The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1879-08-01
Seaslckness.
HOW To ESCAPE THE DISTRESSING DISORDER
-PAL.LIATIoNs.


Now is the season when many people
begin to make arrangements for trans
atlantic voyage and when others mourn
that they cannot go because they are I'M
able to bear up against seasickness.
Others again, who have been putting of
the trip for years, have at last decided to
go to Europe this summer. A lady of
this city, who has always had horror of
seasiekness, is numbered in this compa-
ny. She does not expect to escape an at
tack of the malady, but she intends to
fight it by every means in her power. In
order to do this with intelligence she
consulted an eminent physician of this
city, who has made many voyages across
the Atlantic, and obtained the following
rules, which were originally prepared for
q man whose business obliged him to go
to Europe every year:
1. I have every preparation made at
least twenty-fOur hours before starting,
so that the system may not be exhausted
by overwork and want of sleep. This
direction is particularly important TO Ia
dies.
2. Eat as hearty meal as possible be-
fore going on board
3. Go on board sufficiently early to ar
the first day or two, so they may be easy
of access; then uDdress and go TO bed be-
fore the vessel gets under way. The neg
lect of this rule by those who are liable
to seasiekness is sure to be regretted.
4. Eat regularly and heartily, but
without raising the head for at least one
or two days. In this way the habit of
digestion Is kept up, the strength is pre-
served, while the system becomes accus-
toned to the constant change of equilIb-
rum.
5. On the first night out take some mild
laxative pills, as for example, two or three
compound rhubarb pills. EfferTeseing
laxat1Yes like Seidliz or citrate Of magne-
sia taken in the morning on an empty
stomach are bad IN seasickness.
6. After having become so habituated
to the sea as to be able to take your meals
at the table and go on deck, never think
of rising in the morning until you have
eaten something, as a plate Of oatmeal
porridge or a cup of tea or coffee with
biscuit or toast.
Z. If subsequently during the voyage
the sea should become unusually rough
go to bed before getting sick.
These rules have been used in many
cases and have always proved successful
in preventing seasickness. But, besides
these rules, the physician said, there are
many things to be considered. There are
few maladies which produce such an ag-
gregation of human suffering as seasick-
ness, and there Is no malady which the
medical profession has done so little to
relieve. There are several popular errors
with regard to seasickness. For exam
pie, there is very general belief that it
is often beneficial and is never perma-
nently injurious. But the good physi-
clan has never been able to convince
himself that any one ever was benefited
by seasickness. Improvement In health
from sea voyage Is, as a rule, proper
toned to freedom from seasickness. His
advice has been given frequently TO those
of depressed vital powers, whose expert
enee has demonstrated an innate liability
to seasickness, to avoid exposure to it.
Another error is that seasickness is never
dangerous to life. It does not often re-
suit fatally, but sometimes does.
Some seasiek patients suffer only from
headache and a binding feeling across
the forehead and over the temples dur
ing the whole voyage. In these cases
nausea and vomiting are absent. Others
do not suffer much from nausea, but are
suddenly seized with vomiting. After
the contents of the stomach are dis
charged they are entirely free from all
unpleasant symptoms until the next re-
currence Of vomiting. With many the
nausea and vomiting entirely disappear
after few days at sea. There are some
persons who can never become habitu-
ated to the sea. Some persons who in
early life have been martyrs to seasick-
ness have ceased to be so when they have
grown older, while others who have been
exempt from the malady become liable
to it. Strong mental emotions, like ap-
prehension and fright, viii suddenly and
completely cure the most violent sea-
sickness.
Some of the most prominent and COM
mon of the conditions which cause sea-
sickness are an exhausted and depressed
state of the nervous system, the conse-
quence often of loss of sleep, want of
food, excitement, emotional causes and
bad air. People who are badly prepared
to resist seasickness bring it on by stay
ing on deck when they should go below.
1t is bad to take cathartic medicines
before beginning voyage, as preyen-
tive of seasickness. In short passages on
the American lakes, and across the Eng |
lish and Irish channels, all that can be |
done is by way of prevention. Those |
liable to be sick should make a hearty |
meal two or three hours before going on |
board. They should select spot as near
as possible in the center of the vessel /
and lie down before she gets under way
The horizontal position should be rig
idly kept during the voyage The per
son should be well covered, not only as a
protection from cold, but to keep out
sights, sounds and smells.
On the English Channel packets it is not
advisable for persons to go below and
wander in a wilderness of sick passen-
gers and basins, but to secure by tele-
graph one of the cabins on deck. For
ocean passages one of the most essential
points is the selection of stateroom as
regards position, size, Light and ventila-
lion. The nearer the room is to the
center Of the ship the less motion there