Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-03-08
AS2H
Home Health
II Club
By DAVID q. REEDER. Ph. D., MI.
La Porte, Ind.
HICCoUGH.

Hdo ldSueu several days. a great
deal of medicine has been used, the case
was growing steadily worse. Five min
utes' treatment with my two hands eff
fected a complete cure, and there has
been no return of the trouble.
Hiccough, being a simultaneous spas
modic contraction of the diaphragm
and the CLOTHS, it is only natural TO
suppose that the proper way to over
come the difficulty is to remove the
c~ontractions. But, before proceeding
further, the correct thing to do is to
learn just what this diaphragm is. First,
it is a muscle; it is the partition be-
tween the freboX and ash pan of the
body. Above this partition are the
organs which receive the fuel and
convert it into power, and below 1t
are those through which the ashes or
matter from which all useful proper
ties have been extracted are to be elm
mated.
1t occupies an oblique position Just
between the lungs and the stomach.
separating the two and forming what
is often termed the floor of the for
mer and the roof of the latter. But, as
said before, it separates the Gre box
or thoracic cavity, and the ash pan, or
abdominal cavity; the two particular
organs which it lies Immediately be-
tween, however, are the stomach and
lungs.
The diaphragm is concave in form, the
concave side being toward the abdomen,
You lave doubtless frequently seen a
little hollow rubber ball, such as chill
dren play with. Well, if you were to
cut n of those balls in two through
the center, the shape of either side would
very much resemble that of the diaph-
ragm, excepting that the hollow is not
quite SO pronounced-the diaphragm is
as large as a hat crown. Then if this
half-ball were placed in an obliuue DO
sltion between the stomach and lungs,
it would represent the diaphragm very
we'll.
The prime use of this muscle is in
respiration. The fibers of the muscle
contract. causing it to become nearly
straight, instead of concave, thus max
ing the cavity in the chest larger and
tending to produce a acuum The
air rushes in to fill this space, and
thus the air cells of the lungs are
filled; the diaphragm again resumes
its natural shape, thereby forcing the
air out again, completing respira-
ton.
Has not everyone observed that a
full breath is always taken just be-
fore coughing, sneezing, or, in fact,
any act causing a violent expulsion of
air from the lungs? This explains
why a good laugh or good cry is
beneficial, both requiring deep inspira-
tons. And in all of these the diaph-
ragm is, of course, brought into active
service.
Now that it has been explained that
hiccough is a spasmodic contraction
of the diaphragm, just what this
diaphragm is, what it does, and how 1t
does it, the next thing is to determine
how this condition (spasmodic con-
tr%action) is to be overcome.
The technical term of hiccough Is
singulatus; but that does not in the
least change the impression upon the
mind of the suffering individual, un-
less by soberly announcing it to him
the effect is to u a profound fright,
in which case the trouble is likely to
disappear, for the nerves controlling
the action of the diaphragm are init
mately associated with the emotional
or abdominal brain. That is the rea-
son why some eXperimenters have ad-
vised people to place the elbows far
apart and slowly bring the points of
the index fingers together. This fixes
the attention closely upon the points
of the fingers, the breath is usually
held, while, the arms being away from
the sides, give freedom to the muscles
In expanding, and the combination eff
a cure.
But this is only in instances caused
by simple and harmless things. There
are cases caused by fatigue, nervous
debility, low f~evers, an excess of food
or liquids in the stomach, or infamma-
ton or irritation of an obscure nature,
and these will not readily yield to
such treatment.
One noted writer tells of a case in
which all of the remedies prescribed
oy the authorities were used success
Ively, each in turn failing to bring
and finally the attending physi-
,ian gave up the case in desperation :
t was speedily cured, however, by a
notherly neighbor woman, with tea
doses of onion juice. An
other successful home remedy is a
very few drops of oil of cloves on a
of sugar. Bits of ice swal-
owed has also been found useful, as
we'll as hot lamentations to the alb
At the best, all of these reme-
lies are uncertain and unreliable.
Therefore, it becomes the duty of the
Home Health club to teach the members
# a certain, safe, sure, and, at the
anne time, simple method of cure.
In the first place, it might be well
o remember that the movements Of
II the muscles are controlled by
1t was shown that the dia-
is a muscle, and that the diff
Guilty in question is a spasmodic con-
raction of this organ of respiration; so,
hen, the thing to determine is what
or nerves control the action of 1
special muscle, where it is mos.
asily accessible-and the rest will be {
lain enough. 1
The nerve controlling the action of 1
be diaphragm is the phrenic, and 1t {
an be most readily reached by press.