The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-25
Medical Notes.

SfOiL 1AlOIG mouse SAM
tatlon, for in travelling person is ex-
posed to far greater risks. At the re-
cent meeting of the American Health as
ISOLATION much attention was given to
this subject and many ideas for reform
suggested. Prof. Woodbridge reporting.
for the committee, pleaded for Il special
sick room on through trains in which ali
persons known to be suffering from con-
tagious diseases should be placed while
travelling. The interior of ali cars should
be plain and the furnishings non-absorb-
ent A current of warm air of at least
LOCO cubic feet for each seat should con-
tinuously circulate through the car but
without making any draught. Floors
and sanitary fixtures should be frequent
ly disinfected by washing. All bed and
toilet linen should he disinfected while
being laundered. Sewage tanks and
earth closets should be provided, the
present method of depositing filth along
the road bed being extremely dangerous
to health. Water and ice should be OBJ
tanned from pure sources, and ice should
always be handled with tongs The
water tank should be frequently washed
out and the public should be educated to
use individual drinking cups. DR.. Hurry,
referring to the blankets used in Sleep
ing cars suggested that white blankets
would be far better, as colored ones,
while they did not keep clean any longer,
did not show the dirt when soiied Sug-
gestions were offered that ali the state
boards of health cooperate in the mat
ter Of sanitary cars and no doubt the
various railroad companies will be- ere
long, legally obliged to take more scru.
pulous care of their cars in daily use. As
1t Is today there is undoubted evidence
that diseases are not only transmitted
from one individual to another, but that
epidemicS may be brought from one
place to another by cars passing through
that region and occupied by persons
from that infected locality.
AS the cold strengthens those weakened
with consumption think of removing to
more congenial chimes, but often make a
fatal mistake in the selection DR.. Swan,
referring to Colorado, calls attention to
the fact that it is not the proper climate
for all cases. He warns patients in adj
Vanced stages of consumption against
Colorado, unless they can make the
change without fatigue and can live there
in the manner that they should for a
long time. Persons coming to Colorado
from a lower altitude are much more
easily fatigued until they become &C
cuStOmed to the change. The bracing
air also acts as a nervous stimulant, and
under it's effects excessive exercise leads
to reactionary fatigue far beyond the
limits of the physical powers to endure
and the resisting power against disease
is lessened. Early cases of consumption
should not go to Colorado unless they
have the means to live properly for some
time until they can obtain employment
for which there are many openings, but
far more applicants. From personal OBJ
Servation he states that many patients
going to Colorado for relief find their
condition worse and would be much hap
pier and better off if they had remained
at home among their friends and asso-
ciates. The same is true of many other
so-called health resorts, and the sick per-
son who is advised to or thinks of max
ing a change should consider well all
points before making the experiment.
= Speaking of opiates, DR. Kane, refer
ring especially to their use in appendi-
citis, censures their too common use for
drugging patients into insensibility The
FOOLS paradise into which an opiate
throws these patients hides from the ply
stefan the full gravity of the case and
obscures the diagnosis. The patient and
his friends, on the other hand, being sat
isfed by the ase-and rest thus afforded,
refuse to call proper aid until the cold
sweat Of collapse tells of impending dis
solution.
Procrastination, always serious mat
ter in disease, is especially fraught with
danger in appendicitis. The stereotyped
symptoms of appendicitis comprise
cramps, vomiting, fever, constipation,
tenseness of the abdominal muscles, with
tenderness nthe region of the appendix,
and pain after eating, but these are sell
dom present al together: in fact all the
symptoms may be so slight as to attract
but little if any attention, while the evil
is gaining Roadway In case of tender
ness around the region of the appendix
early interference is essential to safety.
for each hour adds to the severity and
gravity of the case and induces fresh
complications, while the decreasing
strength and the increasing exhaustion
detract from the probability of survival
If operation is at last decided upon
The case recorded in the Medical Record
of little girl who sucked a whistle into
her wind pipe and was obliged to undergo
an operation for its removal, should be a
timely warning for all parents The
whistle, consisting of a hollow, cylindri-
cal piece of wood. with a thin piece of
rubber stretched over one end. is an i'm
portant part of many toys and soon be-
comes detached from the rubber balloon
or remains intact after the balloon burst.
There seems to be a certain fascination
about this whistle and the child keeps
1t constantly In the mouth to be drawn
into the throat by a SUDDEN fit of cough
ing or laughing. Then the whistle con-
tinues to squeak autom atically with every
breath; that is the funny part of it, then
the child begins to choke and strange;
that is the painful part of 1t, to relieve
which the surgeon is called and some
times the undertaken is called at the
last; that is the sOrrowful part of it. The
toy is cheap but it is better to buy more
11zsar-@ El, -
the expense of a funeral.
DR.. Staples. an official vaccinator OF
Bristol, England. reports that vaccination
cures warts, at least it has cured warts
in one case. girl had a large crop of
warts, even ninety-fOur on one hand,
but seven weeks after vaccination thew
all disappeared. Speaking of vaccinatio
let those who attempt to vaccinate them
selves or their friends be sure to get
fresh vaccine virus for the virus being
organic, undergoes organic changes, and
may contain dangerous disease germs, if
it has been long kept Doubtless much
of the opposition to vaccination ar.seS
from the improper use of degenera ted
virus. Certainly much we'll founded op-
position was due to the practice of vac
cination from arm to arm, a practice
now obsolete among physicians AMI one
NAA~~I AAO OAAN ollOUlN1 P1c1SllSC CNCIl JhOuSH
the child or adult from the virus or
lymph is taken has the appearance of
perfect health.
The therapeutic effect of music upon
the sick has long passed the experimental
stage and is no longer a theory. 1t is
as yet impossible, however, to even brt ad-
ly name the special diseases for which
music is beneficial since it acts upon
the mind and through the mind upon the
body. 1t can never be a cure for all Ills.
but as a great aid in restoring health
z-a.a-uau=...-a.....