Iht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
I 131 
Health Notes 
Clean the Ears 
The Rochester Herald tells how Dr. F. 
W. Bock restored the hearing of a 15- 
year-old girl who complained that she 
had 'been deaf in one ear for 10 years: 
“At five years,” says Dr. Bock, “some¬ 
one put a grape seed in her ear. She says 
a specialist tried to get it out but failed. 
She said, therefore, it must still be there. 
Her treatment at that time was followed 
by acute inflammation, but the discharge 
soon ceased and she was totally deaf after 
that time. A few minutes’ work cleared 
the ear of a mass of dried wax, and there 
was the grape seed, snugly embedded in 
it. She has now about half normal 
hearing, with no other resulting damage.” 
In another case a boy had been stone 
deaf in one ear for some years. His par¬ 
ents would not take him to a specialist 
because they thought he had inherited the 
trouble, since some of his relatives had 
been deaf. Thoroughly clearing the ear 
of wax restored the hearing. Some re¬ 
markable “cures” are reported from this 
simple treatment of cleaning the ear. An 
expert will often find obstructions there 
which the patient never dreamed were 
present. Yet do not take all this as a 
suggestion to “pick” the ears with pin¬ 
heads, toothpicks or similar mui*derous 
weapons. No one would think of poking 
such things into the eyes, yet the danger 
to the ears may be just as great. The 
ear specialists tell their patients to “clean 
your ears with your elbows,” and that is 
about the safest advice that can be given, 
but it will pay to have the children’s ears 
examined every year by some competent 
doctor. Only those who have lost their 
hearing can realize the true value of this 
advice. 
Cramps in the Water 
I quite often get cramps and I can find 
no reason for them. I never get cramps 
while out of water. I can go in swim¬ 
ming hours after eating and still get 
cramps. I would like to know the reason 
for these cramps. L. D. 
Cramps are caused by excessive use of 
muscles or by some disturbance of their 
nerve supply, possibly from circulation in 
the blood of products that should have 
been eliminated by the kidneys or other 
organs. While swimming one uses mus¬ 
cles that, out of water, are not often 
brought into such active play. These 
muscles may cramp from exhaustion. The 
chill of cold water may also have some 
effect through direct or indirect action 
upon the innervation of muscles. To one 
subject to cramps in the water it should be 
unnecessary to suggest caution in going 
beyond one’s depth, or bathing alone. 
M. B. D. 
Septic Tank Disposal 
I am planning to install bathroom, 
toilet, etc. in the house on our farm, run¬ 
ning water and waste into septic tank. 
How close to surface of soil can I run 
the distribution of the liquid coming from 
septic tank, without danger of freezing 
in the Winter time? I understand that 
the closer to surface the safer the well 
water will be. Drilled well is about 80 
feet from septic tank. B. K. 
The minimum depth for a disposal sys¬ 
tem is usually given at from 10 to 12 
inches, the depth being increased some¬ 
what where the plan is to plow the bed. 
The type of soil in which the tile is laid 
affects to some extent the grade or slope 
at which the tile is laid, but general prac¬ 
tice is to give about one-eighth inch per 
foot at the upper end and to lessen this 
as the lower end is reached to insure that 
the sewage will pass through the joints, 
which are laid slightly open, into the sur¬ 
rounding soil. The bacteria found in the 
upper layers of the soil are thus given a 
chance to act upon the sewage. 
Notes on Blood Transfusion 
One of our readers saw an advertise¬ 
ment in a New York paper offering $50 
for a quart of human blood. It was to 
be used for transfusion—that is, introduc¬ 
tion into the veins of an invalid suffer¬ 
ing from loss of blood or some wasting 
disease. We are asked to tell more 
about this traffic in blood, but there is 
little to tell. Considerable quantities of 
this blood are used each year in the large 
hospitals. It is said that there are 30 
different maladies in which transfusion 
of blood may be helpful. 
In a recent authentic article the fol¬ 
lowing statements are made: 
It has been discovered in the last dec¬ 
ade that a great difference exists in hu¬ 
man blood, even among men and wo¬ 
men of the same race and family. Hu¬ 
man Mood is now divided into four gen¬ 
eral classifications, with numerous sub¬ 
divisions. Curiously, the quality of blood 
often differs considerably in members of 
the same family and is not, as might be 
supposed, inherited from the parents. 
