Chapter VIII (2)

EXERCISE FOR REPLACING UTERUS TO BE TAKEN JUST BEFORE RETIRING:--Kneel on the bed; bend forward until the chest is touching the bed and the hips are elevated as high as possible. The inlet of the vagina should then be opened so as to admit air. As soon as the air enters the womb falls into position. Lie down at once and give nature a chance to regain strength while you sleep.

The tampon soaked in glycerine and alum, and the douches of hot water, in which a little alum is dissolved, are both of great service in controlling the flooding which so frequently accompanies change of life and miscarriages. (Exercises for anteversion and retroversion supplied by a successful teacher of such work.)

The writer of this book asked a well-known medical writer why physicians do not advise exercises for the cure of displacements instead of operations. He said it is because women are not willing to do anything to help themselves. They expect the physician to cure them, and the only way a physician can "cure" is to operate. Sensible women, however, will be glad to practice helpful exercises.

DEBILITY:--"The debility of convalescence requires fresh air,
easily digested food, the avoidance of over-exertion, with a
gradually increasing amount of exercise. Such debility is only
aggravated by alcohol, though it may for a time be partially
masked thereby. Milk, eggs, fresh fruit and farinaceous
articles are the best foods. General debility without obvious
cause, may be treated by cold or tepid bathing. Salt added to
the bath is helpful. Change of air is a good tonic. Port wine
and other alcoholics while giving a false sensation of increased
vigor, really _reduce the tone of the pulse_, and therefore tend
to enfeeble the system. Alcohol is a relaxant, _not a tonic_."

DEPRESSION OF SPIRITS:--"Learn the Delsarte exercise for the
'blues,' and practice them daily. Hot air baths. Avoid rich
food. Take out-door exercise."

DIARRHOEA:--"This is a symptom of the presence of an irritant
of which the stomach is trying to be rid. Do not arrest it
prematurely, but assist it. If it persists, arrowroot, or corn
starch, or flour, mixed with cold water to the consistency of
cream may be taken, a tablespoonful at a time. 2. Bread charcoal
with cold milk. 3. A tablespoonful of cinnamon water with a
teaspoonful of lime water, mixed, every one, two or three hours.
Smaller dose for a child. Diet should be confined to toast, milk
toast, milk, cold or boiled. Tea, broth, meat, etc., are sure to
renew the trouble. Diarrhoea in infants is generally due to
errors in feeding, either over-feeding or the use of improper
kinds of food. Boiled milk thickened with flour is a simple
remedy in light cases. Alcoholics are utterly unnecessary in
diarrhoea, and to order them for young children is quite
wrong. A full enema of water, as hot as can be borne, will
remove offending substances from the bowels.

"Beware of diarrhoea medicines containing opium in any form.
They are unnecessary and dangerous, particularly for young
children."

DYSENTERY:--"At the beginning of the disease the stomach should
be relieved by the use of a large warm-water emetic. The
quantity of food should be restricted to the smallest amount
compatible with comfort. Ripe fruits, especially grapes, and
most stewed fruits, may be used in abundance to keep the bowels
regular. Salads, spices and other condiments, fats and fried
foods should be strictly avoided, together with tea, coffee,
alcoholics and all other narcotics.

"The diet should consist chiefly of simple soups, well boiled
oatmeal gruel, egg beaten with water or milk, and similar foods.
In many cases regulation of the diet is sufficient. Either the
hot or the cold enema may be employed.

"The use of opium, which is exceedingly common in this disease,
is not advisable, as it produces a feverish condition of the
system, decidedly prejudicial to recovery. Herroner, an eminent
German physician, very strongly discourages the use of opium in
this disease."--DR. J. H. KELLOGG.

DYSPEPSIA:--"It is commonly supposed that a little good whisky
or brandy aids digestion, while on the contrary it has been
proved conclusively by observing the processes of digestion upon
persons who have fistula of the stomach, or by evacuating the
contents of the stomach by means of a stomach-pump about an hour
after taking a meal--in one instance after taking an ounce of
alcohol, and in another where no alcohol was taken--that alcohol
coagulates the albuminoids, throws down the pepsin, decreases
the acidity (the combined chlorin and free hydrochloric acid),
and increases the fixed chlorids. Any one can make the
observation upon himself, that a meal taken without alcohol is
more quickly followed by hunger than one with it.

"Blumenau says: 'On the whole, alcohol manifests a decidedly
unfavorable influence on the course of normal digestion even
when ingested in relatively small quantities, and impairs the
normal digestive functions.'

"Dr. Chittenden, professor of physiologic chemistry in Yale
College, as a result of some investigations made by himself and
Dr. Mendel, states in the _American Journal of Medical
Sciences_, that he finds that as small a quantity as three per
cent. of sherry, porter, or beer lessens the activity of the
digestive powers."--_Bulletin of A. M. T. A._

"It should be observed that doses of alcohol which have no
appreciable effect in delaying digestion, are so small as to be
practically useless for any beneficial action."--_Medical
Pioneer._

One doctor writes:--

"What makes dyspepsia so hard to cure? This very alcohol taking.
The best cure is to refuse all alcoholic drinks, at meals and
all other times, and drink nothing but water."

The causes of dyspepsia are various; errors of diet being the most common. Others are mental worry, care and anxiety, and the use of drugs. An eminent writer upon this disease says:

"My main object in the treatment is to prevent the sufferers
from resorting to drugs, which in such cases, not only produce
their own morbid conditions, but also confirm those already
existing.

"The extensive and often habitual use of alkalies for acidity,
of purgatives for constipation, nervines and opiates for
sleeplessness, and after-dinner pills to goad into action the
lagging stomach, has been a potent factor in the production of a
large class of most inveterate dyspepsias."

