316 
February 23, 1924 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Health Notes 
Talks with a Trained Nurse 
BATHING A PATIENT 
Dear Home Nurse: I am going to talk 
to you in this letter about bathing your 
patient: In your physiology you learned 
that the skin plays a very important role 
in the process of elimination. You learned 
that poisons which are constantly being 
generated in the body are thrown off 
through the pores of the skin. You can 
readily see that if this is necessary for a 
healthy person, it is much more so for the 
person who is ill with either a chronic or 
an acute disorder. 
The invalid needs baths, not only to 
keep her clean and make her comfortable, 
but to help her get well and to prevent 
complications, such as bed sores, boils, 
fever and restlessness. The best time 
to give the bath is in the morning, or for 
some patients, at bedtime—never im¬ 
mediately after a hearty meal. Except 
in the case of the very old or the very 
weak, a daily bath should be given. If 
household duties are too pressing then 
bathe your patient at least twice a week. 
If the patient is confined to the bed, 
proceed as follows: 
Close the windows. Have the room 
comfortably warm and without draughts. 
Bring everything to the bedside before 
beginning the bath. You will need two 
small blankets, two towels (face and 
bath), two wash cloths, soap, bathing 
alcohol and talcum powder; a foot tub 
or large basin half full of warm water, a 
pitcher of extra hot water and a waste 
water pail. Have ready also a fresh 
nightgown, sheets and pillow cases. Move 
the patient to the side of the bed. Spread 
one blanket over her and remove the bed¬ 
clothes, rolling them down to the foot of 
the bed under the bath blanket. Slip the 
other blanket under her. Take off the 
nightgown and proceed with the bath. 
Face, neck and ears are washed and 
dried, then the chest, arms, back, abdomen, 
legs and feet—each part separately. Rinse 
off the soap and dry thoroughly. Tut the 
feet in the tub. Bet your touch be gentle 
but firm. Finally rub the back with 
alcohol and powder. Attend to the nails 
—brush and comb the hair and put on the 
nightgown. Make the bed, removing the 
bath blankets and putting on fresh linen. 
If the invalid feels a little chilly, a hot 
hair restoring appliance was brought to 
you attention and, in spite of your skepti¬ 
cism, you were induced to try it. Speak 
confidently of the fuzz with which your 
scalp is being covered, and which you are 
sure will, some day, become long, curling 
ringlets of lustrous black. I can use the 
testimonial, written in the first flush of 
your confidence and enthusiasm, long 
after you have been undeceived as to the 
value of the treatment, and it will be of 
tremendous value to me in separating 
other dollars than yours from the still 
hopeful bald. 
The circular which you send begins 
with the question: “Are you a skeptic?” 
I answer frankly, I am, and here are 
some of the reasons for my skepticism. 
In spite of the pictures and language of 
the circular, I know that hair does not 
grow from roots, as corn does. The 
“pores” of the scalp are not filled with a 
solution of hair food, as the interstices 
between particles of soil are filled with 
plant food dissolved in the soil water. 
To be sure, an enlarged section through 
the skin of the scalp would show a hair 
“root,” resembling a young onion, in its 
deeper layers, and from this root the 
shaft of the hair extending upward into 
the external world. This root, however, 
is a root in appearance only ; it is really 
the expanded end of the shaft of the hair 
enclosing a mass of blood vessels through 
which food is brought to the hair after 
having passed through the stomach and 
the varioous processes of digestion and 
being carried by the blood stream to the 
hair and to all of the tissues of the body 
which need it. 
That is the way, and the only way, in 
which hair can be fed, through the own- 
prised last Summer when she visited the 
oculist in a nearby city and was told that 
her old glasses, bought 25 years before, 
were much too strong for her. She has 
come to her “second sight,” and her new 
glasses are a joy to her. 
It is better to go to the very best oc¬ 
ulist one can reach. For my own glasses 
I first visited an establishment which 
manufactures lenses, fits glasses, and 
does other work requiring great skill. 
But they would not provide me with 
glasses, after making a test of my eyes, 
saying they would not take the respon¬ 
sibility of fitting glasses for my eyes 
without a prescription. My eyes were 
not at. all in a bad condition, but so 
totally unlike that they required special 
tests in order to fit them with suitable 
lenses. , 
With so many demands on the mother s 
strength, it is hard to have added to 
these daily discomfort from wearied eyes. 
