The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-02
MEDICAL NOTES.
prepared for the Sunday Journal by
an Old PractitionerO

an Old PractitiOner.)
Contrary to the common belief, bois are
not Indicative of blood disease. They are
really indications of local poisoning by pus-
bearing germs, and the boil is abscess.
Every pin-prick, every scratch, every abra-
sion, every cut with razor or pocket
knife, every splinter that enters the skin
may cause a boil. Nor need the wound be
a serious one; it may be so minute as to be
invisible to the unaided eye. Nor is the re-
suit always produced. for If it should be.
every slight wound, every thorn-prick, ev-
cry scratch of a cat. every bite of dog.
every abrasion of the skin, would be fol-
lowed by disastrous If not fatal conse-
quences. The reason for this immunity is
that there is a certain inherent power of
the body to resist these noxious agents,
and 1T is only when the powers of the body
are weakened by disease that the morbific
agents can thrive in the body and accom-
plish their evil work. In this sense, then,
boils are diseases due to disease of the
blood, but it is not disease in itself.
High living also favors boils. DR.. Reid,
speaking of pus, and incidentally of boils,
says: Job probably run down by a
long period of debauchery. We read that
the devil had him in tow some time before
his boils broke out. If, now, he could have
had the counsel of three good physicians,
instead of as many tiresome theologians,
he would have had his system toned up;
his broken potsherd, with which he
scraped himself. withal, thus spreading
sympathy and infection, would have been
taken from him, and he would have been
taught few lessons In sanitary science
instead of theology" The reason why
boil is always in the worst place is because
that is the most exposed place The back
of the neck, where the collar rubs the mi
crobes into the skin; the wrist, where the
cuffs irritate and make the entrance of
germs more easy; the top of the foot,
where the shoe pinches; the razor-swept
chin, are all favorite worst Places
1t is common, although unjust re-
proach that medicine has not progressed,
but even in the administration of medicine
there has been great advance. There are
many persons who remember with dis
| gust the nauseous remedies of fifty years
| ago. A capsule had never been thought
| of, and the nearest approach to a sugar
coated pill was slippery mass of slippery
| elm wrapped around the aloes, podophyllum,
| scammony and gamboge pill, which was
| as large as marble and was swallowed
| with much gagging and straining. Instead
| of quinine in a gelatine-coated pill, table
| spoonful of the sawdust chips OF Peru
| Wan bark was wet and washed down with
| warm water Instead of effervescing pow
| ders a spoonful of EPSON or Glauber's
| salts was dissolved in little hot water
! and washed down with a cupful of SIENNA
| tea. CONNECTION of SIENNA tied the sufferer
| UP in the knots of collie. People were
purged with heroic doses of calomel, gam
boge or jalap, or nauseated by tartar
| emetic. Now all that has been changed
| crude and nauseous drugs have given
| way to active principles extracted from
them; boluses have given way to minute
| sugar-coated pellets; even the old-fashioned
cream of tartar and sulphur, good thing.
| by the way, has also been superseded by
| compressed tablets, and such powders as
have survived are also compressed and
often coated. These certainly prove that
medicine has advanced in pleasantness il
not efficacy.
| According TO McGrew there are three
forms of nervous Observation-Disclosures
tai, overstimuIated and a combination of
both. The developmental form is due to
| some disturbance of nutrition during the
| growing period or some unhealthy sur
| rounding or habits during the formative
years OF children. These patients do not
need rest, but exercise which tends to
tremendously develop and strengthen every
part o. the PHYSICAL organization Those
who are endowed with nervous strength
equal to their general organic strength
but whose baneful habits of life have ex-
hausted their inherited nervous vitality
belong to the overstimulatson class. this
class including overworked and underfed
students. as well a. the society woman and
professional man. The proper treatment
Tor this class u the rest cure. under which