more nervous derangements in women than any medicine can cure. During growth there must be ample sleep if the brain is to develop to its full extent, and the more nervous, excitable, or precocious a child is, the longer sleep should it get if its intellectual progress is not to come to a premature standstill, or its life be cut short at an early age."

A doctor of prominence says: "There is no doubt in my mind but the belief that human beings should sleep with their bodies lying north and south has its foundation in true scientific facts. Each human system has two magnetic poles--one positive and one negative. Now, it is true that some persons have the positive pole in the head and the negative pole in the feet, and _vice versa_. In order that the person sleeping should be in perfect harmony with the magnetic phenomena of the earth, the head, if it possesses the positive pole, should lie to the south, or if the feet possess the positive pole the head should lie to the north. The positive pole should always lie opposite to the magnetic center of the continent and thus maintain a magnetic equilibrium. The positive pole of the person draws one way, but the magnetic pole of the earth draws the other way and forces the blood toward the feet, affects the iron in the system, tones up the nerves, and makes sleep refres.h.i.+ng and invigorating. But if the person sleeps the wrong way and fails to become magnetically _en rapport_ with the earth, he will then probably be too magnetic, and he will have a fever resulting from the magnetic forces working too fast, or he will not be magnetic enough, and the great strain will cause a feeling of la.s.situde, sleep will not be refres.h.i.+ng, and in the morning he will have no more energy than there is in a cake of soap. Some persons may scoff at these ideas, but the greatest scientific men of the world have studied the subject. Only recently the French Academy of Science made experiments upon the body of a guillotined man, which go to prove that each human system is in itself an electric battery, one electrode being represented by the head, the other by the feet. The body was taken immediately after death and placed on a pivot, to move as it might. After some vacillation the head portion turned toward the north, the body then remaining stationary. One of the professors turned it half way around, but it soon regained its original position, and the same result was repeatedly obtained, until organic movement finally ceased."

=Small-pox and Vaccination.=--Notwithstanding existing prejudices, statistics prove the great usefulness of vaccination. In small-pox epidemics, of those persons attacked who have not been vaccinated, one case in four is fatal; while of those who have been vaccinated, the death rate is not one in four hundred and fifty. In cities, it is important that every infant should be vaccinated before it is six months old. In the country, the operation may be deferred until the infant is a year old. Care should be taken to have the virus fresh and from the cow.

The taking of virus from a child, or an adult, should never be allowed, as const.i.tutional diseases are often transmitted in that way.

Vaccination is performed by making a small incision in the skin and introducing the virus on the point of a lancet or needle. On the third day, if the desired result has been attained, a small red spot may be seen. This increases in size, becomes elevated, and, by the sixth day, is filled with a clear, yellow liquid. About the eighth day, the pustule is fully formed, when symptoms of small-pox are usually felt,--headache, s.h.i.+vering, loss of appet.i.te, etc. These symptoms subside in a day or two; the fluid in the pustule dries up, and a scab forms, which remains about two weeks and then disappears, leaving a scar. The affected part should be protected by a loose bandage, and all scratching or rubbing prevented.

The theory in regard to vaccination is that the disease in a mild form takes hold of the system, and either completely or partially destroys the liability to contract the same disease in the future. If the destruction is only partial, it can be made total by future vaccinations. All authorities agree that it is necessary to revaccinate frequently--just as often, in fact, as the system shows itself in readiness to take the vaccinations. Then as often as once in five or seven years vaccination should be repeated in order to obtain complete immunity from small-pox.

=Superst.i.tions.=--Numerous are the dangerous superst.i.tions about marriage. For instance, the bride must not try on her wedding gown, or ill-luck will follow. She must not look in the gla.s.s after she is fully dressed and ready for the ceremony. She must not enter her new home by stepping over the threshold, but must be carried over it by one of her relatives. A piece of the bride's cake must be broken over her head as soon as she is safely on the other side. It is very unlucky for her to be in a happy state on her wedding-day. She must be as dolorous as possible, violent fits of weeping being especially beneficial.

It is a good idea for the brides-maids to throw away as many pins as possible on the wedding-day, as this will hasten marriage. The bride should throw away her slipper in leaving the wedding feast, and she who catches it will be the first married. The month of May is generally conceded to be the most unfortunate for marriages. The lucky months are January, April, August, October, and November. January is especially lucky.

Lovers should carefully avoid pa.s.sing a sharp or pointed instrument from one to the other. Such things tend to cause quarrels. The wedding should be put off by all means if a cat sneezes on the eve of the wedding-day.

