and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1911. 



271 



advantage of saving the superintendent's time, if, 

 as in my case, lie has to do all the dosing him- 

 self having no dispenser or assistant; and also it 

 ensures the medicine being taken, coolies other- 

 wise, being given it at muster, take it to the lines 

 and there often do nut avail themselves of it 

 Precautions to be Observed. 



To conclude these sketchy remarks which, J 

 hope, will be of interest to some and possibly o* 

 assistance, too, I give thefollowing 'tips' as the 

 results of my own expenience and as advice to 

 those who do not already know of 'era. Live 

 awav from the riverside, out of the mist if 

 possible and, if a European, sleep with windows 

 shut at certain times of year. Avoid going out 

 in the eun after 10 or 11 a.m. and before 3 p.m. 

 Be careful about what you drink and ' ' look after 

 yourself " in the way of food. If in a low lying 

 part carry an umbrella always in addition to a 

 topee (if a European.) Whether you have ac- 

 tually had fever or not, take 8 grns. quinine 

 once a week regularly from April to end June. 

 Sleep off the ground and take occasional opening 

 doses. Do not bathe in cold water. Lastly, and 

 most important, do what you cau to keep your- 

 self from thinking too much about it, whether 

 you have fever or not. Keep your spirits up, 

 but not by pouring spirits down. 



The publication of the above brought us the 

 following useful contribution. 



Chills and Resultant Fever. 



An Ceylon Lady's Valuable Hints. 



Dear Sik,— I read with great appreciation 

 the article on " Fever " by a Peormade planter, 

 which appeared in your valuable paper last 

 week, and also the letters it evoked. 



But it seemed to me that the whole reliance 

 was placed on drugs, and that, perhaps, a few 

 supplementary words on treatment and diet 

 might not be superfluous. For myself 1 abjure 

 drugs as far as possible, and though it may not 

 perhaps be possible to do much tor coolies in the 

 way of treatment en masse, they might be en- 

 lightened in very few words as to the general 

 lines to be followed when illness sets in. 



Cold Stage : 

 , Thus : Go to bed and cover with blankets 



Hot drinks of rice cungy water 



Eat nothing 



Hot bottle to feet 



A little castor oil. 

 Hot Stage : 



Sip cool drinks of cungy water 



Spouge face and hands 



Keep still in bed. 

 Moreover there are the masters themselves, the 

 planters, toconsider, and many of them suddenly 

 attacked by illness do not recognise which 

 symptoms are serious, or why, and are utterly 

 at sea as to what should be done. 



Last week a learned Judge even said in my 

 presence : — 1 really cannot see how it is a chill 

 works such harm. It certainly often has serious 

 consequences, but I am blest if I can tell how 

 ifc acts on one.'' 



Well, — This is one of the things that are often 

 " hidden from the wise and prudont," but as 



it is revealed unto this Babe I will — if he and 

 others will condescend to listen for a few mo- 

 ments — try to make the reason ver} clear. 



In every living organism there must of ne- 

 cessity be waste constantly forming. Phis waste 

 must positively be got rid of and pats out of 

 the system as fast as lormed if one would keep 

 in health. This waste or impurity is oaued in a 

 variety of ways : partly from the unassirnilated 

 debris of the food we eat, partly from the attri- 

 tion of the muscles when in use, partly the im- 

 purities from the air we breathe — in fact every 

 cellular tissue is constantly receiving new 

 matter and depositing old waste substances. 



These waste matters mubt be got rid of daily 

 by various organs which we may call the organs 

 of elimination. Chief of these are the skin, the 

 liver, the kidneys and the intestines. 



As much as two and-a-half to three, pints of 

 waste matter will exude in perspiration con- 

 scious or unconscious, by the skin, during the 

 24 hours. 



The liver deals with a huge mass of carbona- 

 ceous matter which is separata from the blood, 

 and if the action of the liver cease only for a day 

 the yellow skin alone shows the retention of 

 bilious matter. 



The kidneys are the blood-hlttrs, and by them 

 another two and-a-half to three pints of waste 

 nitrogenous matter, salts and minerals should 

 be separated from the blood in the 24 hours. 

 These poisons if retained, potion the blood to 

 putrefaction,, and paralyse the brain. Of all ex- 

 cretions this is the most important t) observe, 

 as it is deleterious when suppressed and with so 

 much quicker effect than that of the others. 



Now suppose you get a chill, perhaps you 

 travel up from the plains to the hills without 

 changing into thick underclothing, as well as 

 warm outer wraps, or you get a drenching, or 

 get cold after tennis or other games, or inhale a 

 noxious germ when weary, worried, or hungry, 

 and the vitality is too depressed to deal with it. 



Result : The skin is congested, the millions 

 of pores are constricted by the action of the 

 cold, and all the waste that should pass off by it 

 is thrown in upon the internal organs. More- 

 over the blood breathes by the skin and thus 

 oxygenation is checked and waste settles in the 

 air passages of the lungs and causes cough. 

 Generally the chill affects also the liver and 

 kidneys, congesting them and thus the blood 

 speedily becomes full of vvaste matter more than 

 the organs can deal with. 



Then the kidneys become clogged and their 

 secretion is diminished oralmost ceases, just as 

 when a filter is clogged and requires thorough 

 cleansing Result: headache, backache, violent 

 shivering, sickness or nausea. The victim is in 

 abject misery, and usually h;is uo difficulty in 

 giving adeqnata expression to it in making 

 others know it too, and share his misery, 

 as the poisons working in his blood 

 make him at this stage acutely irritable. 

 If the system is not able to help itself and this 

 state of things is not soon reliuved it may in a 

 day or two be followed by drowsiness, coma, 

 and death. A weak heart is not able to cope 



