St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1893-03-11
THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH.

means a useless act, for it often cure
catarrh and other affections of the throat
in many cases giving instantaneous re
lief. 1t produces considerable distcn
ton of the muscles of the pharynx, con
this influence the cartilaGinOuS pOr
ton of the custachian tube contracts
expclling into the pharynX the mucoSi
ties there collected. According to VI
Naegcli, yawning is much more ctlicl
cious for affections of the tube than tn
methods of Nalsalva or pOitzcr, and i
more rational than the installation O
air, which is often difficult to perform
properly.
| DIPHTHERIA AS VIEWED BY AMERICAS
| PHysICIANs.- Some slime ago the Amcrl
can Public Health Association proposed
to American physicians the interrogatory
By what media and channels does the
specific cause of diphthcria gain entrance
to the human organism! TO this inquiry
the opinions are nearly all favorable to-
media: air. food and water; channels
air passages, mouth, incubation. Thus,
it would appear, the prevalent opinion
of professional observers is that the nose
and throat are the parts upon which virus
usually finds a lodgmcnt. A large per
| cent of the observers believe the virus is
conveyed by the air, by food, and by
drinking water but may be conveyed on
| the fingers, on spoons, knives, etc, used
about the sick A large ma iority do not
believe in the disease being caused by
germs, ptomaines, or conditions and pro-
ducts developed within the body and in
dependent of specific causes received
from without; while nearly sixty per
cent. believe that domestic animals and
fowls are subject to the disease and that
they infect human beings.
ELECTRICITY IN MEDICINE, THE cnor
nous strides made by the new force in
commerce and industries of late years
have been to O certain extent paralclcd
by the application of electricity in medi
cine and surgery. The electric motor
turns the drill of the dentist, borcs out
all the noses of mankind in the hands of
the rhinologist, and may run the saw and
the trcphine of the surgeon. The cleo
trio light is made to illuminate all the
cavities and interiors of the human body,
so that ''the pcstilcncc that walketh In
darkness" in the black recesses of our
visccra is sought out and driven away by
the electric search light. 1t is nothing
now to put an cndoscope into the
stomach and scrutinizc its walls from
one end to the other, and in a dark
room the very size of the stomach is de
tcrmncd by the translumination of the
abdominal walls when light is turned
on inside of that viscus Electricity fur
nishcs heat for the cautery, with which
morbid surfaces may be healed, wounds
stimulated, and tumors extirpatcd.
The elcctrolytic needle removes the
hairs of the bearded women, cradicates
birthmarks, dccomposes tumors, coagu-
latcs ancurismS, and in its most romantic
role manufactures those most desired or
naments of the feminine physiognomy,
lovely dimplcs The electro magnet
pulls out the beam from our neighbours
eye, when the beam is in the shape of a
piece of iron. and when the operation is
intcliycntly directed by the ophthal-
mologist. 1t may hunt up and draw out
wandering needles. One of the new
features of electric medication is the
introduction of drugs into the human
body through the skin. This is done
by placing solutions of any drug upon
a sponge, which is made the positive
pole and placed against the skin. When
tually driven through the skin into this
tissues. The applications are not at all
painful. Thus cocaine has been driven
in over a painful nerve, and neuralgia
have been relieved by it. Many other
drugs have been used in this way. This
property of electricity is known as cata-
phorcs.s. Operations have been per
formed after anrsthetizing the skin and
subjaccnt tissues cataphorctical|v. The
ncurologist perhaps finds a large thera-
putic field for electrical exploration.
With the continuous current he soothes
the pains of pcriphcral nerves, calms
down an excited brain, stimulates
healthy processes in diseased
spinal cord. exercises paraly2ed
muscles, re uvcnatcs overworkcd
limbs. and aids in the rebuilding of It's
sues in members that have wasted away.
Sometimes he calls to his aid the inter
ruptC.! and the alternating currents. and
occasionally takes into service the static
sparks evolved from the biz glass wheels
and Lesden jas. The method of the
working OF electricity in disorders of the
nervous system is much more obscure
than in the maladics mentioned above,
where heat, light, clcctrolvsis, and cata-
phoresis produce effects at once apparent
to the senses. Not able to demonstrate
the value of electricity in some
of the chronic nervous diseases, a great
deal has to be accepted on faith. There
is dispute i'll some quarters as to its in
trinsic value here, and many incline to
the idea that suggestion has a good deal
to do with improvement in patients
of this kind treated in this way.
Besides its employment as a therapeutic
agent, electricity has considerable value as
a means of diagnosis in many neurological
For instance. the resistance as
by the rhcostat is reduced in
goitrc and increased in
hystcria. The muscular contractions pro
,iuccd in paralysis from in jury to certain
parts OF the nervous system are 50 differ
INT from contractions produced by cleo |
ricity in paralysis due to LESSONS in the |
Drain, as an example, that their ditfcrcn-
tiation constitutes an important aid in
distinguishing these affections one from
another. Then, too, in the surgery of
he brain and spinal cord which has new
y sprung into existence, electric stimu-
alton of parts of tie brain and of nerve
cots is very valuable in localizing the
.xact region to be operated upon. In
Iced, much of our knowledge Of the
ocalizatior Of functions in different parts
If the surface Of the brain is owing to
electricity made use of by psychologists
u their marvellous nXnnrimental 70