Underdone bread, cake, and pie, are unfit for any stomach, yet are seen upon many tables. "Breakfast foods," cooked for ten or twenty minutes, are also dyspepsia producers. All breads, cakes, pies and cereals, require thorough cooking to fit them for digestion. Most cereals are better for supper than for breakfast, as they should be cooked in a double boiler for several hours. A young man, troubled with dyspepsia, learned to his amazement that the oatmeal, which he supposed was his best food, had much to do with the giddiness which often overcame him. He was advised to use dry foods, such as toast, zwieback and shredded wheat. This diet, together with the abandonment of nostrums, led to a cure. Zwieback is bread sliced, and dried in a moderate oven until light brown. Whole wheat bread is best. It is very delicious and is quite easily digested. In the case of the young man, it is probable that the difficulty with the oatmeal was the lack of sufficient cooking. Oatmeal made into gruel, well cooked, and diluted with a large quantity of scalded milk is easy of digestion.

Eating between meals, and excess in eating, lead to stomach derangement.

"The best remedy for acidity of the stomach is hot-water
drinking. Two or three glasses should be taken as hot as can be
sipped, one hour before each meal, and half an hour before going
to bed. The effect of the hot water is to wash out the stomach,
and so remove any fermenting remains of the previous meal.
Heartburn may be treated the same as acidity."

Persons troubled with slow digestion are better to eat only two meals a day. The writer has personal knowledge of a goodly number of women who have been benefited wonderfully by adopting the two meal a day plan.

Some persons, much troubled with dyspepsia, have adopted the plan of prolonged fasting advocated by Dr. Dewey, and testify to a cure by this method. While heroic, it is certainly more rational than drug treatment. For acute dyspepsia a fast is requisite.

All that alcoholics can do for dyspepsia is to allay the uneasy sensations for a time, while adding to the trouble. It has been abundantly proved that alcohol must pass from the stomach before digestion can begin.

Dr. Ridge says:--

"Many cases which seem to be relieved by the use of beer are
really benefited by the hop, or other bitter, which the ale or
beer contains. _Hop tea_ is a useful stomachic, and a quarter of
a pint, or half that quantity, may be taken cold. It is made in
the same way as tea, using a handful of hops to a pint of
boiling water. Make fresh every day."

Dr. Kellogg says:--

"In cases of chronic dyspepsia the use of alcohol seems to be
particularly deleterious, although not infrequently prescribed,
if not in the form of alcohol or ordinary alcoholic liquors, in
the form of some so-called 'bitters,' 'elixir' or 'cordial.'
Nothing could be further removed from the truth than the popular
notion that alcohol, at least in the form of certain wines, is
helpful to digestion. Roberts showed, years ago, that alcohol
even in small doses, diminishes the activity of the stomach in
the digestion of proteids. Gluzinski showed, ten years ago, that
alcohol causes an arrest in the secretion of pepsin, and also of
its action upon food. Wolff showed that the habitual use of
alcohol produces disorder of the stomach to such a degree as to
render it incapable of responding to the normal excitation of
the food. Hugounencq found that all wines, without exception,
prevent the action of pepsin upon proteids. The most harmful are
those which contain large quantities of alcohol, cream of tartar
or coloring matter. Wines often contain coloring matters which
at once completely arrest digestion, such as methylin blue and
fuchsin.

"A few years ago I made a series of experiments in which I
administered alcohol in various forms with a test meal, noting
the effect upon the stomach fluid as determined by the accurate
chemic examination of the method of Hayem and Winter. The result
of these experiments I reported at the 1893 meeting of the
American Medical Temperance Association. The subject of
experiment was a healthy young man whose stomach was doing a
slight excess of work, the amount of combined chlorin being
nearly fifty per cent. above normal, although the amount of free
hydrochloric acid was normal in quantity. Four ounces of claret
with the ordinary test meal reduced the free hydrochloric acid
from 28 milligrams per 100 c. c. of stomach fluid to zero, and
the combined chlorin from .270 to .125. In the same case the
administration of two ounces of brandy with the ordinary test
meal reduced the combined chlorin to .035, scarcely more than
one eighth of the original amount, the free hydrochloric acid
remaining at zero. Thus it appears that four ounces of claret
produced marked hypopepsia in a case of moderate hyperpepsia,
whereas two ounces of brandy produced practically apepsia."

FAINTING OR SYNCOPE:--The following letter from the late Sir B. W. Richardson was addressed to a lady who had sought the great physician's advice on the subject:--

"25 Manchester Square, W., July 18, 1896.

"DEAR MADAM: There is no substance which acts as a substitute
for alcohol, nor is anything like it wanted. The human body is a
water engine, as I have often described it, and alcohol plays no
part in its natural motion. The idea that when it begins to
fail, a stimulant has to be called for, springs merely from
habit, and if, whenever any of the symptoms of fainting you
speak of occur, the person merely lies down on the side or back
and drinks a glass of hot water, or hot milk and water, all that
can be done is done. In the London Temperance Hospital I have
been treating the sick for diseases of all kinds and during all
stages, and have never administered a minim of alcohol, or any
substitute for it, and we have got on better than when
I--feeling it at all times at command--made use of it in the
ordinary way.

"I am, dear Madam, faithfully yours,
"B. W. RICHARDSON."

TREATMENT:--"Lay the patient down in a current of air with the
feet raised higher than the head, preferably on one side in case
of sickness occurring, or bend the head down to the knees, to
restore the flow of blood to the brain. Loosen all clothing. Rub
the limbs, chest and over the heart with the hand or a rough
towel. Sprinkle cold water on the head and face. Smell ammonia,
strong vinegar, smelling salts or any pungent odor. Put hot
bottles to the feet, and in severe cases a mustard plaster over
the heart. Sip hot milk, hot water, hot tea, hot black coffee,
beef tea or a meat essence. Crowding round the patient and all
excitement should be avoided. In 999 cases out of 1,000, no
medicine is necessary.

