The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-01
Medical Notes.

Sound teeth not only add to a persons
comfort, but they prevent disease Many
diseases Of the eye, ear and cavities of
the head are traceable to unsound teeth,
and there is not a disease to which the
body is liable that is not aggravated by
an unhealthy condition of the teeth. Eye
diseases are especially common as the
results of poor teeth. These affections
may vary from simple dimness of sight
to total blindness, the symptoms, how
ever, usually disappearing when the teeth
are attended to. Poor teeth are, more
over, common cause OF indigestion, for
good digestion can take place only when
the food is thoroughly masticated. and
this demands sound and healthy teeth.
Proper care of the teeth during child
hood often means the prevention of
much trouble later in life. A physician
desiring to ascertain the percentage Of
children who cared for their teeth properly
distributed printed slips in a school, hay-
ing the questions. do you cleanse your
teeth with a brush every day? Do you
cleanse your teeth with a brush twice a
day." OF 700 pupils only so cleaned their
teeth twice a day, 275 used the brush
brush. OF the latter class some proba-
bly, used brush in common with others,
but this is a practice which should never
be INDUCED in, since, by such a practice,
local diseases of the mouth may be trans
ferred from one person to another and
even the most terrible diseases of the
system may be acquired.
Before the advent of spring flowers
the omnipresent bicyclist announces the
presence of spring. For those who take
UP bicycling for the first time, as Well
as for adopts, Rocheblave's medical adj
vice to bicyclists is of value. He says
that no one should ride until after an
examination by a physician. this eXamin-
alton being made both before and after
walk or run, because some heart dis
turbances only manifest themselves in a
state of fatigue. No person should ride
faster than eight miles an hour, but the
delirium of swiftness often leads ambl-
hous rider to greatly exceed this limit.
On a good road, with a light machine,
an amateur may easily make sixteen
miles an hour, but this is by far too rapid
a rate, the pulse being increased to as
much as $50 beats per minute even at
the rate of ten miles an hour.
There is another element in rapid rid
Ing not strictly medical, but dependent
upon law of mechanics Few people
realize the force of a rapidly moving
wheel. A man weighing $50 pounds moy-
ing about eight miles an hour, has a
momentum of 1,5O0 pounds. Aside from
the injury due to fracture and conclusion
when a pedestrian is knocked down by
q wheel there is an element of shock
which is often fatal, especially where
there is any heart disease, the result be-
ing worse than a blow on the pneumo-
gastric or the solar pleXus. This is the
reason why in bicycle accidents so many
people apparently in sound health are
instantly killed.
The popular idea that spring is the most
trying season of the year is proved scien-
utcally to be fact in many ways. Near
ly every one has experienced the feeling
Of lassitude after the winters conflne-
I1ent in oyerheated and Authenticated
rooms Few realize that the spring
months record the greatest number of
cases Of insanity, especially in women.
This is more noticeable in recent times
as a consequence Of the influenza, which
seems to exert its most depressing influ-
ence upon the nervous system. For this
reason especial care should be taken to
lessen as much as possible all evil irf1u-
ences which may cause insanity. House
hold cares should be lightened as much
as possible, and all needless worry avoid
ed. Perhaps it would be too radical a
change from. accepted customs, but 1t is
rational to believe that a spring vaca-
ton of short duration, would be as ad-
visable as a long vacation in the sum-
mer. OF late years, mental failure, in
sanity and suicide have become common
among school children during the later
days of spring, and while this may be, in
part, due to the unnatural stimulation Of
preparation for examination, it is, no
doubt, also due, in part, to the mental
trail n II on re- ti
In accordance with strict consideration
of hygienic principles, food should not be
wrapped in paper which is printed upon,
or in colored paper, unless the food is of
the vegetable kind and is cooked and par
ed before eating. Meat and bread quick
y absorb poisonous material from their
wrappers and thus may become danger
Gus. In France there are legal ordinances
requiring special KINDS of paper for wrap
ping, either white or straw colored and
in all cases new. Among the better class
of provision dealers the use of white veg
etable parchment, or oiled paper, has be-
come common, not only adding to the
neat appearance of the package but pre-
venting the access of germs to the con-
tents. Old paper, and especially ne wspa-
per, which Is porous, aside from any dan
gerous inherent element, may become sat
urated with disease germs. Aside from
lIllSp coIofeu papers may contain arsenic
or other poisonous chemicals. In view of
this, buyers will add to their own safety
by patroniZing only such purveyors as use
care in wrapping their bundles, and the
dealers will add to their reputation and
profit by adopting clean. sanitary wrap
ping paper
The Use Of so-ealled tablet triturate and
compressed powders is of the greatest
value, especially in rendering drugs port
able, but certain drugs lose their power
In this form, If kept for any length of
time, especially those which are volatile
or denquescent, such as PHOSPHORUS,
creasote, menthol and camphor These
and similar drugs are better given In
powder and in capsules. Bitter and nau-
seating fluids may be given in this way,
taking care, in filling the capsules, that
the fluid is not smeared over the out
side, and that they are sealed so that