The National tribune., 1889-08-15
Written for THE NATIONAL TRrBuNE.l
BEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX l.. OSWALD, NJ. D.,
Author of Physical Education"; Household
Remedies; THE Bible OF Nature" etc.

Author of Physical Eduoation"; Household
Remedies": The Bible OF Nature" etc.
CHAPTER xxx.
HOME REMEDIEs-( continued).
There is story Of an old lady who argued that
"ancient Rome must have been the most learn
cd city the world ever saw, because tho very
children in the street could talk Latin; and
a similar misapprehensiOn seems often TO excite
our establishment at the sagacity by which
even the young of certain animals manage to
avoid the causes of disease. Those instincts
represent the hereditary experience of the spe-
cies, and are by no means confined to the lower
| brutes. Our nerves, our sense of taste and of
smell. warn MS against thousand dangers. An
undue excess of temperature announces itself
| without tho aid of thermometer. Sleep claims
| its rights even where no clock proclaims the
midnight hour. And many fatal disease
could have been avoided Ii the patient had not
persistently disregarded the premonitory symp-
toms, often accompanied by an intuitive sng-
gestion of a timely remedy. The incipient stage
Of asthma for instance, is characterized by a
peculiar rcsiiessness, and we have seen that out
door exercise and change of climate are the best
remedies for the complaint. The physical senses
OF child warn it against impure air as they
warn it against alcohol, opium aud tobacco
smoke The disorders of our digestive organs,
too. are generally preceded by premoniti0ns
which only the traditional mstrust of our nat
ural instincts can incline us to disregard.
DYSPEPSIA.
Dyspepsia, for instance, announces it's ap-
proach by an unmistakable tUdnt Of appetite.
That demand for temporary suspension of
the aimentary process asserts itself on various
occasions but never without due cause. In the
crisis Of certain diseases IL means that the or
ganism needs all its available strength for n
process of reconstruction, as General would
e. g a
i've battle. In sultry weather it means that
one Of the functions of alimentation, viz, the
development of heat, has already been over
done by other agencies. As consequence OF
habitual over eating it means that the digest
i've organs have become clOggcd, rs an over
worked mill with grist, and cannot take any
new contracts before the arrears of former en-
gagemonts have been settled. One fast-day
would often suffice TO set such matters Alright /;
and it is good plan 10 devote such days
to outdoor sports, or any active pastime that
will help to divert tho mind from the sugges-
tons of the meal-hour. At night fatigue will ne
gotiate another IL hours respite, and the next
morning the stomach as well as its owner, will
be ready for breakfast. The ancient law-giv.
ers who went so far as 10 make n periodic fast
day religious duty, knew what they were
about They knew that even occasional total
abstinence is easier than temperance.
CONSTIPATION.
Passive exercise" as movement.curc doc
tors call motion by proxy horse riding, swing
ing and rocking. kneading of the abdomen,
etc. is generally q sufficient preventive of
constipation, as il relieves the obstruction of the
internal organs without requiring the aid of a
special muscular effort, which Ia weakly per-
sons has often an astringent tendency. Walking
leisurely on promenade roads being an almost
automatic exercise, has nearly the same effect
and there are persons who cannot shorten their
constitutional by g hundred yards without no.
tieing the difference Of result in digestive con-
sequences Rowing, skating aud even "roller-
skating" may answer the purpose, though the
| best form OF passive exercise is perhaps an
hours ride In an old.fashioned, iolting country
wagon. a now almoat obsolete form Of locomo.
tion which, for that special purpose might be
suffered tosurvive. When the old father of Fred
erick the Great found that his feet were not
| quite as nimblc rs In their younger days. he
surprised the Prsssian Capital by u hygienC
| invention. A stout, long beam Of wood, re-
| sembling q shipmast, was mounted on wheels
OF the sort used for the transportation Of saw
| logs; along the back of the log pegs wcre
| driven In at convenient intervals. aud in front
massive linch. pin with rings stout enough q
stand the tug Of eight horses. On this s. sausage
| wagon lwurst-wagcn), as he called it, bis
Majesty, with his favorite Generals, would
mount astraddIe and drive out TO Wuater.
hansen, distance Of ~ miles, at a raging gal
Top, which people often came several days
journey to witness. Now aud then they could
not help giggling, but his Majesty kept
his seat-and his health-till the Austrian
Embassador, as the representative. so 10 say, oi
| a scaBdalizcd Empire persuaded him 10 dis
continue his preposterous rides. The old KipE
complied, but before long his health began e
fall, aud three years after he took his last rid,
| in hearse.
THE FASTING CURE
There are thousands who could manage ono,
a week or so 10 beguilc their routine propensi
| ties by work or play, for one who could muster
selfcontrol enough 10 regulate the quantity
aud quality of bis three daily meals all th'
year round. And even the persistent oppo
nents Of selfdeniai should remember that thej
can here compromise the matter with favor
able discount For after dyspepsia has once
rivcted its chains, a morbid aud contiuuou
laundering after food becomes as uneontr0lla
bic as the chronic poison thirst Of the confirmed
dFunkard; yet the suppression OF that exorbi
tant appetite may ultimately become q qnes
ton Of sclf-preserYation. At Grst, we sec, Ma
tnre volunteers her aid by anticipating th
repentance of the novice in sin. II needs no
much seif-deBial to leave tho first glass Of run
unfnished-the responsiveness Of tho poisoi
sufficiently announces It's health destroying
properties Nor does 10 require special f0Fti
tude Of character TO resist the temptations q
gormandism after the first surfeit. The habit
Of many Of our insiinct-gnided fellow creature
prove that repletion, alternating with protract
ed abstinence, Is by no means incompatible
with health and longevity. After full bal
an eagle will fast for week without any visl
BILE Inconvenience The carnivorous bear ca
starve for a month, and live for weeks on ber
, ries and beechnuts. The medieval monk
, reached an extreme old age for centuries a
average of 81 in the Austrian monastery q
Weltenburgl, though their frequent feasts wer
| Offset by still more frequent fasts
AsTRINGENT DIET.
Combined with active exercise, fasting ID ais
a natural specific for diarrhca. With its IN
: come reduced and its needs increased Oh
J organism soon stops its waste, and is for
while even inclined TO lapse into the opposIi
extreme. Pedestrian exercise, especially /
the bracng air of highland country and aide
: by spare diet. viii hardly ever fail 10 reduC
g the excavations of the bowels 10 their normi
, period, unless the disorder has been aggrayate
by the use of drugs There IL hardly any 20
: son known TO rathnnters and assassins that hi
not been tried as a remedy for loose bowel
Arsenic, mercury, bismuth, nux vomica an
: acetate of lead are still usual prescriptions /
Q obstinate cases" If the dose is followed b
an astringent interval, the disorder Is suppose
10 have been brought under CONTROL If th,
interval Is followed by a malignant reaps
q the drugdoctor resorts TO larger doses, or to
more yirulcnt poison, still resolved to bull
q Nature into submission; though what his pr,
T scription really effects, for timeSis to enforc
the inactivity of the rebellous organs by pari
J. Lying their vitality We might as we'll try
4 check fit of vomiting by choking the neck ,
| the natieut For as soon as the naraIVzcd n