"Faintness often proceeds from indigestion, flatulence inducing
pressure on the heart."

FAINTNESS, WEAKNESS, EXHAUSTION, FATIGUE:--"The truth is that
for simple weakness, faintness, exhaustion, fatigue, cold or
wet, the best remedies are simple fresh air, pure water,
digestible food and rest. These are nature's restoratives, and
the sooner both physicians and people learn to rely upon them
instead of upon drugs the better it will be for all parties. And
as the effect of alcoholic liquors are directly depressing to
the strength and activity of all the natural functions and
processes of life, as shown by the most varied and scientific
investigations, it is important that this fact be taught to both
doctors and people everywhere."--DR. N. S. DAVIS.

FITS:--"Whether the fit be apoplexy or epilepsy all alcoholics
are extremely bad, both at the time and afterwards. Alcohol, the
'genius of degeneration,' is the chief cause of apoplexy, and
also a cause of epilepsy, especially when taken in the form of
beer. It diminishes the tone of the arteries and blood-vessels,
and thus tends to cause, aggravate and maintain a congested
state of the capillaries throughout the whole body. In the
treatment of epilepsy, therefore, neither alcohol nor any
so-called substitute should be given. * * * * *

"In the convulsions of children alcohol is equally
injurious."--DR. RIDGE.

FLATULENCE:--"Many uneasy sensations or pains, even in distant
parts of the body, are due to wind in the bowels, resulting from
indigestion. Asthma, cramps, depression of spirits, faintness,
giddiness, hiccough, prostration, sinking sensations and
sleeplessness, are all frequently due to the same cause. The
diet needs careful attention where there is much flatulence; tea
is often a cause. Charcoal biscuits are useful in some cases;
lemon juice in others. Fluid Magnesia may be taken. Watch for
the cause and remove it."

HEADACHE:--_The New Hygiene_ says: "This is the manifestation of
a deeper-seated trouble, usually in the stomach. The use of
stimulants is a sure promoter of headache. All users of
alcoholic liquors are, I believe, subject to headache, and it is
also a sure result of overindulgence in tea and coffee.

"To prevent the attacks, live regularly, avoid late hours and
excessive brain work; avoid tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages,
also sweets of all kinds, including sauces and pastries, and
anything fried in fat. Eat plenty of good, plain food, including
fruit, especially oranges. Eat none late at night. Exercise
regularly in such a way as to bring all the muscles into play,
at least once a day.

"To relieve an attack flush the colon.

"Headaches, which so largely result from the retention of impure
matter in the body, will be cured if a good quantity, say two or
three glasses, of hot water be drank in the morning or at night,
and then the next regular meal omitted, so that an interval of
house-cleaning can be had before other material is moved
in."--_Life and Health._

"Avoid pills and powders. Persons suffering from headache need
to be warned against taking remedies that contain opium and
alcohol, and also against the use of a recent popular remedy,
usually called a 'white powder' or 'white tablet.' They take the
latter readily because the druggist or physician says it
contains no opium. This is true, but it is one of the lately
discovered coal tar preparations (anti-febrine, acetanilid,
etc.) and is very depressing to the human system. Headache is
usually a symptom of trouble somewhere else, often in the
alimentary canal, an overloaded stomach, constipation, or tight
clothing. Learn the cause and remove that, and the headache will
disappear."--DR. H. J. HALL, Franklin, Ind.

"Gentle massage is helpful and the use of cold compresses. Lack
of sufficient sleep will cause headache. Women often bring on
nervous headache by overwork and worry."

HEMORRHAGE:--"Never give alcohol in a case of profuse
hemorrhage. The faint feeling, or irresistible inclination to
lie down is nature's own method of circumventing the danger, by
quieting the circulation and lessening the expulsive force of
the heart, thus favoring the formation of clot at the site of
the injury."--_Clinique._

"For uterine hemorrhage an emetic to induce vomiting is the best
cure."--Dr. Higginbotham in _British Medical Journal_.

"If the faint is dispelled too quickly, and the blood-vessels
are relaxed by alcohol, or the heart aroused to energetic action
by any remedy, the hemorrhage may recommence, and may prove
fatal. Quiet, the application of cold, pressure, the elevation
of the wound where possible, and the absence of stimulants, are
the cardinal points of treatment in most cases."--DR. RIDGE.

"If then, it seems absolutely necessary to rouse a person out of
a dead faint, what can be done? Swallowing is out of the
question, lest the patient choke. The head must be laid low,
and the face and chest flapped with a cold wet cloth, or
alternately with hot wet cloths; smelling salts (not too strong)
may be applied to the nose.

"When the faint has been recovered from, but the hemorrhage
continues so much that it is feared another faint may occur,
and, perhaps, be fatal, it may be warded off by drinking any hot
liquid; if Liebig's extract of meat, or strong beef tea, is at
hand and can be given hot, there is nothing better."

HEART DISEASE:--Dr. Ridge says: "I trench here on a delicate
subject, because, when there is real disease of the heart,
medical advice will of course have been obtained, and very
probably a doctor may have said that some alcoholic liquor is
essential. There are, also, several different forms of heart
disease which require altogether different treatment, and only a
physician can tell the difference, or appreciate the necessity
for the particular treatment required. But it may be pointed out
that alcohol is utterly unable to 'strengthen' the heart, or
give tone to the blood-vessels, or to the system at large.