In the past, when surgeons were ig¬ 
norant of the differences in human blood, 
the transfusion was often a hit-or-miss 
operation. The belief that the blood of 
different members of the same family 
was identical had been so strong that 
near relatives were usually called upon 
when transfusion was necessary in the 
case of members of the household. As 
the science of transfusion is now under¬ 
stood, this was an unscientific way. The 
great danger in the past was that the 
blood would agglutinate when mixed. The 
red corpuscles failed to mix as they 
should, but stuck together in such a way 
that they clogged up the small veins. The 
circulation of the entire body was thus 
affected seriously and the patient failed 
to benefit. 
Before surgeons undertake a modern 
transfusion, both the blood of the patient 
and donor is analyzed to determine if 
they fall in the same general classifica¬ 
tion. A serum is prepared of the donor’s 
blood, and the patient’s blood is mixed 
with it, and the possibility of their com¬ 
bining properly is observed. Microscopic 
examinations are made of the blood thus 
mixed. Nothing is left to chance. 
The following will explain the prac¬ 
tice at the hospitals: 
The price paid to donors of blood 
ranges from $25 to $50, depending upon 
the amount of blood given. The proper 
person is selected first after a physical 
examination to determine his general 
health, then after certain blood tests 
have been made to find out whether or 
•not he is subject to any communicable 
disease. 
There is not a great deal of this sort 
of thing done in the city and the de¬ 
mand for donors is quite irregular. The 
effect upon the person who gives the 
blood is not serious since a person in 
good health can readily spare from a pint 
to a quart of blood. Ordinarily one or 
two days is sufficient for them to re¬ 
cover completely from the loss of this 
amount of blood. 
There are cases on record in which 
transfusion of blood may be said to have 
preserved the life of the patient, espec¬ 
ially cases in which there has been a 
loss of a large quantity of blood in an 
accident. 
In practically every case when a donor 
for blood is needed he is needed imme¬ 
diately, often within an hour or two. For 
that reason we have always found it ad¬ 
visable to employ donors who live near 
the hospital and can be easily reached 
at any time in the day or night. At pres¬ 
ent members of the Police and Fire De¬ 
partments supply all of our demands for 
this purpose. I do not believe that peo¬ 
ple who live at a distance from the city 
would find it worth their while to at¬ 
tempt to go into this sort of thing. 
New York Hospital, tiiomas howell. 
Regarding blood transfusion, this is a 
therapeutic measure now common prac¬ 
tice in hospitals and in the private prac¬ 
tice of the medical profession, in such 
cases as indicated. There is no fixed 
price to the donor; some volunteer their 
blood, others charge; the rate seems to 
be determined by the existing conditions 
in each individual case. So far as our 
experience is of value, the average rate 
paid is $50. There are reports of do¬ 
nors getting $100 or more. 
The blood of any donor, as well as 
that of the patient, is typed or “matched” 
before the transfusion is undertaken, and, 
of course, if not suited, is not used. 
Good health, is, of course, a pre-requi¬ 
site for a donor, and except for a de¬ 
pletion of the system to the extent of 
the amount of blood taken, there are 
ordinarily no disagreeable symptoms or 
reactions. It is customary for the do¬ 
nor to remain in a recumbent position 
for one hour or more, thus giving the 
circulatory system time to adjust itself. 
There are so-called prefessional donors ; 
that is, people who offer themselves many 
times, but in such instances sufficient 
time elapses between transfusions for 
them to renew fully the normal body 
blood supply. There are any number of 
cases on record where transfusion has 
undoubtedly saved life, and many more 
when life has been prolonged over a per¬ 
iod of weeks or months. 
One hears remarkable stories about 
any method of treatment. The aver¬ 
age lay person misinterprets his obser¬ 
vations and the conclusions are not al¬ 
ways based on correct premises, so 
“fairy tales” might easily be circulated 
about transfusions. There have been 
enough “remarkable and unusual re¬ 
sults” following its use to provide ma¬ 
terial for tales—fairy and otherwise. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 333 West 30th Street, New York 
