Vol. XXIII. No. 7.] 



POPULAR SCIEl^CE NEWS. 



109 



n^edicine aqd Pljarnja.cy. 



HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 



One of the best ways to keep in good health 

 is not to think or worry too much about it. 

 If you feel strong and well, don't imagine 

 that some insidious disease inay be secretly 

 attacking your constitution. Many people 

 are like the inexperienced traveller, who anx- 

 iously inquired about the symptoms of sea- 

 sickness, and how he should know when he 

 had it. One generally knows when he is 

 sick, and frequently many supposably alarm- 

 ing symptoms prove, upon investigation, to be 

 either perfectly natural occurrences or of 

 very slight importance. 



Eat and drink what you desire, as long as 

 it agrees with you. Your stomach knows 

 pretty well what it can digest. Plain, simple 

 food is desirable, as a general thing, but the 

 luxuries of the table, in moderation, will do 

 no harm. 



Alcoholic beverages are not fit for habitual 

 ivse. They are true medicines, and should only 

 he used like any other medicines — under the 

 advice of a physician. As a regular beverage 

 they can do no good, but ^vill almost certainly 

 do harm. 



Take all the sleep you can get, but remem- 

 ber that the necessary amount varies greatly 

 for different persons. Some must sleep at 

 least nine hours, while others thrive under 

 six. Only don't rob yourself of what you 

 really need. The "midnight oil" is a terri- 

 bly expensive illuminant to burn, either for 

 purposes of labor or study. 



Avoid sudden changes of temperature. 

 You cannot avoid them in New England, 

 but you can guard against them by always 

 wearing flannel underclothing. The lightest 

 grade of flannel, sold especially for summer 

 wear, is a great life-preserver, and not op- 

 ])ressively warm, even in the hottest weather. 

 Always treat a common cold with great 

 respect. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred 

 it will get well anyway, but the hundredth 

 cold, if neglected, may lead to bronchitis, 

 pneumonia, or consumption. It is best to 

 take no such chances. 



Don't trifle with patent medicines. If you 

 are sick enough to need any medicine at 

 all, beyond the simple household remedies 

 familiar to all, you are sick enough to need 

 the attendance of a physician. If your watch 

 is out of order, you do not fuss over it till it 

 goes, but send it to a watchmaker ; but too 

 many people, when their infinitely more deli- 

 cate bodily machinery goes wrong, think they 

 are fully equal to the task of setting it right 

 again. They are the undertakers' best 

 friends. 



Whatever else you do, don't employ any 

 physician who advertises. There is nothing 

 criminal in advertising, but, by common con- 

 sent and agreement, all reputable physicians 



leave such methods of business to the travel- 

 ing quacks, mind-healers, "Indian" physi- 

 cians, "medical institutes," and a thousand 

 and one other forms of ignorance and rascal- 

 ity which prey upon a long-sufl'ering people. 

 The so-called "regular" physicians are not 

 omniscient or omnipotent, but they know 

 more about disease than anybody else, and 

 will do all that anybody can to cure you. 



Don't read medical works, unless you are 

 prepared to have all the difl'erent diseases 

 therein described. It takes a strong mind to 

 read a minute description of any disease 

 without discovering some of the symptoms 

 in himself. The quacks know this well, and 

 their so-called "medical" books consist prin- 

 cipally of descriptions of every imaginable 

 symptom, appended to the most painfid and 

 fatal diseases. Remember, that if you think 

 you have imdoubted symptoins of Bright's 

 disease, consumption, cancer, insanity, or 

 paralysis, that you probably haven't a trace of 

 any such disease about you. 



The favorite prescription of a very success- 

 ful physician was "to be a little lazy." This 

 remedy ought to be used with judgment. 

 He once recommended it to a government 

 official, but, with most people, rest and quiet 

 are the best possible means of cure, and a 

 change of occupation is usually better than a 

 total cessation of activity. 



By all means take as much exercise as you 

 can, and be in the open air as much as possi- 

 ble. Out-door life is the natural condition of 

 mankind, and the more one can have of it 

 the better. The practice must not be carried 

 to extremes, however. There are many days 

 when one is much better ofl' in a warm, com- 

 fortable, well-ventilated house than trying to 

 take out-door exercise in a mid-winter storm, 

 or under a July sun, and no one ever strength- 

 ened his constitution by sleeping with his 

 bed-room window open, with the outside 

 temperature at zero, or allowing the snow to 

 drift in upon his pillow. 