"The alteration in the pulse due to alcohol is chiefly owing to
its paralyzing action on the blood-vessels, and when they are
too contracted, and thereby cause the weakened heart to labor
too much, the alcohol will give relief for the time. But we have
in nitrite of amyl, a fluid which will act more quickly and more
powerfully; but this must not be employed without medical
direction. It is very useful in cases of _angina pectoris_, or
_breast pang_, but is rarely required in the majority of cases
in which the valves of the heart are diseased. The paralyzing
action of alcohol is not generally produced by less than half a
wine-glassful of brandy or whisky, or twice that quantity of
wine, and often much more is required. The relief to uneasy
sensations which much smaller quantities sometimes produce is
due to their anaesthetic or benumbing action, by which the nerves
of the patient are rendered less sensible, although the danger
is by no means diminished. * * * *

"The only sensible way to avert the evil consequences of heart
disease is to strengthen the heart, and that is to be done by
strengthening the body generally. The amount of exercise, the
kind of baths, etc., which should be taken, have to be modified
in accordance with the nature of the case. If these natural
health-giving measures cannot be employed nothing is an
effectual substitute.

"_Weak_ or _feeble heart_ is a common complaint, and is as
ordinary an excuse for resorting to alcoholic liquors as
'Timothy's stomach.' If there is no organic disease; if the
valves of the heart are healthy and act properly, all anxiety on
this point may be entirely banished. The slow pulse, the feeble
pulse, the cold feet, the want of energy, these are not to be
got rid of by such a mere temporary agent as alcohol, even if
relief can be thus obtained from day to day. The constant
application of alcohol to the tissues of the body alters them
gradually by its chemical action. In addition to this, the
balance of the nervous system is altered, an unnatural condition
is produced, and the unhappy patient becomes more liable to
disease and more easily succumbs when attacked.

"Many of these 'feeble hearts' mean too little exercise, very
often also, too much or improper food and drink.

"The best remedies are cold sponging (according to the season);
avoidance of coddling; plain, wholesome food; abstinence from
tea, hot drinks and condiments; regular out-of-doors exercise
and all similar true _tonic_ measures."

Dr. Kellogg says:--

"Persons subject to attacks of _angina pectoris_ should carry
with them a small bottle containing a sponge saturated with
nitrite of amyl, and place it to the nose when necessary.

"Sympathetic palpitation may be relieved by bending the head
downward, allowing the arms to hang down. The effect of this
measure is increased by holding the breath a few seconds while
bending over. Another ready means of relief is to press strongly
upon the large arteries on either side of the neck.

"Palpitation of the heart is often mistaken for real organic
disease of the organ. * * * * * A careful regulation of the diet
is in most cases all that is necessary to effect a cure."

Dr. Edmunds, of London, was asked during a medical discussion what he thought of the use of alcohol in heart disease. His answer is embodied in the following:--

"With regard to the use of brandy in cases of heart disease, he
was convinced it was a mistake to use it in such cases. There
were many forms of heart disease, but the most common kind arose
from the heart being too fat. Excess of fat debilitated the
heart and injured its working, just as a piece of wax attached
to a tuning fork would impair its usefulness. In such cases he
dieted his patients in order to reduce their weight. Every dose
of brandy taken for heart disease increased the evil. The moment
brandy was taken for heart disease, or any other chronic
complaint of a similar kind, the disease was increased. If
doctors recommended alcohol to their patients, he had been asked
what abstainers should do. In such cases, as had been suggested,
he thought the patients might ask what the alcohol was to do for
them, and if the reply was not satisfactory, they should get
another doctor."

Dr. T. D. Crothers, of Hartford, Conn., has deduced some valuable facts from his experiments with the sphygmograph, upon the action of the heart. He has found by repeated experiments that while alcohol apparently increases the force and volume of the heart's action, the irregular tracings of the sphygmograph show that the real vital force is diminished, and hence its apparent stimulating power is deceptive.

Dr. C. W. Chapman, of the National Hospital for Diseases of the Heart, wrote in the _Lancet_:--

"The very thing (alcohol) which they supposed had kept their
heart going was responsible for many of its difficulties."

Of cases of palpitation and irregularity caused by business anxieties or indigestion, he said:--

"To give alcohol is only to add fuel to the fire."

HEART FAILURE:--"In cases of cardiac weakness, the thing needed
is not simply an increased rate of movement of the heart, or an
increased volume of the pulse, but an increased movement of the
blood current throughout the entire system. In the application
of any agent for the purpose of affording relief in a condition
of this kind, the peripheral heart as well as the central organ
must be taken into consideration. In fact, the whole circulatory
system must be regarded as one. The heart and the arteries are
composed of essentially the same kind of tissue, and have
practically the same functions. The arteries as well as the
heart are capable of contracting.

"Both the heart and the arteries are controlled by excitory and
inhibitory nerves. These two classes of nerves are kindred in
structure and in origin, the vagus and the vasodilators being
medullated, while the accelerators of the heart and the
vasoconstrictors of the arteries are non-medullated and pass
through the sympathetic ganglia on the way to their
distribution.

"Winternitz and other therapeutists have frequently called
attention to the value of cold as a cardiac stimulant or tonic.
The tonic effect of this agent is greater than that of any
medicinal agent which can be administered. The cold compress
applied over the cardiac area of the chest may well replace
alcohol as a heart tonic. The thing necessary to encourage the
heart's action is not merely relaxation of the peripheral
vessels, but, as Winternitz has shown, increased activity of the
peripheral circulation in the skin, muscles and elsewhere.
Alcohol paralyzes the vasoconstrictors, and so dilates the small
vessels and lessens the resistance of the heart action; but at
the same time it lessens the activity of the nerve centres which
control the heart, diminishes the power of the heart muscle, and
lessens that rhythmical activity of the small vessels whereby
the circulation is so efficiently aided at that portion of the
blood circuit most remote from the heart. A continuous cold
application applied to that portion of the chest overlying the
heart stimulates the nerves controlling the walls of the
vessels, and at the same time energizes the corresponding
cardiac nerves. It is wise to remember that the vasoconstrictor
nerves are one in kind with the excitor nerves of the heart,
while the vasodilators are in like manner associated with the
vagus. With this in mind, it is clear that while alcohol
paralyzes the vasoconstrictors, it at the same time weakens the
nerves which initiate and maintain the activity of the heart;
while, on the other hand, cold excites to activity those nerves
which produce the opposite effect.

