Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-22
CLOTHING F0RHEALTH
There's a Scientific Reason for Wear
ing Wool Next to the Skin.
NEW TREATMENT FOR HAY FEVER.
The Sufferer Now Advised to Apply Ice to
His Spinal Column.
EFFECT OF OCCUPATION ON INSANE
IwRIrTEN FOR THE prsPArcH.I

Scientific clothing to-day enters into our
life more largely than at any other period
in the worlds history, and it is for health
as well as for fashion that many study the
garments which civilized people wear. The
aesthetic side of the question has been
studied for ages, and even among the bar
barians and sayages, but the hygienic view
OF the subject has only recently been dis
| cussed.
The ideal clothing is that which protects
us against the sudden changes of tempera-
ture, and at the same time does not inter
fere with the functional activity of the skin.
The skin excretes small quantity of salts,
q little carbonic acid, and large percent
age of water, amounting in all to about two
pounds in "a hours. The balance of health
ran only be maintained where these wastes
can be carried off successfully into the air.
Wool has, therefore, been considered the
best clothing because it is the best to con-
serve the heat of the body, and its porosity
allows the moisture to escape. The ideal
clothing should be porous, and so loosely
woven as to include more or less air in its
meshca
Wool Is Better Thin Silk.
The value of wool clothing can thus be
established scientifically, and this applies
as well to the summer period as to the win
| ter, for during the hot term we are more apt
to get our clothing saturated with perspira-
| tion and this will produce cold chill in the
body if there is no wool to absorb it rapidly.
Linens, silk and cotton at such times would
| envelop the body in damp, clinging cloth,
which would not only be positively uncom-
Portable, but injurious.
Fine, thin wooden garments are as neces-
sary to be worn next to the skin in the sum-
mer as the thick ones are in winter 1t is
the ideal clothing, and it will keep the
BODY in healthier condition than three
quarters of the drugs. A person wearing
| woolen garments next to the skin can
endure the heat better than those wearing
| other clothing, for the skin in such cases
can perform its functions regularly. 1t is
common saying that when the perspiration
is good there is no danger from being sun
| struck, and it is on this principle that wool
| is so beneficial in hot weather
How to Take Cod Liver OIL
The value of many medicines prescribed
| for certain diseases is often dissipated and
cancelled by the lack of system in admins
| tering them. 1t has been found that certain
| classes of medicines have good effect wheh
| given in considerable quantities, and their
| importance is entirely destroyed when ad-
ministered otherwise. Others have to be
given at stated periods to have any bene-
fetal effect, while another general class
must be administered in small, homeo-
paIhic doses. A few need dilution with
water, some require other mixtures to make
| them effective, and a long list even of So
| called nutrItiye medicines have to be fed
with spoon.
Chief among these Is cod liver oil, which
seems to have such different effects upon
patients. The best and latest way of ad-
minIstering this to those needing it is in a
teaspoon just before retiring This should
be increased gradually within week to a
dessert spoonful as dose After the eighth
day it can be given after dinner and supper,
and finally after each meal This is TO ac-
custom the system to 1t, and if administered
in this way it rarely causes nausea. The
dose can be increased even larger until the
end of the fifth week. Then stop it for
week, and resume it again in the same way.
The greatest results are obtained by such q
uniform system of taking it.
Treating Asthma With Ice.
This is one of the most universal and dis
tressing diseases known, and yet it rarely
proves fatal, although it weakens and
emaciates the person extremely. From the
general impairment of the health, however,
asthma undoubtedly paves the way for more
dangerous diseases. 1t Impairs the diges-
tion, disturbs the nervous centers, and even
weakens the heart and lungs eventually,
making it possible for any disease of a SER
ious character to Law hold of the person and
work out fatal results. A change of climate
is often the onlv thing that will relieve the
trouble, and patients flock to warm, sunny,
temperate climes to outgrow the disease.
Asthma is largely q nervous disorder,
which affects the blood by keeping from it
sufficient oxygen in the narrowing of the
bronchial tubes One of the latest theories
for its cure is the application of ice to the
spine. This treatment distributes the blood
more evenly over the body, and keeps it
from congestiRg near the nerve centers.
Cold extremeties are common in asthmatio
patients, but the ice treatment warns them
and also strengthens the nutrition OF the
stomach.
In cases of severe hay fever the asthma
which frequently accompanies 1T can be
entirely relieved by the application of ice
to the spine. This is far more healthful
and effective than resorting to the various
drugs and medicines put on the market for
the disease, and one can feel entirely safe
in using this simple remedy.
Prescribing Work for the Insane.
In Great Britain and ireland the theory
is entertained that in order to treat the
county insane properly they should be
given some suitable and congenial employ
ment which will tend to keep their mind
from insane subjects. The work is to be pre-
scribed by physician as carefully as any
medicine, suiting it to each person, and
then watching the effect closely. Amuse-
ment and recreation are to have place
in the employment, and they are to be al
Iot in fo call forth the
terest and enthusiasm of the insane. The
amusement of some will be in books, pic
lures, magazines and music, while others
will require the more active exercise OF out
door games, such as baseball, football and
tennis.
In every case the physician must arrive
at the needs of the insane through careful
study and experiment In this way the in
sane asylums are believed to be places for
curing the insane, instead OF simply houses
for confinement
A. S. ATKINSON, NJ. d.