The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-05-13
Medical Notes.

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The time for taking cold is after exer-
else; the place is in your own office or
mouse, but it is not the exercise which
gives you the cold: it is cooling off too
quickly after It, When you start to walk
10 the train or the steamboat or to meet
an appointment your minds runs ahead
OF you, and in making an effort to keep
up with it you get into a perspiration.
You take your seat and feel quite COM
Portable as to temperature. You talk to
a friend or read a newspaper and sudden
ly you feel a sensation of chilIiness. The
perspiration not being able to escape has
turned to water and given you, as it
were, cold bath. If you look around
TO ind where the cold comes from you see
that a window is open near you, or a door,
or 1t may be that you are riding with
your back to the wind. Perhaps while
on the street you have met a friend. who,
perhaps. asks you for a loan. and you
spent some time trying TO let him down
without hurting his feelings and perhaps,
when it is too late you notice raw wind
swirling around the corner or discovered
that you were standing in cold slush.
That's where you catch cold.
Garrigues, writing in the Medical News,
calls attention to the fact that there is
an alarming absence of proper precau-
lions throughout America against burial
alive He has collected many interesting
and more or less authentic cases of burial
alive and gives a list of the signs Of
death. among them the arrest Of circu!a-
ton and respiration. and above all putre-
faction really the only positive sign.
Persons buried alive who have been
leased say that hearing and conscious
ness are always retained He calls espe-
cial attention to the unwlse and indecent
haste manifested In preparing people for
burial and submitting them to the dan
gers OF the Ice box, or it may be killing
them by the process of embalmlng, and
believes that no person should be consid-
cred or treated as dead until legally
authorized official has viewed the remains
and certified that death has actually oc-
CURED.
If the resistance Of the Beers continues
with the same obstinacy as at present
the war will be prolonged months, and
very likely years. Under these conditions
the war in South Africa will assume
medical aspect difficult OF solution by the
English. At present the warmth Of the
climate has prevented any health disas-
army living in tents will be subjected to
many dangers. and disease will carry off
more than sword or bullet. The English
army has about 175,000 men in the field to-
day. and there are medical men and hos
pitfalls sufficient only for $1,000. leaving
10000 positively without any medical as
sistance. 1t may be possible that to avert
catastrophe physicians and surgeons, who
are exempt from drafting. will be depriv-
ed of this right and be forced to enter
active service in the field.
Aside from economic aspects the num-
Der of immigrants annually coming to
this country is OF interest in health mat
ters. Commissioner Powderly, of the i'm
migration bureau. estimates that the to-
tai number of immigrants for 1900 will eX-
coed 100000, the majority of whom Will
be undesirable and will only add to the
slum population. For this reason they
will not only increase the burden of pow
erty but the burden of disease, for many
of these people are already afflicted with
grave and disgusting chronic diseases
which are contagious, and thus infect
those of their class who come in contact
with them. AS the Philadelphia Medi-
cal journal says. this sort of immigra-
ton means increased pauperiSm, increas-
ed degeneracy, increased crime and dis
ease. No principle Of political economy
doors wide open to the influx Of slum
population.
The undoubted presence of bubonic
plague in San Francisco calls attention
to the difficulty OF isolating such cases,
owing to the Indifference and even oppo-
stion of those afflicted and those coming
in contact with them to have their con-
dition known. In every contagious dis
ease this difficulty IS a prominent one.
but the secrecy, which is the outcome of
personal ignorance, prejudice, or bigotry.
In individual cases menaces the well be-
ing of the whole community. In the case
of the plague most severely restrictive
measures are necessary, and 1t Is only by
hearty cooperation with the public health
authorities, no matter how extreme the
measure may be, that the country at
large can be kept free from this most
frightful affiiction. In this, as in all con-
tagiOus diseases, there should be no con-
ceaIment from health authorities and the
truth should be told at once.
To a person who is familiar with the
scenes in recruiting office portion of
the preliminary examination Is very sug-
geStiYe of choosing a horse. The officer
in charge tells the applicant to open his
mouth, and If he finds his teeth in any
way defective the man is at once reject
u. o
only with sound teeth 1t Is evident that
decay must sooner or later affect the
teeth. Up to the present time no dentists
have been connected officially with the
army or navy, but a bill has recently
been intI Oduced requiring the employ
ment of one contract dental surgeon for
every thousand men. This is certainly a
move in the right direction. and doubt
less when their utility has been proven
their number will he increase
There Is no doubt but that many pro-
fessional glass eaters and the like are
deXterOus deceivers. Bits of transparent
geatine are used in place Of glass and
candy china and rock are also so skill
fully made that they deceive the sharp
est observer. Still there are bona fide
glass eaters and the like but they come
to a speedy end as numerous post NOR
TENS prove. The youngest person of this
class is a boy eleven years old who was
operated upon in hospital in Brooklyn
For several months this boy complained
of a weight in his stomach and confessed
that for many months he had occasion
ally whitfield wood into small bits which
chewed and swallowed. A mass of
wb I pulp was removed weighing a
pound and a half and the boy felt better
The method suggested by the Turkish
government for taxing physicians is an
ingenious one. The officials propose 10
make it compulsory for all physicians to
write their prescriptions upon blanks
bearing a government stamp and also
having printed upon it the name of the
doctor and the number Of his diploma:
the purpose being not only to increase the
gov eminent income, but to regulate the
practice of medicine so that none but
regular physicians can follow the pro-