"The apparent increase of strength which follows the
administration of alcohol in cases of cardiac weakness is
delusive. There is increased volume of the pulse for the reason
that the small arteries and capillaries are dilated, but this
apparent improvement in cardiac action is very evanescent. This
is a natural result of the fact that while the heart is relieved
momentarily by sudden dilation of the peripheral vessels, the
accumulation of the blood in the venous system, through the loss
of the normal activity of the peripheral heart, gradually raises
the resistance by increasing the amount of blood which has to be
pushed along in the venous system. This loss of the action of
the peripheral heart more than counterbalances the temporary
relief secured by the paralysis of the vasoconstrictors.

"Thermic applications, general and local, may safely be affirmed
to be the true physiological heart tonic. In the employment of
the cold pericardial compress as a heart tonic, the application
should generally be continued not more than half an hour at a
time, and its use may be alternated with general cold
applications to the surface. A cold towel rub, or the cold trunk
pack is the best form for application if the patient is very
feeble.

"The cold towel rub is applied thus: wring a towel as dry as
possible out of very cold water, and spread it quickly and
evenly over the surface; rub vigorously outside until the skin
begins to feel warm; then remove, dry the moistened surface, rub
until it glows, and make the same application to another part;
and so on until the whole surface of the body has been gone
over. The procedure should be rapid and vigorous.

"If the cold trunk pack is employed, a sheet of not more than
one thickness should be wrung as dry as possible out of very
cold water, and wrapped quickly about the body, after first
dipping the hands in water, and rubbing the trunk vigorously. In
cases of extreme cardiac weakness, very cold and very hot
applications may be alternately applied over the region of the
heart. The duration of the hot and cold applications should be
about fifteen seconds each.

"Any one who has ever witnessed the marvelous effects of
applications of this sort in reviving a flagging heart will
never doubt their efficacy, and will have no occasion to resort
to alcohol, or any other intoxicant, to stimulate a flagging
heart. The writer has employed these measures for stimulating
the heart for more than twenty years, and might cite hundreds of
instances in which their efficiency has been demonstrated. They
are applicable not only to the cardiac depression encountered in
the adynamic stage of typhoid and other fevers, but in cases of
heart failure from hemorrhage, of surgical shock, collapse under
chloroform or ether, opium poisoning, coal gas asphyxia,
drowning, etc."--Dr. J. H. Kellogg, in _Bulletin of the A. M. T.
A._, Jan., 1899.

Dr. N. S. Davis tells of a case of threatened collapse where he was called in consultation. Patient was in a small, unventilated room.

"It was easy to see that what she needed was fresh air in her
lungs. Instead of giving alcohol in any form she was moved into
a large, well-ventilated room. All symptoms of 'heart failure'
disappeared. Had she begun to take whisky or brandy, physician
and friends would have attributed her recovery to that, when in
fact it would have retarded recovery by hindering oxygenation of
the blood."

"It would also be a very great mistake to suppose that when
reaction follows collapse, in cases in which alcohol has been
given, this result is always due to the alcohol. I have seen so
many cases of severe collapse recover without alcohol that I
cannot but be skeptical as to its necessity, and even as to its
value. I was much struck many years ago by a case of post partum
hemorrhage which was so severe that convulsions set in. I should
then have given brandy if there had been any to give, but there
was none in the house and none to be got. I administered
teaspoonfuls of hot water and the patient revived and recovered;
next day, except for anaemia, she was as well as ever, with no
reactionary fever or other disturbance, as would almost
certainly have been the case if brandy had been given.

"In collapse from hemorrhage, we have learned the value of
injections of warm saline water, either into the veins, the skin
or the rectum, and the same treatment is available in other
cases of collapse with contracted vessels.

"Another measure which has proved most efficacious is the
_inhalation of oxygen_ gas. This is especially useful in cases
in which alcohol is decidedly injurious, namely, those in which
there is increasing congestion of the lungs, which the heart,
though doing its utmost, is unable to overcome. Alcohol only
increases the congestion, and the heart is already over-exerted
and nearly exhausted. The effect of the oxygen is apparent in a
few seconds, and cases have been rescued in which death appeared
to be inevitable and imminent."--DR. RIDGE.

HEART STIMULANTS:--"The advantage of beef extract over alcohol
as a stimulant was demonstrated on a large scale in the Ashantee
war."--DR. RIDGE, London.

For those who must have a drug: aqua ammonia, 8 drops to 1/2 cup of hot water, or 20 grains carbonate ammonia to 1/2 cup water. Hot water alone is a useful stimulant; also water, hot or cold, with a few grains of Cayenne pepper added. The latter is good, not only to start the heart's action in collapse, but also to relieve violent pain. Hot milk is a most valuable stimulant. Many persons to whom hot milk has been given during the extreme weakness of acute disease have testified afterward to its good effects in comparison with the wine formerly administered. The wine caused an after-feeling of chilliness and weakness, while the milk gave warmth and added strength.

