The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-21
MEDICAL NOTES.
prepared for the Sunday Journal by
an Old PractitfOner0


In an article upon the govt, Adams be-
lieves that a right attention to proper diet
is of more benefit than medical treatment.
Fairly large quantities of water are use
full, and milk is valuable drink. Condi-
ments are valuable aids to digestion, but
common salt should not be taken in large
quantities. Dried beans, peas, ETC., should
be avoided. Corn is the most valuable of
vegetable foods. Greens, potatoes, beets,
lettuce, squashes, celery, tomatoes and
most fruits are recommended. Fish is
very useful substitute for more harmful
meat Fats, starches, and sugars, when
properly cooked and digested, are not
harmful. Incidentally. piperazin may be
given in doses of Is grains daily. or fluid
extract of corn silk. n an ounce. Nor
should the value of employment and pleas
ant exercise be disregarded.
To wear gloves or not to wear gloves is
much debated question among surgeons.
Freeman believes that there is no method
by which the bare hands can be absolutely
made surgically clean, and claims that the
only reliable method of preventing wound
infection from contact with the hands is
to cover them with sterilized rubber gloves.
Cotton gloves may do some good If fire.
quently changed but at best they simply
act as a net to catch the germs from the
operators hands. Prolonged soaking of the
hands in hot water, or better, sweating
them in a hot air oven, is inconvenient, and
while it may dispose of the micro-organ-
isms upon the surface it will not destroy
81 80 CHI In nd hano n
the nails Schloffer says that wofer, of
Prague, uses leather gloves Of moderate
thickness rendered sterile by being soaked
with soap and hot water and placed in
5 per cent lysol solution for at least two
weeks and put on the hands while still wet.
These, as we'll as rubber gloves. to some
extent, destroy the tactile sense of the
fingers.
In spite of the fact that the danger of
contagion from certain diseases is realized
by ALL Wright calls attention to the 1axity
in the enforcement of laws enacted for the
purpose of the prevention of such diseases.
The necessity of special hospitals. or at
least isolated wards for the exclusive ac-
commodation of those afflicted with a con-
tagious disease is beyond dispute, yet in
sixty-two principal cities in the United
States and Canada less than one-fourth are
provided with hospitals properly equipped
for the treatment of contagious diseases.
and some do not even have smallpox
hospital Fully as important is the neces-
sity of a properly constructed detention
building for suspected but as yet unde-
veloped cases. for it is evident that if a
person be at once placed in contagious
ward but not afflicted with a contagious
disease, such a person is in such a state
that he or she will inevitably contract con-
| tagious diseases.
Many different kinds of material have
| been suggested and used in surgery for SUI
lures and ligatures. The latest TO be sug-
gested is celluIoid thread which is being re-
ceived with appreciation. This is simply
| grey linen thread boiled in a soda solution
and then sterilized anu dried. 1t is then
saturated with a special preparation of
| celIuIoid and heated in large disinfectors.
This is firm and strong without elasticity,
so that the knot does not loosen. 1t is
easily threated readily tied, and, being
| hard and smooth. never softens in the
wound or absorbs secretions. IL is prob
able that celluloid thread will eventually
supersede all other material used for
| sutures and ligatures. being much less ex-
pensive and better adapted to the needs of
| the surgeon.
|
| The German Emperor has recently taken
a hand at medicine and ordered that his
own physician. as we'll as the Empress
and their assistants must be clean shavan
and the army surgeons will probably soon
be obliged to do the same. This may al
first seem arbitrary. but IL is an advance
| in the line of protective medicine, since II
10 readily manifest that microbes may at