The National tribune., 1889-08-01
CHAPTER XVII.
HOME REMEDIES.

$500
blue Peter.D
For similar reasons the preservation Of health
is so much easier than its recovery. The best
time to prescribe for disease is before IL haH
been contracted. Hundreds Of obstinate dis-
orders can be very easily prevented-nsy, In A
certain sense, prevention remains the only uos-
sible cure. For, what the expoueuts Of medf.
cal reform call removing the cause of a dis-
ease, means simply to prevent the future opera
ton Of the Notwithstanding agencies. Clean
the streets, and homemade malaria viii disap-
pear; no better remedy in any drugstors,
though the very best plan would have been TO
prevent the accumulation Of garbage Natures
revenge contents itself with enforcing the con-
ditions of peace and, moreover, her eoerciya
measures are preceded by repeated warnings.
CATARRH.
In their incipient stages most diseases can Ia
cured by very simple remedies Catarrh, for
instance, can be worked of by half . days
outdoor exercise. / have tried the receipt In
ali sorts Of weather-onee in a violent snow
stOrm-and always with the same success
Fresh air and the mechanical stimulus Of arm
exercise give the lungs chance to eliminate
the disease germs; the obstrueted nasal duets
become freer, breathing less laborious, AID the
trouble ends with q free discharge Of mueus,
q
open bedroom window viii often answer the
same purpose even in the extreme climate OK
our Northern border States, for cold air ID Ma
lures antiseptic, surprising al drugs in pre-
venting the development Of disease germs.
CRUCIAL TEST.
From Minneapolis with Winter tempera-
ture similar to that of nOrthernmosb Norway,
one of my correspondents, whose address is &C
the service Of all my readers, writes from
personal experience as follows: 81 used always
70 have more or less catarrh ever sinea
/ can remember, but less since I came to this
climate, and none at all last Winter. ThAs
Winter was even here an unusually severe one;
but, contrary to the advice Of all my friends,
slept in a room in which there was no IRE or
artificial heat and as I always had my window
open, there was, indeed, very little difference
between the temperature Of the air IN the rcom
and that outside. IhGd % protect my had %
keep my ears from freezing, for the mercury re-
NAMED for nearly week below zero. Yas
was absolutely free from catarrh the whole
Winter, and for the first time in my life, which
proves to me conelusively that your theory =
correct, and felt impelled to tell you Of my
experience"
Catching cold " is, indeed, perhaps the most
misehievously misleading term in our languages,
and till we change il we viii hardly get rid q
the idea that associates q catarrh with the in
huence OF low temperature, or with the dla-
position TO remove that supposed cause By
means tending directly to aggraVate it.
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE.
81 have, upon the approach 0fcOlder weather,
removed my undergarments," says DR.. @. e.
Page of Boston, aud have then attended tn
my outdoor work, minus the OveTeoat hzbitu.
ally worn. I have in Alidwinter sIeps in
current blowing directly about my head and
shoulders. Upon going to bed have sat in
strong draft, entirely nude, for a quarter Of
an hour, on very cold, damp night, in the Fail
of the year. These and other similar expert
ments have made repeatedly, and have never
been able to catch cold became cold, some
times quite cold, and then became warm again;
that is ALL"
In other words, the best cure for eatarrh has
been for centuries mistaken for its cause. Cold
air, instead Of producing, viii reduce respira-
tory disorders, just as it reduces feVers and
indigestion.
INFECTED AIR.
Expurgation by frost Tor cold night afr) d
also an excellent precautiOn before moving
into house formerly occupied BY persons sub
jeet to eatarrh or more serious pulmonary com
plants. For there IS no longer any doubt thas
"colds," nOs less than pulmonary consumption,
can be communicated by the eOntagiOn Of ins
fected air. Nurses in consumption hospitals
generally succumb 70 the diseases Of their pa
tients; and not the children only, bus The
sumptiyes are apt TO share their fate. Catarrh
(inhuenza) spreads from house to house, from
schOolrOOm to schoOlroOm. By the idiOtie dread
Of fresh air, special rooms. in otherwise excel
lent houses become permanent cat2rrh- traps,
dosing all their occupants with the germs Of
malignant pulmonary disorders.
CHRONIC COUGH.
A chronic catarrh, combined with cough and
expeetoration, proves that the affection has
u ~
cannot be eradicated by the medeated siTupss
which, at best, only facilitate the discharge Of
phlegm, but do not reach the root of the disease.
To that root in the infected tissue of the upper
lungs the balm Of nature can be applied with
every breath of cold. fresh air las We breathe
about 200 times an hOur-27 coo times = day.
After their removal from the city to the country
have known children TO Ontgrow a chronic
cough, rs ADULTS sometimes outgrow a tooth
ache, though nature may fail to reproduce the
deeayed teeth. Whether the wasted tissue OF
the lungs can ever be perfectly restored re-
mains mOoted question; but the sores seem
70 eieatrize, and expeetOratiOn ceases. After
that the respiratory organs may still remain
susceptible to the cOntagiOu OF an epidemic
"infiuenza," but the effects manifest themselves
only in the form of nasal eataTFh.
Persons with weak lungs are specially liable
to such infections, but physician Of my ac-
quaintanee has learned to recognize and sup
press the nrSt symptoms OF the trouble. On
the evening after the day of visit 10 family
of snufling and coughing patients, he tests the
condition of his own respiratory apparatus by
deep and slow breathing, and on the first sas-
pieious indication has go at his dumb-bells,
and hastens to bed after an early supper and a
glass of hot milk and sugar. Milk sirup"-
say two ounces of sugar to pint of hot milk
is as effective q specific for the lOO5ening q
phlegm as any cough medicine ut 81 boEtla.
Even the liability TO contract catarrh can ha
obyiated for years by pleasant outdoor sxaE.
else; IS on fOOttour, involving bivouaes and
daily mountain excursions.
coNsUMPTIvE CHILDREN.
Consumption itself can thus be nipped in the
bud. In the children of e0nsGnptive parents
the first premonitory symptoms generally b.
tray themselves between the ninth aud eleventh
year. In spite of all conventional preeau-
tions against fresh air. they come in for Q
share of every neighboring cataFrh. Measles
settle on their lungs. Every unusual mental
emotion or physical eHort-lilting, running
upstairs, etc-takes their breath away. A
painful, dry cough becomes more and more dis
tressing. Tonic ncstrums may palliate those
symptoms for awhile, but, like a smothered
fire. they break out again and again, and In
ever moro malignant forms
And yet radical cure is by no meaus impog-
sible, and before night-sweats, dropsy, and
frequent hemOrrhages announce afar-advanced
stage of the disorder, / would warrant tia
speedy success Of that cure in 90 out Of 100
cases. Instead of dosing my patient with
,.ausaoua and tho raj al al Nfa afNh.