The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-12-11
BEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX T.. OSWALD NJ D..
Author or Physical Education. Household
Remedies. The Bible Of Nature" eto.
CHArTrn XCIII.
COUGH REMEDIES.

A Texas paper has an anccdote about an Eng
lish settler who demonstrated from CasselPs
Handbook Of Natural History that coyotes
(prairie wolves Will never attack a human
being but who crawled into the furtkest re-
cess Of his cyclone pit the first time he
heard pack Of the dcspised quadrupcds howl
in rear Of his barn.
A similar effect certain diseases are ant TO pro-
duCe by sudden attack upon individuals who a
few DAYS ago may have enumerated 4 long list Of
arguments against the use Of drug remedies
DIR. Isaac Jennings, the chief American apOs-
tie Of medical reform, lays 10 down as a general
rule that drugs only postpone the crisis Of o
disease; but the lct.alone plan is apt TO be-
come decidedly unpopular in eases where q
Chronic disorder Is accompanied by prOtracted
pain, or by symptoms as distressful TO nurses
and neighb0Fs as 20 the patient himself In
diseases Of the breath that possibility becomes
often sadly evident, and an old man afflicted
with a chronic cough may become the terror of
whole tenement, nay, Of whole building
block OF tenement and private residences. not
70 speak Of crowded assembly halls. According
to a recent amendment Of the school laws Of
Michigan, lung. sick children must be kept
away from public schools till their coughs have
mended, and in military barracks the hospital
steward will take charge Of such patients; but
what are the neighbor5 Of an ever c0uging in
valid going TO 60 about it, except suggest the
t'meliness OF trying some expeditions remedy ?
The only radical remedy in nine out Of ten
such eases would be the removal Of the patient
to a purer atmOsphere-the bcst-ventilated
room in the house or some attic that has never
before been used 4 bed-Chamber. under cir
cum5tanccs where migration 20 a different eli
mate may seem impracticablc. Ordinary ca
tarrhs can generally be cured at once in that
way, by the simple removal Of the cause, viz
the breathing and re-breatbing Of air saturated
with the floating germs Of disorder which the
deluded patient tries to relieve by closing his
windows and doors.
But there are forms Of cough which defy the
air-cure for weeks together unless the remedial
influence OF pure atmosphere should be sup
plemented by the effect Of a low temperature
A cough accompanied by heavy expectOratiOn
may be due to an abseess Of the lungs and can
not be stopped until the purulent matter has
been thoroughly evacuated. still more OBJ
stinate trouble, however. is the affection pOpu-
larly known ID hacking cough" generally
characterized by the tickling sensation preccd-
ing each coughing fit. / have known cases
where cough Of that sort kept the patient
awake night after night for a whole month.
On awakening the in valid would sit up in bed
light a lamp and begin 10 read, resolved not TO
90 10 sleep again till he had got rid Of the
choking sensation; but drowsiness overcoming
that resolve. the patient drops back on his pill
low and five minutes later is awakened again
by sufocating fit quite distressing as the
ugliest nightmare. An intOlerable tickling in
the upper part Of the chest provokes q long
continued effort to get rid of the trouble by
coughing. but the only visible result is a small
quantity Of thin sputa, not easily distinguish
able from the ordinary secretion Of the saliVary
glands.