It should never take place if the cat is black. To sweep dust over a girl's feet or legs will be certain to make an old maid of her.

Should the younger sister of a family marry first, the older sisters will be condemned to lasting celibacy unless they dance at her wedding in their stocking-feet.

The wedding-ring of the mother is an infallible cure for eruptions on the skin of the child. The ring must be rubbed three times around each sore. Cure is certain.

The virtue of the dew that glitters and sparkles in every leaf and flower of a May morning has been recognized from the earliest times. If a young girl wishes to obtain and preserve a glorious complexion she should venture out of a May morning and wash her face in this dew.

To spit in the hand before undertaking anything, whether in love, war, or business, will not fail to bring luck. If you are out fis.h.i.+ng, do not step over your rod, or you will catch no more fish than did Simple Simon in his mother's pail.

Of births, it may be said in general that a crying child will grow up to be a great and useful man. This omen is not very clearly settled, however, and is often given the other way. Some seer far back in the ages discovered the following: Born on Monday, fair in the face; born on Tuesday, full of G.o.d's grace; born on Wednesday, sour and sad; born on Thursday, merry and glad; born on Friday, worthily given; born on Sat.u.r.day, work for your living; born on Sunday, you will never know want.

To recall a person after they have left the house is bad luck. To go back for something forgotten is also bad luck, unless you sit down before going out again.

If, when you sit before the fire, a live coal jumps out, it is a sign that you are to have good luck, especially in money matters. To wash in water another has washed in is not only bad sanitarily, but also superst.i.tiously. He who makes many crumbs at the table will never have any money to spare. It is flying in the face of fortune to sweep dust out of the front door or to allow it to be swept out. In so doing you are sweeping out your good luck. To count one's gains brings luck, but to find money is the worst possible luck.

The 4-leaved clover once found, should be treasured, as every school-child knows and believes. It brings luck of every description.

Eve attempted to carry a 4-leaved shamrock of precious stone from Paradise with her, but it fell and shattered at her feet. Think of the disaster thus entailed upon the human race!

To see the moon over the left shoulder is as unlucky as to hold the four of clubs at cards. But the new moon seen over the right shoulder, or straight in front, portends fortune as smiling as her own bright rays.

One should be careful in writing a letter not to cross out a word in it.

To do so means that any request you may have made in the letter will not be granted. It is very unlucky to dry a letter before the fire, instead of allowing it to dry slowly and naturally. But unluckiest of all is to drop the letter on the floor after finis.h.i.+ng it.

Birth, marriage, and death are the three most important events in every life. Death, being the most dreadful, comes in for the largest share.

One of the best ways given us of avoiding it when mortal sickness is upon us is to allow the report to be circulated that you are already dead. The chances are strongly in favor of getting well. Especially is this so if friends begin to arrange for the funeral. A sure sign of early death is for a person to scatter the leaves of a red rose upon the ground. It is extremely hazardous to an infant's life to pare its nails before it is a year old. They should be bitten off.

Some superst.i.tions of my early life which I still remember are:--

1. Turning a loaf of bread upside down creates family quarrels. 2.

Allowing anyone to pa.s.s between you and your companion evil and death to follow. 3. Breaking a mirror, death in the family. 4. Having your hair cut on Sunday, forgetfulness. 5. Beginning an undertaking on Friday, ill luck. 6. Sitting at table or in company when just 13 are present, a death of one of their number before the year is done. 7. Presenting a sharp instrument or edge-tool to anyone, ill luck to ensue. 8. Putting on any garment inside out, unless you retain it until the sun goes down, bad luck to come. 9. Spilling salt, unless some is thrown into the fire or over the left shoulder, misfortune. During my life I have done everything in the above list that is claimed should not be done, that fell in my way to do, and still live and prosper, although born on Friday, and being one of a family of 13 children.

=Snake Bites.=--Tie a string or ligature hard around the injured limb and above the bitten place; suck the wound, so as to extract the poison, but be careful to see that the person who performs the sucking has no open sore in his mouth; wash with warm water and apply caustics, such as carbolic acid or concentrated liquor of ammonia; give five to ten grains of carbonate of ammonia, in water, every hour, and stimulate the patient with whisky or brandy; rub the limbs with pieces of flannel dipped in hot whisky or diluted alcohol. Medical attendance should be secured as soon as possible.

