The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-17
SPRING CLEANING.
suggestions from the Notes of an Old
Medical Practitioner.

ing. The idea was that the blood became
thick and impure, and that blood-letting
was equivalent TO draining of the impure
ties. just as a drain pipe would carry off
waste material from "A house. BIood-letting
has gone out OF use. but the idea that
some form of spring cleaning of the sys-
tenn is needed is still in vogue, and not
without good reason.
During the winter less active exercise is
taken; there is less outdoor life: more
heating food is eaten and fewer greens
are used, SO that the vital movements be-
come sluggish. The bowels are often less
active, and as there is but little if any
Precipitation during the colder weather
more work is thrown upon the kidneys,
which are sometimes overworked as a re-
suit. and actually poisonous principles col
lect in the system and cause a feeling of
heaviness if nothing worse. But in all
these results the blood is primarily only n
conveyor of the DEMONSTRATING material,
just as streams polluted with offensive ma
terial may exercise a baneful influence
upon those who drink of them or even
battle in the waters.
The red blood corpuscles have as their
function the transportation of oxygen to
the various organs and tissues of the body.
Oul q certain conditions these red
blood corpuscles are disproportionately less
in number than the white corpuscles. As
a result of this deficiency of red blood
the whole system suffers from oxygen
starvation and also from carbonic acid
poisoning, one Of the functions of the blood
being to carry away or transform this dele
ferrous substance into living tissue for
building and repair. The brain controls
fhn
surplus of carbonic acid gas paralyzes the
circulatory centers and also acts poison
ously upon the brain, causing headache
and a sense of oppression often temporarily
felt after a heavy meal and often increas-
ing in intensity and duration as the winter
lengthens. This is one cause of spring
sickness.
Meat forms a much larger proportion of
food during the winter, and according to
many authorities meat, especially beef,
causes Bright's disease or some slighter
disturbance of the kidneys. Food, too. is
more concentrated during the winter
months, and thus the bowels, lacking the
irritant stimulation of the needful amount
of waste material, become torpid and do
not eliminate the necessary proportion of
effete material, which is retained longer
than is healthful and is absorbed into the
blood.
Winter, too, is a season of indoor socia-
bility, late hours and suppers, theaters and
balls. and all these have their effect upon
bodily health both from the abnormal en-
vironment and the overcrowding of many
into small, overheated and underventilated
rooms. Heavy clothing, impervious to air,
further acts injuriously upon the body and
overheated living and sleeping rooms add
their percentage, and not a small one, to
the deleteriOus influence bringing about
lassitude and WEAKNESS which seems great
er than we can bear. Furthermore, there
is a bracing influence in the air of winter
which is absent to an extent in the warmer
days of spring, and it is the sudden failure
of this stimulant tonic which is the last
straw in causing spring collapse.
These have been mentioned thus explicit
" because a man who avoids the causes
avoids the effects. A man who exercises
briskly during the winter, who is much out
of doors, who eats enough but not too
much, who keeps his bowels open, who
keeps good hours. and observes other hy-
gienic laws does not know that the seasons
are changing by any change in his own
JUL VI III tCA4noos IL - OH'S -
dolent who hug the fire, who bundle them
selves up to the eyes, who live to eat and
who work harder at night for amusement
than they do by day for profit that feel
''aIl played out when spring comes.
Yet the majority of people. in the spring,
do not feel like getting out of their own
way. They feel stupid and dull; they can
not think or work; every movement is
IN axartion. I1rtu n task thav- feel
~listless and drowsy; they have no appe-
tite; they nave no ambition, but just want
to be let alone. Then perhaps some good
friend suggests t-horoughwort tea. and.
simple as the suggestion is, the tea is good.
Thoroughwort tea is one of our grand
mothers remedies; every spring they
stepped a handful of tho%roughwort, or
boneset. as it was called. in a pint of
water, and every member of the family
took a wineglassful of this bitter tea three
times a day-morning, noon and night.
Sometimes a little mint was put with it,
and sometimes it was sweetened to make
1t more palatable, but good molasses was
used for this purpose, because that has a
laxative effect and thus adds to the eff
fcacy of the tonic bitters.
Speaking of molasses, there was another
SOOQ Olu-ldSNlOleU Iemeuy lndl our grand
mothers used in the spring to cure the
humoury condition which is so disagreeable
and annoying; that remedy was sulphur
and molasses and cream of tartar. 1t is
just as good to-day as it was then; a tea
spoonful of sulphur, a teaspOonful of cream
of tartar and a tablespoonful of molasses,
a teaspoonful of the mixture being taken
every night or morning. as desired.
Herb teas, being easily homemade RENE
dies, always have a certain fascination for
the home doctor, and they have the advan-
tage that if they do no good they can do no
harm. TIL following combination makes a
good blood-purifying bitters, which any one
can easily brew: Burdock root, 1 ounce;
blue flag root, Il ounce; dandelion root, q
ounce; sassafras bark, Il ounce; sarsapa-
rilla root. 1 ounce: wild cherry bark, II
ounce; yellow dock root, Il ounce. Steep
this in two quarts of water, with gentle
heat, for two hours, and then strain off
the fluid. The dose is a wineglassful for
adults before meals.
Root beers are also of some value, owing
to their bitter tonic effects and their aperi-
ent action. Liquid malt extracts are also
useful. but these are, in a sense, simply
concentrated beers or weak porters, and
there is danger Of creating a habit worse
than the disease. The dose is a wineglass-
full, but the person often exceeds the dose
to his or her temporary stimulation and