Fresh air, sunlight, good and sufficient 

 food, pure water, out-door exercise, temper- 

 ance in all things, and a cheerful disposition, 

 are the chief remedies in Nature's pharma- 

 copcsia, and are worth more than all the 

 drugs and medicines of the shops. Dr. 

 Holmes has truly said that if nine-tenths of 

 all the medicines in the world were poured 

 into the ocean, it would be all the better for 

 mankind and all the worse for the fishes ; and 

 the best physician can do little more than to 

 provide good nursing, and aid Nature in 

 throwing ofl' disease. 



A Novel Method op Therapeutical Action. — 

 The common name for the new medicine for pro- 

 ducing sleep is sulfonal. Its chemical name is 

 diaethylsulfondimethylmethan. It is used in this 

 manner : The name is written on a strip of paper, 

 and the patient is required to pronounce the word. 

 Sleep soon relieves him, and the paper falls from 

 his grasp. 



fOriginal in The Popular Science News.] 

 RABIES, OR HYDROPHOBIA. 



BY JOHN CROWELL, M. D. 



At this season of the year, there is always, in 

 large communities, more or less excitement, caused 

 bj the real or supposed madness of dogs, and not 

 infrequently a panic arises on account of some ugly 

 bite inflicted by a suspicious animal. No doubt 

 there is a great deal of exaggeration about the 

 whole matter of mad dogs, and many a hapless 

 favorite falls a victim to a needless alarm during 

 the epidemic of fear and nervous excitement. But 

 whoever has witnessed a case of true rabies, with 

 all its fearful manifestations of agony and complete 

 nervous derangement, and its terrible fatality, can 

 never be too emphatic in his precautions against the 

 infection. 



Rabies, or hydrophobia, is a disease occasioned 

 by a specific poison from rabic animals, and the 

 principal phenomena are an exalted reflex irrita- 

 bility, chiefly of the respiratory nervous centres, 

 and the centre of deglutition. True rabies arises, 

 in all instances, from infection by a specific virus, 

 or that material substance which contains or con- 

 veys the infecting principle, as produced in animals 

 affected with the malady. 



The infection may take place in various ways. 

 Notably, first, from the teeth or the bite of a dis- 

 eased animal, whether dog, cat, skunk, wolf, or any 

 other animal. The danger lies in the fact that the 

 teeth of tlie animal have penetrated the epidermis 

 and introduced the poison into the circulation. 



The danger is proportionally increased, as the 

 teeth of the dog are sharp, and the wound is deep, 

 penetrating into the flesh. The rabic poison may 

 be introduced by the claws of the animal, because 

 they are more or less in contact with the mouth. A 

 slight scratch will aftbrd entrance to the infected 

 saliva. Infection may also be produced by the 

 tongue of the rabid animal licking any abraded 

 surface of the body. 



A second source of danger is the flesh or blood of 

 animals dead from rabies; hence the danger to 

 those who dispose of the bodies of such animals, for 

 the slightest scratch or excoriation of the hand or 

 arm is sufficient to invite the infection from the dead 

 animal, and introduce it into the system. 



It is highly important to be able to detect the 

 symptoms of rabies in the dog, — rabies canina, — for 

 upon this depends the safety of those who are 

 exposed to the danger of a fatal bite. There are 

 two distinct varieties of the disease — the maniacal 

 and the paralytic forms. The first variety is marked 

 by a caprice of temper in the animal. He refuses 

 his favorite food, passes quickly from excitement to 

 depression, and vice versa, swallows the most unu- 

 sual substances, has a gradual weakening of the 

 hinder parts, trembling of the limbs, and a faltering 

 gait. The dog becomes often unruly and obstinate, 

 or timid and suspicious. There is generally a se- 

 cretion from the nasal passages, some difliculty in 

 swallowing, with a tendency to vomiting. There is 

 a disposition to roam abroad, a tendency to bite, 

 and there is usually a marked change in the voice, 

 which is prolonged to a dismal howl, and rises in 

 pitch toward the close. 



A peculiar characteristic in the mad dog is insen- 

 sibility to pain. A red-hot poker will be grasped in 

 the mouth without flinching, or the utterance of any 

 cry. These seasons of excitement are followed by 

 periods of calm, but the poison of the bite is still 

 the same. Finally, exhausted by the paroxysms, 

 the dog continues his weary wanderings with un- 

 steady gait, his tail between his legs, eyes rolling, 

 head moving from side to side, the mouth open, and 

 the tongue protruding. 