INSOMNIA OR SLEEPLESSNESS:--"A person who suffers from
sleeplessness should avoid the use of tea and coffee, tobacco,
alcoholic liquors and all other disturbers of the nervous
system. Eating immediately before retiring has been recommended,
but the ultimate result may be an aggravation of the difficulty
instead of relief. If a person suffers from 'all gone feelings'
so that he cannot sleep, he should take a few sips of cold water
or a glass of lemonade. As complete relief will generally be
obtained as from eating, and the stomach will be saved work when
it should be resting. A warm bath just before retiring, a
wet-hand rub, a cool sponge bath, gentle rubbing of the body
with the dry hand, a moist bandage worn about the abdomen during
the night, are all useful measures. When the feet are cold, they
should be thoroughly warmed by a hot foot or leg bath, and
thorough rubbing. When the head is congested, these measures
should be supplemented by the application of cold to the head,
as the cold compress or the ice-cap."

A walk in the evening, or gentle calisthenics, may help those of sedentary habits. Bicycle riding and horse-back riding in the evening have helped many.

The practice of long deep breathing will often put persons to sleep when all other devices fail. The lungs should be filled to their utmost capacity, and then emptied with equal slowness, repeating the respiration about ten times a minute, instead of eighteen or twenty, the natural rate. Those who fall asleep upon first going to bed, and after a few hours awake, and are unable to sleep again, may find relief by getting out of bed, and rubbing the surface of the body with the dry hand. Or walk about the room a few minutes, exposing the skin to the air, go back to bed and try the deep breathing.

"The use of drugs for the purpose of inducing sleep should be
avoided as much as possible. Opium is especially harmful. Sleep
obtained by the use of opiates is not a substitute for natural
sleep. The condition is one of insensibility, but not of natural
refreshing recuperation. Three or four hours of natural sleep
will be more than equivalent to double that amount of sleep
obtained by the use of narcotics. When a person once becomes
dependent upon drugs of any kind for producing sleep, it is
almost impossible for him to dispense with them. It is often
dangerous to resort to their temporary use, on account of the
great tendency to the formation of the habit of continuous use.
The use of opiates for securing sleep is one of the most
prolific means by which the great army of opium-eaters is
annually recruited. Chloral, bromide of potash, whisky and other
drugs are to be condemned almost as strongly as opium."--DR.
KELLOGG.

Dr. Furer, of Heidelberg, Germany, in a paper before the International Congress against alcohol, held in Basle, Switzerland, in Sept., 1895, said:--

"The sleep from alcohol does not act as a mental tonic, but
leaves the mind weaker next day."

Some noble specimens of manhood have become wrecks through accepting the advice to try "whisky night-caps." Edison recommends manual labor, instead of going to rest, for aggravated insomnia. He says sleep will soon come naturally.

LA GRIPPE:--"Alcohol has no place in the treatment of _la
grippe_; on the contrary it is because of the too frequent use
of this, and other narcotics, that epidemics make such fearful
headway in our land, and such must be the rule until the people
study the laws of health and obey them. Profuse sweating,
followed by a careful bathing of the body in tepid water,
gradually cooling it to a normal temperature, and avoiding
unnecessary exposure, will relieve. The patient should sleep in
pure air and eat as little as possible, and that only when
hungry. * * * * * Quinine is essentially a nerve poison, and
capable of producing a profound disturbance of the nervous
centres. A drug of such potency for evil should be employed with
the greatest care, and never when a milder agency will secure
the result. Exceedingly pernicious is the habit of dosing
children with this drug."--DR. CHARLES H. SHEPARD, Brooklyn, N.
Y.

"A late surgeon of the gold coast of Africa wrote the following
to the London _Lancet_ of Jan. 2, 1890: 'Some of the worst cases
of this disease, the grippe, remind me of an epidemic I saw
among the natives of the swamps of the Niger. * * * * *
Irrespective of disinfectants and inhalations there is a simple,
effective and ready remedy, the juice of oranges in large
quantities, not of two or three, but of dozens. The first
unpleasant symptoms disappear, and the acid citrate of potash of
the juice, by a simple chemic action decreases the amount of
fibrine in the blood to an extent which prevents the development
of pneumonia.'"

The Syracuse (N. Y.) _Post-Standard_ contained the following during the epidemic of 1899:--

"Dr. George D. Whedon declared to a _Post-Standard_ reporter
yesterday that there is practically no subsiding of the grippe
in this city. Dr. Whedon said that the weather conditions have
little, if anything, to do with the disease, and that it is
impossible to define the conditions which produce it. It is some
morbific agency, the influence of which, Dr. Whedon said, is
exerted upon the pneumogastric nerve.

"_Dr. Whedon was emphatic in denouncing treatment by means of
alcoholic stimulants, and coal tar derivatives._ In discussing
the subject at some length he said:--

'I find that infants and young children are practically exempt
from the disease, and the liability increases with age. In my
own experience, which has since 1889 amounted to an aggregate of
3,000 cases, alcoholic stimulants have appeared to be usually of
little or no value; their usual stimulating effect does not seem
to be realized in this condition. Unless malarial complications
exist quinine appears of no benefit, and then should not be used
in larger than two grain doses. Large doses depress the weakened
heart, and in all cases increase the terrible confusion and
headache constantly present in severe cases.

'From the views I entertain of its pathology, and from the
terrible fatality which has attended the extensive use of the
coal tar derivatives in treatment of _la grippe_, I argue that
the manner in which they have been prescribed in the beginning
of the disease, to reduce fever, and relieve the often intense
suffering, lowers the heart's action, which is already
sufficiently incapacitated by the toxic agent producing the
disease.

'The intention is usually to stimulate later, but later is in
many cases unfortunately too late. The heart being overwhelmed
by the poison, and by the added depression of all coal tar
preparations, cannot keep up the pulmonary circulation. The
swelling of the lungs increases, and the result is fatal.

'I am aware of the weight of authority for their administration
and of the relief they afford, but am just as well assured that
were their use discontinued, the greatly increased death-rate
from _la grippe_ would cease to appear.

