The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-05
TREATISE ON SEA SICKNESS.
4 BROOKLYN Physician Gives Rules
for Minimizing the Suffering.
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press
DR.. Herman Partsch of Brooklyn has
novel ideas on what to Do With Sea-
sickness" which are set forth in the Med
ical Record. His competency to speak
upon this subject arises, he says, from the
fact that the first TWO and a half years
of his professional career were spent as
medical officer upon ocean steamships
He has written a prize essay and a pam
phlet on the subject, besides a book. He
says:
Make no preparation calculated 10
avoid seasickness. Continue in your usual
ways steamer chair will prove de
srable convenience if the voyage is to
long, and the weather proves good
Get on board half an hour before sail
ing. get your cabin and small luggage ar
ranged to suit YOU. and have nothing to
do but take care of yourself after the
ship starts.
shoes should be warm comfortable
and easily put on and off. Besides being
comfortable. have all clothing as conven-
lent as practicable for dressing and I'M
dressing
Rooms amdships are preferable. Avoid
the extreme ends of the ship. Good IA
cilities for ventilation are necessary.
Strive 10 have the air inside the room
about as good as outside even when you
are in lit; do a least the best you can
in the circumstances towards this end.
Two sufficiently large openings to the
room are necessary. Good, clean fresh air
is of the greatest Importance to the sus-
cepuble passenger. There is no danger
from draughts. Second hand air is a fac
Tor in the causation of seasickness.
weather and condition of health per-
hitting. stay on deck much of the time
in steamer chair in semi-recumbent
positlon, comfortably covered and eyes
closed
Anywhere on ship. in berth or chair.
keep the eyes closed during the daytime,
with exception of short duration until
immunity from optical vertigo is ac-
uuired Thus you will exclude optical
vertigo. by which is meant that dizziness
and nausea which are often consequent on
the continued observation of unusual re-
lations among our environs, and between
them and ourselves.
whenever the slightest sensation of
Illness is felt, lie down at once and close
the eyes. Use only one pillow. or If sick,
or il seems likely that you will be. have
the head even below the level of the body
with no pillow for awhile. / have seen
the pillow make all the difference in the
world between great misery. and almost
absolute comfort. Steamship motion can
be analyzed into twenty-six different fac
tors 1t is. therefore. compiled ed. and.
of course, incomprehensible a first. The
many variations occur to the passenger
unawares. His animal mechanism can
not adjust itself 10 them, because he can
not at first foreknow them. The case
becomes much like THAI OF going up or
Of n no ON
step more or less than was expected The
variatio not being adjusted to, because
not foreknow. violence of some kind s.
the result. The disturbances occur in
a continued series, each slight. but the Sc
ries results in an accumulated sum of vio-
lence which we call seasickness.
What IS first disturbed I'm animal
mechanism is the nervous system. which
controls the circulation OF the blood, and.
as result the circulation itself must
OF course be disturbed. The first import
ant result Is a relaxation OF the blood
vessels IN the abdominal cavity; these YES
sells having much less outside support
than those that traverse muscular tissue.
THE second effect IS the gravitation Of
blood into the relaxed vessels thus per-
hitting the occurrence OF a deficiency
in the brain. One result OF this defcien-
cy In the brain is the sensation called nau-
eea. This mechanical deficiency of blood
in the brain. with its corresponding sensa-
ton Cnousea), Is 10 be avoided when OBJ
served TO he approaching. and corrected
when already present, by lying down with
the head no higher than the body. If the
patient does not lie down promptly. rotch-
ing will take place. Retchng is natures
method OF flooding the brain with blood
by squeezing the contents of the abdom-
'inal cavity In such q maner as 90 force