The right kind of glasses, kept spotless 
and clear, would lift a great load from 
many tired shoulders. MRS. E. E. L. 
Child With Depraved Appetite 
I have a grandson 20 months old who 
has formed the habit of eating paper, even 
the wallpaper if he can get hold of a 
piece. He is miserable and unhappy with¬ 
out it. He does not have a healthy look ; 
the doctor says he needs lime,. which is 
being given him. I am wondering if any 
chemicals enter into the manufacture or 
bleaching that would act as a stimulant 
or poison to the little fellow. 
Binghamton, N. Y. MRS. G. w. s. 
The craving for paper is not because 
of any stimulant found therein, but rather 
the result of a depraved appetite which 
may result from digestive or other dis¬ 
orders. Your physician is the best judge 
of what is needed in this particular case. 
Arsenic has been found in wall papers as 
a coloring matter, but I know of nothing 
A Rhode Island girl, Marion Simons, daughter of Marcel and Neva Simons. She 
loves to feed and help care for the chickens. 
w T ater bottle and a hot drink will make 
her very comfortable. Take away every 
vestige of the bath and tidy up the room. 
This entire operation can be accomplished 
in three-quarters of an hour, or less with 
a little practice. Its results are hardly 
more gratifying to the patient, than to 
the sympathetic nurse who can then go 
cheerily about her other duties and leave 
her patient to her nap or her book. Try 
it, dear home nurse. 
SICK ROOM MANNERS 
Speak in a quiet natural voice—never 
whisper. 
Move quietly without bustle. 
Don’t jar the bed, tap with your feet 
or fingers, rock, or rattle paper. 
Avoid talking about disease. 
Be cheerful, but not too cheerful. 
ELSIE MY. SAFFORD. 
Holding up “Falling Hair” 
Do you think the treatment advertised 
in paper inclosed is any good for failing 
hair? My age is 27 years. J. V. H. 
Virginia. 
The only people who, in my opinion, 
can benefit by this treatment for falling 
hair are those who make and sell the ap¬ 
pliance and the greases that go with it. 
It. however, you can indulge a faint hope 
that it might prove beneficial in your 
case, why not make a paper cone to fit 
your head, fix an electric light bulb into 
the small end, using by preference a blue 
or orange-colored one for its psychic ef* 
feet, and then wear the cone as a cap 
after having connected the bulb with an 
electric light socket and greased your 
scalp well with some perfumed lard? The 
gentle warmth from the electric current 
should enable you to imagine a stirring 
at the roots of what hair you have left 
and to foretell the coming of such^ hir¬ 
sute adornment as only the Seven Suth¬ 
erland Sisters could boast of. If. after a 
few such treatments, you can find some 
fine hairs that you had not previously 
noticed upon the scalp, sit down and 
write me a glowing testimonial telling of 
your previous loss of hair by the hand¬ 
fuls, ahvays “by the handfuls,” and of the 
despair which filled your soul until my 
er’s stomach. You take hair food and 
•skin food, and the only kind of food that 
can nourish the hair and the skin, every 
time you eat a meal. The oft and vividly 
described pores of the scalp through 
which the hair protrudes are simple open¬ 
ings for the purpose of permitting the 
hair to emerge and for furnishing, too, an 
outlet for the oil glands which keep the 
hair soft and lustrous. You can rub 
more or less grease into them, but you 
can’t feed the hair that way because na¬ 
ture provided an altogether different sys¬ 
tem. It simply*can’t be done. M. B. D. 
Are Your Eyes Cared For? 
Recently I have come in direct contact 
with two cases where neglect of the eyes 
resulted seriously. In each case the vic¬ 
tim was a very busy farm mother in 
middle age. who believed the glasses she 
was using to be perfectly satisfactory. 
One of my friends had a red swelling 
come upon the edge of the upper lid. It 
had at first every appearance of a stye, 
but even after weeks failed to mature. 
Only after urgent requests from her home 
folk did she consent to go to an oculist. 
He found the trouble to be due to eye 
strain from unsuitable glasses. The new 
glasses have proven such a comfort that 
she readily acknowledges it was poor 
economy to have postponed getting them 
so long. In the other instance, very red¬ 
dened and inflamed lids followed close 
upon a siege of cleaning old paper from 
the walls. The sufferer thought it was 
only a temporary visitation caused by the 
dust, and refused to go to an oculist 
until the pain grew so great as to keep 
her awake at night. -The oculist she con¬ 
sulted pronounced her trouble to be gran¬ 
ulated lids, brought on by improper 
glasses. It is taking some time for the 
inflamed condition to be cured, and the 
patient wishes she had had her glasses 
renewed before they caused so much 
trouble. 
