Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-02-28
HINTS NATURE GIVES
SYMPTOMS THAT SHOULD WARN MEN
OF COMING SICKNESS.

! The Significance of Sneezfng, Yawn-
Ing and Recurring Winter Colds.
The Meaning of Blue Hands-Apo-
p1exy's Warning Signals.
Nature scarce ever strikes without
warning. In so far as disease is con-
cerned it gives clear signs of what Is
impending days, weeks, months and
even years before the attack. If people
looked for these signs and took warn
ing from them, they would escape
much serious illness and live many
years longer than they do. 1t is indeed
remarkable how careless we are in this
respect. \ man who will anxiously
scan the sky for signs Of coming rain
lest his top hat may get spoiled will
never dream of examining his eyes,
nose or finger nails for signs of coming
illness.
The sneeze, for instance, is very sig
nificant. 1t is always q sign that some
thing is injuring the air passages any
where from the nose down to the
lungs. Should it be only case of snuff
or pepper, of course the sneeze is of no
consequence. But often it is an indica-
ton of congestion. There Is inflamma-
ton somewhere. with too much blood,
and the object of the sneeze is to give
relief by getting rid of some of the
fluid. This sneeze is warning that
every prudent person should attend to-.
1t is at least the forerunner of a cold.
But it may indicate an approaching at
tack Of bronchitis or pneumonia. When
there is much sneezing, accompanied
by something like a small shower of
rain, the victim will do well to take a
warm footbath, go to bed and adopt
the other usual remedies to cure a cold
The winter cold itself is grave
warning. When it recurs two or three
times every winter, it is sure to be fol-
lowed in the end by chronic bronchitis
Once this comes on it is practically in
durable.
Men are started on their lives much
as a shell from a cannon-with q GER
tain fixed quantity of energy. If dis
ease or accident does not carry them
off, they will die some time of what
we call old age-in other words, when
the energy with which they started is
spent. Some have energy enough to
carry them over the full century; 9TH
ers have only sufficient to keep them
going for ninety, eighty, seventy, sixty
or fewer years. Now, early badness is
a sure sign. with some exceptions, that
the energy is likely to fail sooner than
in the average man. But all kinds Of
! badness have not this significance.
Sometimes the loss Of hair arises from
scalp disease caused probably by mi
crobes. The warning badness is that
kind which commences about the tenn
pies and on the crown of the head and
gradually eats its way over the scalp
until only a circular fringe of hair is
left.
Blue nails, or blue hands, betoken
weak or INSTRUCTED circulation. They
are warning against overeXertion Of
any kind. The obstruction may occur
from disorder of several organs in the
body. But most commonly the blue
ness indicates that the heart is not up
to the mark.
Yawning is a somewhat similar
warning. 1t is a sign that the steam
has run down and that it is time to go
to bed or perhaps to go into the open
air. When you sit in a close room, the
! lungs do not receive sufficient of the
vital gas, oxygen. The yawn is then a
desperate effort of the lungs to proper
ly aerate the blood, and it warns you
to open the windows or to leave the
room. When you are out of bed too
long or when you have done an unusu-
ally hard days work, the waste prod
ucts Of your body are present in excess
sive quantity. Then the yawn is a
warning to you to lie down and rest.
Most people have great horror of
getting q Stroke or fit of apoplexy.
1t is not by any means as unpleasant
of it is what appalls. There is really
no suddenness about it, however. No
disease gives such early warning. A
''stroke" is a very simple occurrence
and not at all horrible. 1t results from
two or three causes, but the most COM
mon one is this: A little artery in the
brain wears out and lets some blood
escape, which clots, presses on the
brain and paralyZes whatever part of
the body is governed by the piece of
brain pressed upon. Now this artery
wears out only in common with other
arteries of the body. In some people
they all become what is called athe-
romatous, or hard and brittle. At the
same time they become tortuous or
twisted. We can see these hard and
tortuous arteries on the temples, and
then we know it is not safe to do any
thing which will congest the brain,
lest the one little artery there, which
is especially liable to give way, shall
let the blood escape. Likewise warn
ing is often given by the tiny arteries
of the eye. They break and let out
little traces of blood, which can easily
be seen, but a cold or sleepless night
may do the same. When these signs
occur-and they occur months and