The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-07-30
Rheumatism.

k10um6t1Sms
Common rheumatism is a disease which
affects the joints, the hinges of the body,
in such way that the slightest motion
of the ailing part gives pain. A creaking
hinge is dry, and turns hard. A single
drop of oil to moisten it makes wonder
full change, and it instantly moves on
itself with the utmost facility. All kinds
of rheumatism are an Inflammation of the
surface of the joints. Inflammation is
heat; this heat dries the surfaces hence
the very slightest effort at motion gives
piercing pain. In a healthy condition
of the parts, nature is constantly throwing
out Iubricating oil which keeps the
working condition. Rheumatism is
almost always caused by-indeed, it may
be nearer the truth to say, that it is
always the result of cold dampness. A
dry cold, or warm dampness, does not
induce rheumatism. A garment, wetted
by perspiration or rain, or water in any
form about joint, and allowed to dry
while the person is in state of rest, is the
most common way of causing the rheu
matism. A partial wetting of a garment
is more apt to induce an attack than if the
entire clothing were wetted, because, in
the latter case, it would be certainly and
speedily exchanged for dry garments
There are two very certain methods of
preventing rheumatism. The very mo-
ment garment is wetted in whole or
part, change it, or Keep in motion suffi-
cient to maintain very slight perspira-
ton, until the clothing fs perfectly dried.
The failure to wear woolen flannel next
to the skin is the most frequent cause of
rheumatism for a common muslin or
silk shirt of a person in a perspIration be-
n I, 80
air strike it, even in midsummer. This is
not the case where woolen flannel is
worn next the skin. The easiest, most
certain and least hurtful way of curing
this troublesome affection is, first, to keep
the joint affected wound around with sew
eral folds of woolen flannel live en-
tirely on the lightest kind of food, such as
coarse breads, ripe fruits, berries, boiled
turDips, stewed apples and the like. If
such things were eaten to the extent of
keeping the system freely open, and exer-
else were taken, SO that slight moisture
should be on the surface of the skin all
the time; or if in bed, the same were ac-
complished by hot teas and plentiful bed
clothing, greatful relief, and an ultimate
cure will very certainly result in reason-
ably short time. Without this soft and
moist and warm condition of the skin,
and an open state of the system, the dis
ease will continue to torture for weeks
and months and years. 1nfammatory
rheumatism may, for all practical purpos-
es, be regarded as an aggravated form of
the common kind, extended to all the
joints of the body, instead of duplicating
only one or two. For all kinds, time,
flannel, warmth, with light and cooling
diet, are the great medies.-Halps Jour-
nal of Health.
A BRITISH OPINION OF LoNasTREET.
Naturally man of no intellectual bright
ness, and wholly devoid of book-learn-
ing, Gen. Longstreet possessed the rare
faculty of thinking calmly and correctly
when under fire, and at moments ofdan-
ger, when the minds of abler men than
himself were unstrung and thrown off
their balance by excitement. Stolid of
demeanor, slow and guarded of speech
nary pursuits of peaceful life, Gen.
Longstreet was altogether another man
when the battle-fag went to the front,
and the air was alive with bullets and
rent with hailstorm of shot and shell.
It may be doubted whether there is liv-
ing at this moment another soldier who
has passed through more fiery ordeal
than the able and stanch lieutenant of
Gen. Lee. He has been sneered at
unworthily, in our opinion-by the late
Gen. Richard Taylor, in his .sReconstruc-
tion and Destruction" !" and by the name-
sake of the latter, Gen. Walter Taylor,
the Adjutant General of the army of
Northern Virginia, in his "Four Years
with General Lee." Nevertheless, the
fact remains that no brayer and stouter
soldier ever marshaled his division and
led it right onward against the foe than
the Minister whom-subiect to confrma-
ton by the Senate-President Hayes is
about to send to Turkey as representa-
tive of the United States London Tel
egraph.