Improper glasses often cause nerve 
strain which affects the nerves in the 
head, back of the neck, stomach, or other 
parts of the body. Indigestion may be 
the direct result of eye strain from im¬ 
proper glasses. Nervousness, inability to 
sleep at night, headache—all may come 
from the same cause. It does not always 
mean that one needs “stronger” glasses. 
A grandmother nearing SO was much sur- 
that can be considered actively poisonous 
in ordinary print paper. M. B. D. 
More About Chapped Hands 
I feel so sorry for anyone with cracked 
hands that I wish them to know about 
my cure-all for them. Compound tinct¬ 
ure of benzoin. It will form a coating. 
Put on as many coats as one has time 
for drying in. Each takes about five 
minutes. It is most healing. When 
healed, put on every night before retiring, 
the following, which will prevent crack¬ 
ing : Put '2 oz. quince seed on the back 
of the stove in cold water and let simmer 
all night. In the morning strain out 
seeds; add to liquid 2 oz. benzoin (plain 
benzoin this time), 2 oz. glycerine and 
2 oz. alcohol. My hands were never as 
bad as G. D. P.’s, but bad enough, so that 
these two preparations have saved me 
much discomfort. E. R. T. 
Pasadena, Cal. 
Things to Eat 
Six Practical, Economical Receipes 
Beef en Casserole.—1% lbs. round 
steak, 4% cups cold water, two carrots, 
two small chopped onions, iy 2 cups of 
rice or barley, y 2 teaspoon salt, one dash 
of pepper, one dash of paprika. Soak 
rice or barley in cold water over night. 
Four hours before it is to be served, add 
the onion and carrot, which have been 
put through the meat chopper. Season 
with salt and paprika. This mixture 
should be in a casserole. Lay the beef 
on top of the rice or barley preparation 
and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Dot 
with shredded suet, salt pork or other fat. 
Cover and bake in a slow 1 oven for three 
hours and a half. Serve immediately. 
Cannelon of Beef.—2 lbs. of lean beef, 
two sprays of parsley, two teaspoons of 
onion juice, two teaspoons of salt, % tea¬ 
spoon of pepper, two tablespoons of melt¬ 
ed butter, one egg. Remove from the beef 
all skin and tissue and chop very fine. 
Add to it the parsley, onion juice, salt, 
pepper, melted butter and egg. Mold this 
-meat into any desired form, "wrap in 
clean, larded paper, and place on a rack 
in a dripping pan. Let heat in a quick, 
steady oven for five minutes, then baste 
frequently with hot water, and bake for 
45 to 60 minutes. Remove the paper 
wrapping, and serve hot with the follow¬ 
ing tomato sauce: 
Tomato Sauce.—One quart of tomatoes, 
two bay leaves, two slices of onion, six 
cloves, four tablespoons butter, four 
tablespoons flour, one teaspoon salt, one 
dash of pepper. Cook the first four in¬ 
gredients together for 10 minutes and 
strain. Melt the butter over steam on 
hot part of stove. Add the flour and mix 
until smooth. Allow to cook for one 
minute, after which add to it the tomato 
liquid, salt and pepper. Cook until it 
thickens, stirring constantly. Place over 
hot water and cook 10 minutes longer. 
Serve hot. 
Beef Loaf.—2 lbs. of ground beef, V 2 
lb. ground salt pork, two beaten eggs, 
four crackers (rolled fine), two teaspoons 
salt, one teaspoon pepper, one grated nut¬ 
meg, two tablespoons thick cream, three 
thin slices of salt pork. Mix all ingre¬ 
dients together very thoroughly. Form 
into a loaf, place in a large dripping pan 
and lay strips of salt pork on top. Baste 
frequently, and bake about one and one- 
half hours in a steady oven of 300° F. 
When cold, slice and serve. 
Simmered Fish.—2 lbs. fresh codfish. 