'These coal tar remedies are being used everywhere, and the
medical journals recommend them despite the fatal results. They
are being used every hour in the day in Syracuse, and, as a
result, are knocking out good people. Among the most popular
coal tar derivatives I might mention anti-kamnia,
salol-phenacetine, anti-pyrine and salicylate of soda.

'Prognosis is favorable at all ages. Patients should be kept
warm, and perfectly quiet in bed, and supplied with such
nutritious and easily digested food, at frequent intervals, as
the partially paralyzed stomach can take care of. All
nourishment must be fluid and warm rather than cold.'"

The _Journal of Inebriety_ for April, 1889, says:--

"The present epidemic of influenza has proved to be very fatal
in cases of moderate and excessive alcoholic drinkers.

"Pneumonia is the most common sequel, breaking out suddenly, and
terminating fatally in a few days. Heart failure and profound
exhaustion, is another fatal termination. One case was reported
to me of an inebriate, who, after a full outbreak of all the
usual symptoms, drank freely of whisky and became stupid and
died. It was uncertain whether cerebral hemorrhage had taken
place, or the narcotism of the alcohol had combined with the
disease and caused death.

"A physician appeared to have unusual fatality in the cases of
this class under his care.

"It was found that he gave some form of alcohol freely, on the
old theory of stimulation. Another physician gave all drinking
cases with this disease alcohol, on the same theory, and had
equally fatal results. It has been asserted that alcohol, as an
antiseptic, was useful in these bacterial epidemics, but its use
has been followed by greater depression, and many new and
complex symptoms. The frequent half domestic and professional
remedy, hot rum and whisky, has been followed by more serious
symptoms, and a protracted convalescence. Many facts have been
reported showing the danger of alcohol as a remedy, also the
fatality in cases of inebriates who were affected with this
disease.

"The first most common symptom seems to be heart exhaustion and
feebleness, then from the catarrhal and bronchial irritation,
pneumonia often follows."

The vapor or Turkish bath is the best means of "breaking up" this disease, together with hot lemonade and rest in bed for a day or two. The inhalation of hot steam should be tried when there is much bronchial irritation.

LIFE-SAVING STATIONS, THE USE OF ALCOHOL IN:--"There is no
possible useful place for alcoholic liquors in connection with a
life-saving station. Applied externally the rapid evaporation of
alcohol reduces the temperature; taken internally it diminishes
the efficiency of both respiration and circulation, and by
increasing congestion of the kidneys it directly increases the
danger of secondary bad effects from exposures of any kind. To
restore warmth and circulation to the surface, light, rapid
friction and the wrapping with dry flannel is the safest,
cheapest and most efficient, while free breathing of fresh air,
and frequent small doses of milk, beef-tea, ordinary tea or
coffee, or even simple water, will afford the greatest amount of
strength and endurance, and leave the least secondary bad
consequences. It is just as easy to keep at hand a jug or flask
of any one of the articles named as it is to keep a flask of
whisky or brandy. There is no need of keeping them hot, as they
act well at any temperature at which they can be drunk."--DR. N.
S. DAVIS, Chicago.

MEASLES:--"In mild cases, very little treatment is required,
except such as is necessary to make the patient comfortable.
Good nursing is much more important than medical attendance. If
the eruption is slow in making its appearance, or is repelled
after having appeared, the patient should be given a warm
blanket pack.

"The old-fashioned plan of keeping the patient smothered beneath
heavy blankets, and constantly in a state of perspiration is
wholly unnecessary. The irritation of the skin, as well as the
sensitiveness to cold, may be relieved by rubbing the skin
gently two or three times a day with vaseline or sweet oil.
There is no danger from the application of cold water to the
surface except in the last stages of the disease, after the
eruption has disappeared.

"The patient should be allowed cooling drinks as much as
desired. During the disease a simple but nutritious diet should
be allowed, but _stimulants of all kinds should be prohibited_."

"It is wholly unnecessary, and dangerous as well, to give whisky
to bring out the eruption."--DR. I. N. QUIMBY, Jersey City.

"Any hot drink, such as ginger tea or hot lemonade, may be used
to hasten the eruption, if delayed."

MALARIA:--Observers of this disease in such regions as the gold coast of Africa have noted the fact that malarial attacks are generally preceded by impaired digestion. The disease is said to be due to animal parasites. These parasites are supposed to generate in the soil of certain regions, and thence, through the drinking water, or otherwise, find entrance to the human body.

"A healthy stomach is able to destroy germs of all sorts, hence
the best protection from malaria is the boiling of all drinking
water, and the maintenance of sound digestion and purity of
blood by an aseptic dietary."

Dr. J. H. Kellogg says in _The Voice_:--

"It must be understood, however, that fruit in malarial regions,
especially watermelons, may be thickly covered with malarial
parasites and the parasites may sometimes find entrance to the
fruit when it becomes over-ripe, so that the skin is broken. It
is evident, then, that care must be taken to disinfect such
fruit by thorough washing, or by dipping in hot water, which is
the safer plan. The same remark applies to cucumbers, lettuce,
celery, cabbage and other green vegetables which are commonly
served without cooking. Not only malarial parasites but small
insects of various kinds are often found clinging to such food
substances, their development being encouraged by the free use
of top dressing on the soil, a process common with market
gardeners.