=Tape-worm.=--Recently attention has been called to cocoanuts as a vermifuge. Professor Paresi, of Athens, when he was in Abyssinia, happened to discover that ordinary cocoanut possesses vermifuge qualities in a high degree. He took, one day, a quant.i.ty of the juice and pulp, and shortly afterward felt some gastric disturbance, which, however, pa.s.sed off in a few hours. Subsequently he had diarrhea, and was surprised to find that there had been expelled a complete tape-worm, head and all, quite dead. After returning to Athens he made a number of observations which were most satisfactory, the tape-worm being always pa.s.sed and quite dead. He orders the milk and pulp of one cocoanut to be taken early in the morning, fasting, no purgative or confinement to the house being required.

=Teeth.=--For toothache rub a little essential oil on the face, at the hinge of the jaw, on the side that aches.

=Tobacco.=--Probably no subject in our book can interest the majority of persons more than this great question of the use of tobacco. We have a collection of opinions from the best authorities:--

The _Medical News_ published a paper by Dr. Wm. L. Dudley, Professor of Chemistry in the Vanderbilt University, giving the results of recent careful a.n.a.lytical experiments made by him in his laboratory with the smoke of an ordinary cigarette. Mice were used upon which to employ his tests. It is not needful that we should give the professor's description of his _modus operandi_ by means of air-tubes, an aspirator, a gla.s.s jar, etc., the results of his experimentation being the chief object of interest in which the reader is concerned. Suffice it to say, then, that in each of his several chemical tests by the gradual combustion of a single cigarette, the mouse that was the recipient of the resultant smoke died in the course of the operation, being literally poisoned to death by inhaling the carbonic oxide evolved from the "noxious weed."

The blood of the dead creature being subjected to spectroscopic examination, it was found that the veinous fluid had been so completely altered and vitiated that death was the inevitable effect. The tests were thoroughly scientific and conclusive. The fact was demonstrated, beyond the chance of doubt or question, that carbonic oxide is the chief const.i.tuent of cigarette smoke, if not all tobacco smoke, and that its inhalation into the air-pa.s.sage and lungs must of necessity be exceedingly deleterious, as much so to men and boys as to mice.

Cases of poisoning due to meat which seemed thoroughly wholesome have sometimes occurred and have remained unexplained. In the _Revue d'

Hygiene_, M. Bourrier, inspector of meat for the city of Paris, makes a suggestion. He described his experiments with meat impregnated with tobacco smoke. Some thin slices of beef were exposed for a considerable time to the fumes of tobacco, and afterward offered to a dog which had been deprived of food for twelve hours. The dog, after smelling the meat, refused to eat it. Some of the meat was then cut into small pieces and concealed within bread. This the dog ate with avidity, but in twenty minutes commenced to display the most distressing symptoms, and soon died in great agony.

All sorts of meat, both raw and cooked, some grilled, roasted, and boiled, were exposed in tobacco smoke and then given to animals, and in all cases produced symptoms of acute poisoning. Even the process of boiling could not extract from the meat the nicotine poison. Grease and similar substances have facilities of absorption in proportion with their fineness and fluidity. Fresh-killed meat is more readily impregnated, and stands in order of susceptibility as follows--pork, veal, rabbit, poultry, beef, mutton, horse.

A simple experiment which will show how injurious is cigarette smoke inhaled may be easily performed by means of a handkerchief: After taking a mouthful of smoke, put the handkerchief tightly over the lips and blow the smoke through it. You will find a dark brown stain on it. If the smoke is inhaled, and then blown through the handkerchief, there is very little stain, if any; consequently all that nicotine must remain in the lungs.

_An Ex-Smoker's Advice._--A young man who, not long ago, was an inveterate smoker, but who was recently induced to "swear off," came to me and talked in this strain: "I have been doing some figuring lately, and the result astonishes me. When I was smoking my hardest my average was eight cigars a day. Sometimes it would run over eight and sometimes under; but eight was about the all-round figure. I rarely bought my cigars by the box, and as I indulged in straight 10-cent goods, 80 cents a day was what my smoking cost me. This, with 40 cents added for cigars that I gave away and lost shaking dice, make a total of about $6.00 a week that I now save. It is just nine weeks and three days since I swore off, and by Sat.u.r.day I shall have $60 in the bank, without an effort on my part save that required to control an unnecessary appet.i.te. I must also regard as an a.s.set the superabundance of animal spirits I enjoy as a direct result of my abstinence from a habit that everybody knows is weakening, when indulged in to excess. Smoke yourself, do you? Well, try my scheme. Swear off and put your cigar money in the bank. You might need it some day, even if you are a newspaper man."

