The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-09-04
WEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX l.. OSWALD. M. D.,
Author Of Physical Education" Household
Remedies"; The Bible of Nature" eto.
CHAPTER LXXXI.
SUMMER DIsEAsEs-(continued),

SUMMER DI6EASES-kc Ontinued).
A historian of the Seven Years War men,
tions tho curious custom of hostile armies to
retire from business at the approach of every
Winter. They seemed to consider ii breach
of good manners to fight in unpleasant
weather." no says, and wonders why the
nations of the 18th century did not carry their
po1toness to the degree of concluding few
weeks truce during the dOg-da
The advantages of tho latter plan would
certainly be appreciated by military surgeons
Wounds that in Winter would heal in couple
OF days are apt to tester and become gangren-
Gus IN hot weather, especially if the patient is
confined in close, ill-ventiated quarters. In
large cities timely change from warm to
cooler weather may often be a question of life
and death to hundreds of sufferers. Frustrated
by the after effects of Injuries which in Winter
would hardly have confined them to their beds
During a recent visit to New York City l
called upon a surgeon of the -- street hos
prtal. who took me to the bedside of a man
whose hopeless condition was evidently due as
much to tho state OF tho weather as to tho
prOximate cause Of his trouble He had been
employed as porter Of restaurant frequented
by rather tough customers, one Of who be-
trayed such evident symptoms Of intOxication
that the proprietor Mt last requested him to
leave. The fellow then became grossly abusive,
and in an attempt to put him out tho porter
was stabbed in the side The cut had barely
penetrated the ribs, and the wounded man at
first did not think it worth while to seek medi-
cal assistance, and merely went to drugstore to
get styptic and piece of sticking plaster. Two
hours later he began to feel faint, and noticed
that his pulse was going at fever-speed, and
when he was finally taken to the hospital that
fever had assumed an alarming form. Delirium,
vomiting fits and the rapid progress of inAam-
nation deticd all remedies aud the next morn
ing the attending surgeon thought it necessary
To summon the Coroner for an ante-mOrtem
examination. Now, as q rule, clean knife-cuts
heal far moro readily than shot wounds or
bruises, and the patient himself had often re-
covered from far worse injuries. Judging by
his general appearance his constitution was
anything but delicate, and the only explanation
OF his predicament was the circumstance that
on tho evening Of the unlucky affair the
weather had been opprcssively indeed, al
most tolerably-warm, aud that, in his
wounded condition, ho had passed several hours
IN stufy sweat-box. filed with tobacco smoke
aud Kitchen fumes
In Midsummer desperate in1ammations some
times result from mere scratches. " Iniitra-
tions," tho advocates Of the germ theory call
the supposed causes Of such troubles, and their
rather plausible hypothesis ascribes the sudden
swelling to the influence of microscopic para
sites, which somehow have entered the omen
wound and established a colony of rapidly mul-
tiplying microbes in tho cells and minute veins
OF the injured tissue. In warm weather germs
of that sort develop, indeed, with almost in
credible swiftness and the theory agrees pretty
well with the circumstance that in many cases
the mischief can be nipped in the bud by the
application OF hot water. Should a scratch on
finger or hand result in malignant inflam-
nation, ii Is not always necessary to get the
swelling lanccd." A small opening can gem
orally be made with pin or u sharp-pointed
man fYtf o,rl t.s-tv T.,1I
rarely fail to do the rest. Apply the water Tor
soaked, clean rag as hot as it can be endured
without positive scalding, and renew the water
as soon as the manipulation of the swelling
has produced Il discharge of puss. The frst CO.
pious evacuation Of pnrulent matter can gem
orally DO accepted as q guarantee that the per-
ilous phase of the trouble is past IL proves
that the complaint is being cured by a direct
removal OF tho cause. The perpetrators OF tho
mischief are being expelled together with the
refuse of the injured tissues. IL might seem
strange that the microscopic disease germs can
not survive the hot water bath as we'll as their
victim, and the probable explanation of the
event is this: tho patient can endure the ap-
plcation of tho hot fluid, because its effect is
limited TO small part of his organism. A
plunge bath in u kettle full of the same kind
of water might prove fatal but finger or a
hand can for several minutes endure a temper
ature that oVercomes the vitality of the mi
crobes.
A more curious problem Is implied In the
fact that in warm weather mere insect bites
occasionally produce alarming or even deadly
Inflammation. Not year passes without news
paper notices of persons dying from the effect
OF bee sting, wasp sting, or the bite of
spider, or even of gnat. A few weeks ago
Eastern papers mentioned the case of farmers
wife who was puzzled by the intolerable itch
ing of u musketo bite on her neck. Scratching
rubbing and the application of lniments only
mado matters worse. and on the third day the
patient died with all symptoms Of II malignant
case of blood poisoning. The bite of every
gnat causes a slight local irritation, which
seems to indicate that the little vampires inject
an acrid luid-probably for the purpose of at
tracing flow Of blood TO the wound. But
the quantum of that virus is so infinitely small
that il could hardly produce serious effects,
even upon the most susceptible constitution
and the occasional malignant complications
seem to justify q conjecture that the same in
sects had shortly before brought their bleeding
apparatus in contact with some sort of infected
matter-possibly tho blood of diseased or
dying creature. A Spanish American physician
actually published "a treatise intended To estab-
lish tho theory that yellow fever and similar
diseases are prOpagated in the same manner,
aud calls attention to the suggestive fact that
climatic fevers prevail only in regions frequent
SN Wy hu9hOtDcS anu Nhht oven III inc SICK tlGSt
swamps of the temperate zone Towers and ague
subside as soon as tho first night frosts have
abatod the gnat-plague. SO much is certain,
that very small quantity of infected organic
fluids can carry the germs of death into an
other organism. Surgeons, in dissecting a
corpse, run fearful risk if particle of mort
bund matter should come in direct contact
with an open wound on the hand of the OPP
orator. and there is nothing incredible In the
conjecture that fly, returning from visit to
piece Of decayed meat could become a mes
sengor of death by alighting on the open tissue
of a trihing wound.
In most cases infections of that sort can, how
ever, BIO counteracted by the above ment oned
specific, or even by the simple plan of rubbing
the part with little mutton -tallow or un-
sailed butter, as soon rs the bite or scratch be-
gins to itch, Fat, thus applied in time, appears
to destroy tho vitality OF many microbes before
they have penetrated to tho deeper tissues, and
the small percentage of oily admxtures con-
stitutes the remedial principle of many ex-
pensye liniments