"The treatment of malarial disease is too large and intricate a
subject for proper treatment in these columns. We will say
briefly, however, at the risk of being considered very
unorthodox, that the majority of cases of malarial poisoning can
be cured without the use of drugs of any sort. In fact, in the
most obstinate cases of chronic malarial poisoning, drugs are of
almost no use whatever. Quinine, however, is certainly of value
as a curative agent in these cases, either in destroying the
parasites, or in preventing their development; but as it does
not remove the cause, its curative effect is likely to be very
transient. The practice of habitually taking quinine as a
preventive of malarial disease is a most injurious one, as
quinine is itself a non-usable substance in the system, and
therefore must be looked upon as a mild poison, to be dealt with
by the liver and kidneys the same as other poisons. By habitual
use it may itself become a cause of disease. One or two
periodical doses of quinine often prove of great service in
interrupting the paroxysms of an intermittent fever, but other
treatment must also be employed to develop the bodily
resistance, and fortify the system against disease. The morning
cold bath, followed by vigorous rubbing, is a most excellent
measure for this purpose, but the old-fashioned German wet-sheet
pack is one of the best remedies known. The paroxysm itself can
generally be avoided by means of the dry pack, begun before the
chill makes its appearance; but this requires the services of an
expert nurse. In not a few cases it is wise for a person who
suffers frequently from malarial disease to seek a change of
climate to some non-malarial region.

"Col. T. W. Higginson of the First South Carolina Volunteers, in
1862, said of Dr. Seth Rogers, an eminent Southern physician,
who was surgeon of the regiment: 'Fortunately for us, he was one
of that minority of army surgeons who did not believe in whisky,
so that we never had it issued in the regiment while he was with
us, and got on better, in a highly malarial district, than those
regiments which used it.'"

MATERNITY:--Dr. Ridge says:--"It is one of the greatest mistakes
to make use of alcoholic beverages to 'keep up the strength'
during labor. It is, of course, impossible to predict at the
commencement how long the labor will last; if then brandy, or
other similar drink, is resorted to early, it acts most
injuriously. The desire for food is often entirely removed; the
demand of the system being therefore unperceived, and so not
supplied, a state of weakness and prostration is in time
produced, if the labor should be protracted, which may be really
serious. The nervous system becomes exhausted by the repeated
action of the alcohol. If a fatal result is not occasioned, yet
the prostration of body and mind after delivery is aggravated,
and convalescence thereby retarded. Alcoholic drinks produce
paralysis and congestion of the blood-vessels, and in this way
largely increase the liability to flooding after the labor is
over. Alcohol also increases the liability to a feverish
condition.

"It is necessary to take small quantities of plain, nourishing
food at regular intervals, and nothing is of greater value than
well-cooked oatmeal: other farinaceous food may be substituted,
if preferred. If there is much prostration, meat extracts or
beef tea are of great value. Tea tends to produce flatulence and
to prevent sleep.

"After the labor is over, the best restorative is a cup of hot
beef tea or an egg beaten up in warm milk or a cup of warm
gruel. Rest, and absence of excitement and worry are essential
and alcohol is specially injurious."

MENSTRUATION, PAINFUL:--Young girls often resort to the use of brandy during the monthly period, and parents ask anxiously, "What can they use instead of the brandy?"

The very best thing that can be done is to go to bed, wrapped in flannels, with a hot-water bottle or other hot application to the abdomen, and to the feet. Take hot ginger tea, or pepper tea.

A warm hip-bath taken at the beginning may give relief, or a large hot enema retained for half an hour or so. Rest is necessary.

For those who must go to work, Dr. Ridge recommends five drops of oil of juniper, to be taken on sugar.

NEURALGIA:--"The principal cause of neuralgia is defective
nutrition of the nerves. Disorders of digestion are very often
accompanied by neuralgia in various parts of the body. It may
also result from taking cold, from loss of sleep, from
dissipation, and also from the use of tobacco, alcohol, tea and
coffee.

"The patient's general health must be improved by a wholesome,
simple diet, and the employment of tonic baths, as a daily
sponge bath, and massage in feeble cases. Sun-baths and exercise
in the open air are of first importance. Ordinary neuralgia may
almost always be relieved by either moist or dry heat. In some
cases, cold applications give more relief than hot. As a rule,
abnormal heat requires cold, and unnatural cold requires hot
applications. In many cases it is necessary to give the patient
a warm bath of some kind. Electricity often succeeds when all
other remedies fail.

"For facial neuralgia apply hot fomentations, together with the
use of sitz baths, or hot foot baths. The head may be steamed by
holding it over hot water, adding pieces of hot brick
occasionally to keep water steaming, head being covered.

"There is no complaint, perhaps, in the treatment of which the
use of port wine will be more strongly urged by kind friends,
with the assurance that it is impossible to get well without it.
This is quite untrue, as thousands can testify."--DR. RIDGE.

"Avoid opiates of all sorts. 'It is better to bear the ills we
have than fly to others that we know not of.' The pangs of
neuralgia are as nothing to endure compared with the sufferings
of an opium wreck. Build up the general health, and the
neuralgia will disappear."

NAUSEA.--"A feeling of sickness is not uncommonly due to
indigestion. If it is caused by rich food take a pinch of
bicarbonate of soda in a little water, or a teaspoonful of fluid
magnesia. The acidity of the food will thus be neutralized, and
this course is far preferable to benumbing the stomach with
brandy. If indigestion is the cause, it is often salutary to
miss one or two meals, so as to allow the stomach to recover.

"When due to pregnancy, a little aerated water, or soda water is
useful; sometimes a small wafer or a crust, eaten before rising
in the morning, will check it. An early morning walk, if the
weather is pleasant, is helpful.

"The moist abdominal bandage is a very excellent means of
relieving nausea during pregnancy. It should be worn constantly
for a week or two, and then omitted during the night. Daily sitz
baths are also of great advantage. In many cases electricity
relieves this symptom very promptly. In very urgent cases in
which the vomiting cannot be repressed, and the life of the
patient is threatened, the stomach should be given entire rest,
the patient being nourished by nutritive injections.
Fomentations over the stomach, and swallowing small bits of ice,
are sometimes effective when other measures fail."--DR. J. H.
KELLOGG.