American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-08-03
CARE OF THE HEALTH.

A SIMPLE REMEDY FOR CONSTIPATION.
Prof. F. H. Storer, of Harvard Univer-
sity, recommends as remedy for ordi-
nary constipation in hot weather, prep
aration of Is grammes of EPSON salt
and grammes of common salt in a
quart champagne bottle full of water.
A small wineglassful of this solution
may be taken on going to bed at night,
on arising in the morning, in the mid
die of the afternoon, and of the fore
noon also, if need be. Sometimes a
couple of doses will be all-sufficient,
taken at night and morning. These
salts can be obtained almost every
where, and may readily be carried about
in travelling, In the form of dry pow
ders to be dissolved in water whenever
they may be needed.
KoUMIss.-A correspondent of the
Chicago Tribune gives the following di-
rections for the preparation of koumiss,
which is highly;recommended by physi-
clans and others for dyspeptics, con-
sumptives, and also as food for in
fants: Take quarts of milk, 2 quarts
of hot water (not scalding hoD, and 4
cupful of white sugar; when about the
temperature of blood-heat add 4 cake
of compressed yeast; then stir the
whole thoroughly, and set it in warm
place near the stove until it ferments,
which will be in four or five hours;
then stir the mixture briskly, and imme-
al <o1y to "
solid, close-ftting corks, and to fasten
with Irvine. Lay the bottles fiat on ice
or in cool cellar, and the koumiss will
be ready for use in about ten days. At
ter the first batch, instead of the COM
pressed yeast, use 1 quart bottle of old
koumiss to the complement of milk and
water here given. A champagne tap
should be used in drawing the koumiss
from the bottles; otherwise much of it
will be lost in the drawing.
CONSUMPTION AS AFFECTED BY Lo-
cALITY.-The physicians in charge OF
the 'Mountain Sanitarium" for pull
monary diseases at Asheville, N. c.,
state that in the treatment of pulmonary
| diseases several historical periods or
| epochs may be recognized-that In
which the sea climate was considered as
most beneficial, that in which dry eli
mates were advised, and that in which
elevated regions were recommended ;
the most recent theoretical Investigators,
as well as many physicians, now agree
ing that, in the removal of the patient to
elevated regions, the best possible course
is pursued. 1t appears that the success
attained by the removal of the patient
to southern climates, without securing
greater altitude, amounts simply to 6
relief of the symptoms, only warding of
fresh injury-the patient, after return
ing home, not having acquired thai
power of resistance which alone car
prevent a new catarrh or Inflammation
from attacking the lungs; the genera
effect, on the other hand, of a noun
tain climate, is to be considered an &C
tive one, since increased demands are
made upon the functions of the organ.
ism from all sides.
TREATMENT OF SLEEPLEssNEss.-S
many persons suffer nowadays from
sleeplessness that every contribution to
the literature of the subject is of inter
est Dr. Ainslie Hollis, in the London
Practitioner, maintains that, although
the quantity of blood in the brain is di-
minished during sleep, this diminution
is not the sole cause of slumber, for we
may have the former without the latter
One of the most efficient means of in
ducing natural sleep is the application
of mustard plasters to the abdomen.
Plever, of jena, advocates the admins
tration of freshly made solution o.
lactate of soda, or of some milk Oh
whey, on the hypothesis that sleep may
be produced by the introduction of the
fatigue products of the body. Where
the insomnia depends upon the brair
exhaustion, DIR. Hollis recommends the
administration, just before bed time, o.
tumblerful of hot claret and water
with sugar and nutmeg. The alkalie'
and alkaline earths are useful when acie
dyspepsia is associated with the insom
MIA. Electricity has been used in the
paresis of the vaso-motor nerves due tt
an overworked brain. In hot weather
sprinkling the floor of the sleeping
apartment with water lessons the irritan
properties of the air, adding much t.
the comfort of the sleepers; possibly thu
quantity of ozone is at the same time
increased. When sleep is broken b.
severe pain, opium or morphia is o
vnlue, not only of relieving the pair
but by its action in producing anemis
of the cerebral vessels. In the wakeful
ness due to neuralgia, it is often better
to inject small dose of morphia hypo
dermically near the branch of the at
fected nerve than to administer it by
the mouth. 1t is doubtful whether tn,
bromides possess hypnotic properties
although they undoubtedly act as soda
tives on the nervous system, and a.
such may occasionally induce sleep
Journal of Chemistry.
A Bonanza Tomb.
The late w. S. O'Brien, one of tbs