The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11

typewriters cramp. These are diseases, so
to speak, of necessity the result of con-
slant application at a wage-earning oc-
cupation- Piano players cramp, however.
Is not a disease OF necessity. but OF luxury
as a rule. Not only is the piano player
affected with this cramp, but actual dis
eases occur. requiring surgical treatment,
and nervous exhaustion may be caused by
piano playing when II becames a task.
Zabludowski does not class the disease OF
piano players among those of occupation,
but says it is a disease resulting from in
iammation of one or more nerves OF the
arm having its origin in a muscle or joint
which has been injured by too much piano
playing. Most of those affected are pupils
in Conservatives, who have small and thin
bones or weak joints and hands much too
small to comfortably span an octave. The
treatment consists chiefly in rest, and not
in massage and exercise. AS a preventive
of such trouble Dr.. Zabludowsk believes
that there should be a children's piano hav-
ing smaller. closer set keys. that their
small hands may not be overstretched or
overtaxed.
According to Health, everything taken
into the stomach affects it much more
when the stomach is empty because it
then comes in direct contact with that
organ. whereas, if food is present it is
mixed and diluted with this. a medicinal
dose of prussic acid, for example, may not
affect a person disagreeably if taken after
breakfast, but would cause uncomfortable
sensations if taken before breakfast. Ply
til - -, - %A;. fo.<
When they want a drug to be assimilated
quickly by giving it on an empty stomach.
but as a rule it is ordered with or after
meals. Acrid substances also affect the
stomach If taken in a concentrated form,
less SO when diluted, and least Of all in
pill form, as in the latter case it slowly
dissolves and exerts its action gradually.
Poison. too. for the same reason. given
will homicidal intent or taken with suici-
dal purpose. is less likely TO prove fatal
If mixed with food or given or taken after
a meal, although in this case it may simply
be a matter of slower action.
Chambers. occurring as a disease in man,
Is always due to incubation of the specific
germ, either from an animal or another
man. taking place through an abrasion Of
the skin or through the mucous membrane.
and the germs may even be inspired and
cause a species Of pneumonia. Strube,
who has made a special study of this sub
ject, says it manifests itself in one of two
ways; in one of which the disease remains
localized in one spot, as on the skin or in
the nose as a hardened swelling. later be-
coming an ulcer, and possibly leading to
serious Inflammation. The other form is
that Of blood poisoning with liberation at
many remote points from the site of in
lection, sometimes difficult to distinguish
from typhoid fever. Either form may be
acute or chronic. and may heal spontane-
ously or increase in severity until it ends
in death.
According to the French military law re-
Gently enacted suicides will henceforth be
treated as deserters, and no military honors
will be rendered at the funeral. 1t is no Sc
cret that suicides are common in the
French army, and this is attributed TO the
brutal treatment of the soldiers by the Of
ficers and the brutalizing condition of the
life they lead during their three years
service. Suicides in our own army, which
have become quite common among those
serving in the Philippines, are not due to
inhuman treatment, but are attributed to
climati influence.
+ = r
Upshaw. referring to the heart in life in
%surance, says that in fieshy persons past
middle age any irregularity in the hearts
action is to be looked upon with suspicion.
In applicants who are reformed alcoholics
any change in the heart is suspicious. To-
bacco heart is a practical entity, and sud-
den death from heart failure is not so un-
common as to preclude the acceptance Of
such a risk as a safe one.