The Royal Road to Health Part 19

The marking is caused by exposure to dry air and light, therefore paint the hands and face with a mixture of glycerine and charcoal--the glycerine keeps the skin soft, and the charcoal shuts out the light.

It should be washed off every morning, and re-applied. Under no circ.u.mstances must the patient be allowed to scratch off the pocks.

MEASLES

Is an eruptive disease peculiar to children, slightly contagious, but not dangerous. It may commence with a slight chill, or not. The fever is usually attended with a slight cold, swollen watery eyes, and sneezing.

The first thing to be done is to bring out the rash, which is quickly done, by flus.h.i.+ng the colon, followed by a wet sheet pack, as in scarlet fever. When the eruption is out, nothing is needed but to keep the colon clean, and wash down daily with tepid water. In all eruptive diseases guard against taking cold--for a cold closes the pores of the skin, shutting up Nature's vent through which she is expelling the disease germs.

WORMS IN THE INTESTINES.

This exceedingly prevalent and troublesome complaint may be quickly and effectually relieved by colon injections, coupled with the J. B.

L. antiseptic tonic. It should be retained until the preparation has time to destroy or loosen the hold of the worms. Its action may be greatly accelerated by rubbing and churning the bowels.

INFANTILE CONVULSIONS OR FITS.

These spasms sometimes indicate the approach of one of the eruptive fevers, but usually the cause is the irritation of teething, or worms in the intestines. Although the appearance of a child under such conditions is painful, yet the danger is much less than appears.

Get the little sufferer into a hot bath as quickly as possible, and draw the blood to the skin, which will afford relief. Next, direct your attention to the bowels. If, as is exceedingly likely, worms are the cause, treat as for worms.

GALL STONES

Are the result of arrested secretion of bile, usually through congestion of the liver. Then the substances that form bile acc.u.mulate and solidify in granules. Hundreds of these continually pa.s.s off through the bowels unnoticed; but prolonged congestion causes them to cohere and form larger ma.s.ses, that, in pa.s.sing through the bile duct, cause intense pain, which is sometimes mistaken for appendicitis.

TREATMENT.

It is only in pa.s.sing, that their presence becomes known, when all that can be done is, to favor their pa.s.sage by copious fomentations of hot water and diligent use of the "Cascade." Sometimes it is impossible for the stone to pa.s.s, when it has to be removed surgically. The regular use of the "Cascade" will prevent their formation. At the first symptoms of pain in the region of the liver, follow the directions for treatment of that organ, especially the exercises, and drink freely of olive oil.

Ma.s.sAGE, SHEET-PACKS, ETC.

Ma.s.sAGE,

Which is the application of motion and pressure to the body, is a most important factor in preserving or restoring health. It affords a sick person all the benefit to be obtained from exercise without the physical effort, which he is unable to exert. The sweat glands, capillaries, and lymph channels, which const.i.tute thousands of miles of tubing, in the body of a grown person, are, by carefully and systematically applied ma.s.sage, stimulated to action. The currents in these vessels are a necessity of life. When they are obstructed, weakness is the result; when they cease, decay and death ensue.

When we rub our hands or feet, we say the friction warms them; in reality it is the inner vessels which are stimulated, and bring more warm blood to the parts. If this process is extended over the whole available surface of the body, the most beneficial results will follow.

There are three recognized methods of application.

First--Rubbing, to stimulate the skin to action.

Second--Rolling, and pinching gently, also a kneading movement, used princ.i.p.ally to stimulate. the stomach, bowels, and muscular tissues.

Third--Percussion, or tapping with the ends of the fingers, softly-most effiacious in stimulating the action of the lungs.

Rub the surface first with a little palm oil, or vaseline. Use the tapping movement for the chest and back, the rubbing movement for the stomach and bowels, and the pinching or kneading movement for the limbs. In dyspepsia and constipation, great benefit is derived from ma.s.sage treatment of the stomach and colon--starting the movements in the right groin, where the colon commences, and following its course to its rectal extremity, (consult diagram). For rheumatism, sprains, etc., commence with hot oily applications.

Most people find ma.s.sage treatment to have a gentle, soothing effect.

Nearly all find their appet.i.te increased.

THE STOMACH BATH.

The first method is simplicity itself, and consists in drinking from half to a pint of hot water, as hot as can be drank with comfort, in the morning after rising, or half an hour before breakfast. It loosens up the mucus in the stomach, and in half an hour it will have pa.s.sed out.

The second consists in drinking tepid water until nauseated, then the stomach will throw it back, with its contents. This thoroughly empties and cleanses the stomach. From a pint to a quart is usually sufficient, although two quarts will do no harm. If the stomach does not reject it readily, thrust the forefinger down the throat to the end of the glottis.

The third method is by the stomach tube.

THE TURKISH BATH.

