The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-03-23
THE FAMILY DOCTOR.

DIR. LAPArIN, who had large expert
ence with soldiers during the Turco-
Russian war, recommends nitric acid as
an application in chilblains. Equal
parts of dilute nitric acid and aqua
menth. pip. are penciled on the toes, at
first daily, then twice day. After
three or four days brownish scurf is
formed, which is thrown off.-NeU York
Medical Record.
A DISTINGUISHED physician, who had
spent much time at quarantine, said
that person whose head was thorough
ly washed every day rarely took conta-
gious diseases; but where the hair was
allowed to become dirty and matted, it
was hardly possible to escape infection.
Many persons find speedy relief for ner-
vous headache by washing the hair
Thoroughly in weak saltwater. have
known severe cases almost wholly curcd
in ten minutes by this simple remedy.
A friend finds it the greatest relief in
cases of "rare cold," the cold symptoms
entirely leaving the eyes and nose after
one thorough washing of the hair. The
head should be thoroughly dried after
ward, and not exposed to draughts of
air for little while.-Dralggisfs Cir
ctllar.
WHAT AN Eco WILL Do.-For burns
and scalds nothing is more soothing
than the white of an egg, which may be
poured over the wound. 1t is softer as
q varnish for burn than collodion, and
being always at hand can be applied
Immediately. It is also more cooling
than the sweet oil and cotton which was
formerly supposed to be the surest APP
plication to allay the smarting pain. It
is the contact with the air which gives
the extreme discomfort experienced
from the ordinary accident of this kind,
and anything which excludes the air
to be at once applied. The egg is consid-
cred one of the best of remedies for
dysentery. Beaten up slightly, with or
without sugar, and swallowed at gulp,
it tends, by its emollient qualities, to
| lessen the inflammation of the stomach
and intestine, and, by forming tran
silent coating on those organs, to enable
nature to resume her healthful sway
over diseased body. Two, or at most
three, eggs per day would be all that is
required in ordinary cases; and since
egg is not merely medicine but food as
well, the lighter the diet otherwise and
the quieter the patient is kept the more
certain and rapid is the recovery.
COFFEE AND DIGEsTIoN.-It is not
only true that we as n nation, drink too
much, especially ut our meals, as a
means of swallowing rapidly, impairing
the digestive juices, but that we do not
always select the best drinks. We are
far oftener controlled by vitiated taste,
than by Judgment and conscience, while
the human body is composed in great
measure, of water, it is manifest that
this pure fluid, distilled by the great
Creator, in such lavish profusion, is the
natural drink for both man and beast.
Aside from the use and excessive use of
the spices and salt, we should need but
little, drink, so far as artificial thirst is
concerned, the natural demand being
connected with the necessary exhaustion
of the fluids of the body. As it now is,
we seem to demand artificial drinks,
among the most harmful of which is
coffee. Neither tea nor coffee really
afford any nourishment, as they are pre-
pared, though they contain little,
while the cocoa is more nutritious than
beefsteak, slight objection to which,
relatively, is the fact that it is an astrin-
gent, tending to induce constipation.
OF coffee, Prof. Schurtz, OF Berlin,
Prussia, as a result of his experiments
on digestion, says: "Of all fluids, the
action of coffee is the worst, for the car
bonization of portion of its oil in the
process of roasting not only renders it
wholly indigestible, but also other food
taken with it. The stimulating proper
ties of the coffee so far increase the
perisaltic action of the stomach that its
contents are expelled before digestion
is completed, which has led many to
suppose that coffee aids digestion; when
the fact is that it greatly obstructs it,,
aud causes the food to enter the bowels
imperfectly digested, and is likely to
produce irritation in those parts"
These views are corroborated by the
observations of DIR. Beaumont, who en-
ioyed the best possible advantages for q
| tborouob investigation