The New York _Medical Journal_ contains a convincing article on tobacco: "Tobacco contains an acrid, dark brown oil, an alkaloid, nicotine, and another substance called nicotianine, in which exists its odorous and volatile principles. When tobacco is burned a new set of substances is produced, some of which are less harmful than the nicotine, and are more agreeable in effect, and much of the acrid oil--a substance quite as irritating and poisonous as nicotine--is carried off. These fire-produced substances are called, from their origin, the 'pyridine series.' By great heat the more aromatic and less-harmful members of the series are produced, but the more poisonous compounds are generated by the slow combustion of damp tobacco. This oil which is liberated by combustion is bad both in flavor and in effect, and it is better, even for the immediate pleasure of the smoker, that it should be excluded altogether from his mouth and air pa.s.sages.

"Smoking in a stub of a pipe is particularly injurious, for the reason that in it the oil is stored in a condensed form, and the smoke is therefore highly charged with the oil. Sucking or chewing the stub of a cigar that one is smoking is a serious mistake, because the nicotine in the unburned tobacco dissolves freely in the saliva, and is absorbed.

'Chewing' is, on this account, the most injurious form of the tobacco habit, and the use of a cigar holder is an improvement on the custom of holding the cigar between the teeth. Cigarettes are responsible for a great amount of mischief, not because the smoke from the paper has any particularly evil effect, but because smokers--and they are often boys or very young men--are apt to use them continuously, or at frequent intervals, believing that their power for evil is insignificant. Thus the nerves are under the constant influence of the drug, and much injury to the system results. Moreover, the cigarette smoker uses a very considerable amount of tobacco during the course of a day. 'Dipping' and 'snuffing' are semi-barbarities which need not be discussed. Not much effect is obtained from the use of the drug in these varieties of the habit.

"Nicotine is one of the most powerful of the 'nerve poisons' known. Its virulence is compared to that of prussic acid. If birds be made to inhale its vapor in amounts too small to be measured, they are almost instantly killed. It seems to destroy life, not by attacking a few, but of all the functions essential to it, beginning at the center, the heart. A significant indication of this is that there is no substance known which can counteract its effects; the system either succ.u.mbs or survives. Its depressing action on the heart is by far the most noticeable and noteworthy symptom of nicotine poisoning. The frequent existence of what is known 'tobacco heart' in men whose health is in no other respect disturbed is due to this fact."

"A youth of eighteen at Bays.h.i.+re, L. I., has become insane from the excessive use of cigarettes."

Those who can use tobacco without immediate injury will have all the pleasant effects reversed and will suffer from the symptoms of poisoning if they exceed the limits of tolerance. These symptoms are: 1. The heart's action becomes more rapid when tobacco is used. 2. Palpitation, pain, or unusual sensations in the heart. 3. There is no appet.i.te in the morning, the tongue is coated, delicate flavors are not appreciated, and acid dyspepsia occurs after eating. 4. Soreness of the mouth and throat, or nasal catarrh appears, and becomes very troublesome. 5. The eyesight becomes poor, but improves when the habit is abandoned. 6. A desire, often a craving, for liquor or some other stimulant is experienced.

"In an experimental observation of thirty-eight boys of all cla.s.ses of society, and of average health, who had been using tobacco for periods ranging from two months to two years, twenty-seven showed severe injury to the const.i.tution and insufficient growth; thirty-two showed the existence of irregularity of the heart's action, disordered stomachs, cough, and a craving for alcohol; thirteen had intermittency of the pulse, and one had consumption. After they had abandoned the use of tobacco, within six months one-half were free from all their former symptoms, and the remainder had recovered by the end of the year."

_Pasteur Recommends Camphor Smoking._--In an interview with M. Pasteur, he was asked whether he considered la grippe occasioned by bacteria? The professor smiled sardonically and shrugged his shoulders, but said nothing. On being asked what he considered the best remedy for the malady, he remarked: "Let men and women both quit smoking tobacco and smoke camphor instead, and they will probably escape the pest."--_Paris Special._

The _Bulletin_ of this city has a good article on insanity and the cigarette. Ten or twelve boys have within a short time been committed to the insane asylum at Napa whose insanity has been traced directly to the smoking of cigarettes. The number who by reason of the same indulgence have brought on a degree of imbecility that may ultimately land them in the asylum or in the penitentiary cannot be reduced to an exact estimate. But having occasion recently to make some inquiry about a number of boys who had figured in the records of the criminal courts, it was found that a majority of them were habitual smokers of cigarettes.