Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-06-09
AS TO HEALTH AND DISEASE.
Jewels Affected by the Health of Their
Weares.


their wearers is advanced by Prof Won
Schroen of the Naples university.
Pearls and opals are both said to
grow dull through the illhealth of
her by whom they are worn, and
the turquoise is said to become pale
from the same cause; while, says the
professor, I have heard, and on ex-
cellent authority, though it is a fact
I can hardly credit, of a ruby ring
which on the hand of an invalid went
paler and paler until on the patients
death the stones lost their color en-
tirely. Pearls are extraordinarily
sensitive to the condition of the skin
this fact is shown by an episode of
which an acquaintance of my own
was the heroine. She greatly desired
to possess pearl necklace, and her
husband bought her a very beauti-
full one. A month or two afterward,
however, the pearls began to lose
their luster, and much annoyed, he
too. the necklace back to the jeweler
who sold it to him. The salesman
admitted the deterioration. you are
cutie right" he said; but the truth
is that your wife cannot wear pearls
next to her skin. Let her maid
wear the necklace for few weeks,
and the pearls will regain their
brilliancy." The turquoise, again, will
change color. I know Of one which,
after having been worn for years,
turned a vivid green when it's wearer
W passing through the Red sea;
possibly it was affected by the tenn
perature of her skin. 1t is probable
that the turquoise has a form of life
as pearls undoubtedly do. A pearl
dies as actually as a flower, though its
life is a great deal longer, and all
it's color and brilliancy disappear. Its
average life it is impossible to esti-
mate, as some pearls are known to
be hundreds Of years old; but it is
probable that the life of others is far
shorter.
The impurities that affect the
quality Of water for domestic pur-
poses, writes Lloyd Davis in the En-
gineering Magazine, are inorganic and
decomposing vegetable and animal
matter and the micrO-Organisms OF
disease. Some of these exist in harm
full quantities in the water of many
streams, and in other sources that
flow through, or originate in, rich
agricultural or swampy land and
densly-pOpulated districts. A small
amount of fine, non-silicious mud or
silt in drinking water is not known
to produce disease, and is objection
able only from an esthetic standpoint.
But the large amount Of angular
particles Ct sand and decaying vege-
| tatiOn found in some streams IS
frequently productive of intestinal
disturbances, like Inflammation OF
| the bowels, diarrhOea, and dysentery;
and any water that is distinctly turbid
| should be regarded as nOn-pOtable,
until it has Seen clarified and freed
| of it's organic matter. At certain
seasons some algae produce dis
agreeable taste and OdOr that make 1t
unpleasant to drink water containing
them, while nearly all decaylng yege-
| table matter favOrs the production OF
| intermittent and malarlal fevers.
Malaria was once thought to be only
| of aerial origin, but the foremost in
yestigations now attribute 1t also to
| stagnant water containing an album
dance of decaying vegetable matter.
The celebrated case of -4e Argo, and
/ do hxrn T h.
ard H. Lewis of North Carolina, and
others, show in many case the water
| origin of this disease; and malaria is
| liable to exist wherever the tempera-
| ture is high, the vegetable growth
large. and the country low and fiat.
Cheese, says the London Family
| Doctor, is a very rich and valuable
| food, likely to form large constituent
| in the future, and, especially for the
workingman,t be very extensively
used There is a difference in stomachs
| N their ability to digest this article.
| The writer is able to make an entire
meal of cheese with very little bread,
and digest it more easily than rice
| or oatmeal: but in most stOmachs 1t
| is less digestible, in some, extremely
so. Each person must learn for him
self. 1t is convenient form of ami
NAL food, and, when good, particu-
larly agreeable There is a great
difference in the composition of
cheese both in it's water, fat and nj
trogenous matter. In general, how
| o,or - NOV 1,o remarked that every
variety contains a large amount OF
| nitrogenous matter, and it is for this
that it is especially useful as food.
Skim milk cheese is especially rich
in this constituent, but less rich IN
fat. Those who abstain from flesh
food will find in cheese abundance
of heterogeneous matter to take tbs
place of that found in flesh.
The idea quite generally prevails
says a writer in Modern Medicine
that the milk of the goat is more
readily digestible than that Of the
COW. and that the goat may render
valuable service in cases of bottle
fed infants with whom cows milk
does not agree. Goats milk differs
from cows milk not in being more dI-
gestible, but in being less digestible
and less nutritious, although it con-
tains a larger amount Of solid matter
than cows milk. 1t is indeed the most
indigestible of all milk. 1t has a
peculiar and unpleasant odor and
flavor, due to heroic acid or herein
| t. of for