Provide a wooden bottomed Chair, and having stripped the patient of all Clothing, except a pair of woolen drawers to protect his legs from the heat, let him sit on it, with his feet ankle deep in a hot foot bath, just as hot as he can bear. Wrap him about first with a blanket, tucking it close around the neck, but letting it hang loose over the chair and vessel containing the foot bath, but so arranged as to exclude the air from his person. Over the blanket wrap one or two heavy comfortables, the object being to prevent the escape of the heat and exclude the outside air from the body. Raising one side of the comfortables and blanket, place under the chair an old tea cup half full of alcohol. Set it on fire and again close the opening. Give him a drink of cold water, and if the head feels oppressed, apply a wet towel wrung from cold water. Add more hot water to the foot bath once or twice, keeping it as hot as he can bear it during the continuance of the bath. Keep him in the bath until the alcohol is all burned out.

Then wash him down with soap and tepid water, sponge off with cool water, rubbing the flesh and working the muscles vigorously the meanwhile. Then dry off by patting the skin with the towel (not rubbing it), leaving a little moisture on it; dress quickly and let him lie down for an hour or put him to bed.

It should not be taken either immediately before or after a meal.

There are excellent bath cabinets to be obtained, but in their absence the above will be found excellent.

THE WET SHEET-PACK.

Spread over the bed or cot two or more heavy cornfortables, over these a pair of blankets, then, if for a person of strong vitality, wring a sheet out of cold water just dry enough not to drip, and spread it over the blanket; lay the patient stripped of all clothing on the sheet with his arms by his sides, tuck the sheet around him, then the blankets and comfortables, leaving his head out but tucking it close around the neck and over his feet--making a mummy of him, so to say. If the head is hot or aches, apply a towel wrung from cold water and renew it as often as it gets warm. To the feet apply a jug of hot water. Let him lie in the pack from twenty to forty minutes, or even longer if he is comfortable. He will soon get warm and sweat freely.

This is the end desired. If he goes to sleep, as is often the case, don't be in a hurry to wake him up. He will take no harm so long as he keeps warm. See that there is plenty of fresh air in the room. When he has been in the pack a sufficient length of time close the windows, then take him out and wash him down thoroughly with soap and soft, tepid water, then sponge off with cooler water, rubbing him down vigorously and working the flesh the meanwhile. If not too weak he should a.s.sist in this operation. Then dry off by patting the skin with the towel (not rubbing it), leaving a little moisture on the skin.

Then, if in the day time, and the weather is not too cold, a little exercise in the open air will be beneficial. If he is too weak to exercise put him to bed again.

Before and during the pack let him have all the cold water he wants to drink, in small quant.i.ties at a time. If the patient has but little vitality, wring the sheet out of tepid water instead of cold water.

The hot sheet-pack is used in the same manner, the only difference being that the sheet is wrung out of water as hot as can be borne.

CARE OF THE "CASCADE."

What is worth having is worth taking care of; and the "Cascade" is so likely to be called into emergency service, that it should be always in order--hence the following suggestions:

After using it, hang it up by the eyelet, until it ceases to drip; then put in the stopper. The small amount of moisture left in will help to keep it flexible. It should be kept hanging, if possible, as folds in the rubber predispose it to crack. It should be kept in an even temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.

Never pour boiling, or very hot water into it--it is not designed to withstand such a degree of heat, and do not let grease, in any form, come in contact with it, as grease decomposes rubber.

PART NINE.

SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.

If there is one thing in particular that I desire to impress upon my readers, it is, don't dread disease. It is a beneficial agent, for it is Nature's method of re-adjusting matters in the human economy. There are only two conditions, health and disease. Mark the etymology of the word! Whenever there is any departure from the normal, it is bound to manifest itself in the organ or structure most in need of repair; but as disease is a tearing down, and its cure a process of building up, it does not need the wisdom of Solomon to recognize the fact that all a.s.sistance toward recovery must come from within. Disease is just as natural a condition as health; both are the result of the operation of natural law. Disease, being Nature's method of cure, any attempt to suppress it must of necessity invite disaster.

This is one of the chief reasons why I am opposed to drug medication, because its sole aim seems to be the suppression of symptoms. Pain, the chief symptom, is not disease, but simply the messenger bringing warning of the disease to the brain. To silence this messenger, yet leave the disease unchecked, is folly. It would be just as reasonable, if the house were on fire, to cut the cord of the alarm bell, and to conclude because you could no longer hear the bell that the danger was past. Disease, therefore, being beneficial, should be welcomed as a friend, and every a.s.sistance given to Nature to a.s.sist her in restoring normal conditions.

Prevention is better than cure, you will all agree, and the great elements of prevention are, knowledge of self, cleanliness, physical, mental and moral; hygiene and sanitation. I contend that physiology is the most important subject that can engage the attention of the individual. Nothing is so essential as a knowledge of the functioning of the body in which he dwells, for it is the vehicle through which the real self is to find expression; through which he is to achieve success or failure, according to the condition of its mechanism.