Cleanse the fish thoroughly and wipe 
carefully with a wet e.oth. Wrap in 
cheese cloth and place in a kettle of 
court bouillon, or on a rack in a fish 
kettle, containing the same liquid. Let 
simmer 10 minutes for every pound of 
fish. After removing the fish from the 
kettle, take off the cheesecloth, and place 
on a hot platter. Cover with sauch Bech¬ 
amel and garnish 'with parsley, sliced 
carrots and radishes. Serve hot. 
Court Bouillon.—Three quarts water, 
one cup vinegar, one bay leaf, one sprig 
parsley, one stalk of celery, three cloves, 
y 2 carrot (minced), one onion (chop¬ 
ped). To the boiling water add all other 
ingredients. Allow to come to a boil. It 
is then ready to receive the fish. 
Sauce Bechamel.—This is made by add¬ 
ing the beaten yolk of an egg to cream 
sauce. Cream Sauce.—Melt one table¬ 
spoon of butter over hot wmter. Stir into 
it one tablespoon of flour, a pinch of salt 
and dash of pepper. Add one cup of milk 
and place on hot part of the stove, stir¬ 
ring constantly until it begins to thicken. 
Cook 10 minutes longer over hot water. 
Stuffed Onions.—One quart of onions. 
Equal quantity of left-over meat and 
bread crumbs. Place onions in cold wa¬ 
ter and remove the skins. Drop into boil¬ 
ing water, salted, and cook for 10 minu¬ 
tes. Drain and set aside to cool. Chop 
the centers fine and mix thoroughly, with 
equal quantities of chopped meat and 
bread crumbs. Add enough milk or melt¬ 
ed butter to make moist. Stuff the cavi¬ 
ties of the onions with this mixture and 
spread over them a layer of bread crumbs. 
Place in a shallow pan and pour around 
them a cup of hot water. Bake in a 
moderate oven about 50 minutes, or unnl 
tender. Serve hot. 
Potato Croquettes. — One pint hot 
mashed potatoes, two tablespoons butter, 
y 2 teaspoon salt, dash of nutmeg, dash 
of cayenne pepper, few drops of onion 
juice, three tablespoons of cream or milk, 
two eggs, one teaspoon of cut parsley. 
Add to the mashed potatoes the other in¬ 
gredients. Mix well and form into little 
cakes. Roll in bread crumbs and dip into 
a beaten egg which has been slightly di¬ 
luted with cold water. Roll them again 
in bread crumbs. Place in a frying bas¬ 
ket, which is put into a kettle of smoking 
hot grease. Let fry until nicely browned. 
Arrange on a hot platter and garnish 
with sprigs of parsley. Serve at once. 
HELEN N. UPSON. 
Good Things for Supper 
English Monkey.—One cup stale bread, 
one cup milk; soak bread in milk; one- 
half cup cheese, cut fine ; one tablespoon 
butter, melted together. Add milk and 
bread and one-half teaspoon salt and a 
bit of cayenne pepper, and last, one egg, 
beaten. Serve on fresh toasted crackers, 
piping hot. If any is left it makes a 
fine filling for sandwiches for school next 
day. 
Manhattan Shrimp.—One tablespoon 
butter, melted ; rub one tablespoon flour 
into butter off the stove; one-half cup 
cream, one cup strained tomato pulp, 
mustard and paprika to taste, pinch of 
soda in tomatoes. Cook all together and 
add one cup grated cheese, one cup of 
shrimps, broken once, and one egg, beat¬ 
en. Cook quickly and serve hot on toast. 
Delicious for luncheon or Sunday night 
supper. 
Dressing for Cabbage Slaw.—One-half 
cup sour cream, tw T o tablespoons sugar, 
one-half teaspoon salt, one-fourth tea¬ 
spoon paprika, one-half teaspoon celery 
seed, one-fourth cup vinegar. Beat all 
together and pour over shredded cabbage. 
Graham Popovers. — One-third cup 
white flour, two-thirds cup Graham flour, 
two-thirds teaspoon soda, salt, two yolks 
of eggs, one teaspoon melted butter, three- 
fourths cup sweet milk. Beat hard and 
add last beaten whites of three eggs. 
Bake in hot greased patty pans. 
Waffles.—One pint of milk, two eggs, 
salt, one tablespoon baking powder, flour 
to make a batter a little stiffer than a 
cake batter. Add last one large table¬ 
spoon melted butter or lard, not hot. 
Grease waffle irons thoroughly with lard 
each time you put the batter on. 
ANNA B. BAINES. 
