The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-07-20
GETTING THE BEST OF SUMNER

GETTING THE BEST OF SUMMER
Every summer this paper publishes
accounts Of neat prostrations and ev-
cry summer every other paper in the
country publishes the same sort Of &C.
counts. Yet a pominent physician, an
eminent specialist in such matters,
has just declared that if we Americans
would My use common sense, the hot
weather death and disease lists would
diminish at least seventy-fve per
cent.
That his is the statement Of DR..
Frederic M. Lawson. Writing IN
Hampton's Magazine, and using the
fearless tone which characterizes that
publications, he says:
~ The fact is, that nowhere so much
as In the ordering Of u summer life
are we so little the m sense
people we uppose ourselves to be.
At this moment there are hundreds
Of US who. seemingly we'll, will be-
fore the end Of August be dead and
buried simply and solely because Of
our ignorance and our folly-ignor-
ance which ordinary thought should
enlighten and folly which even sor-
rowing friends should find it hard to
pardon.
That is a statement which sounds
somewhat hard, perhaps even cruel,
yet another statement-the simple
statement Of the simple rules to de-
feat the ills Of the summertime
will demonstrate it's perfect truth.
Here are the rules:
MAKE your work as light as pos
sible.
2-Wear only the lightest clothing,
and as few garments as the law al
lows.
.3-Take a cold bath every morning
and a tipid me every afternoon.
4-Eat s%paringly, principally fresh
IL r. FO%S o~6
starchy foods, avoiding the deadly
fruit-salad and taking no fruit which
has not been either washed or peeled
Immediately before it is served.
5-Drink no spirituous liquors.
6-Sleep, if it is possible, at mid
day; Away stay abed eight hours
every night and always sleep under a
mosquito-netting.
MAKE you vacation absolutely
different from your daily life.
Chief mons the ills from heat that
are less direct but more frequently
fatal. are diseases of the lower ali
mentary canal. Two general causes
bacteria. The sudden, or too early
donning of light undercloth1ng, the
failure to dress according to the
change in temperature produced by
the unexpected occurrence Of one Of
those comparatively cold days which
are CI1dIdCICI1SlIC VI Jul uIIScttICo
climate; the rash n in which SC
many of us leap from a tennis court
or the golf links into an open trolley
a or a speeding automobile-all Of
these things pay their respective tolls
to death.
Nevertheless, the evil Of a hot
weather cold is a minor one compared
with it's sister ills. The fact is-and
it is a fact seldom realized-that al
most all the July and August diseases
of the bowels are due to bacteria, and
quite ninety-fve per cent. Of the di-
seases which WE are now considering
have their origin in the eating of con-
taminated fruit.
BY this I do not necessarily mean
fruit which is so far rotted hat it's
decomposition is evident to the SEN
ses. It is true. I believe, that in many
cheap eating places, and in some that
are not cheap, contaminated fruit is
served as fruit salad, or in
highly saasoned or skillfuully
prepared form. But the far more
frequent source of distress is in fruit
our senses could not at all de-
tect as decayed, and which, if pointed
out to us. we should descibe as lust
the turn" Such decay is Cue to
the presence of bacteria, and it's re-
is most frequently plain, old-fash-
cholera morbus, which may be
by avoiding contaminated
food.
Plain old~-fashioned, yes: but a
laughing matter, no. Out Of my own
professional experience. on the con-
trary, I would say that, s~ymptomati-I
oalIy, cholera morbus is often quite
as deadly as Asiatic cholera. It has
certainly been far more deadly in
America, and I know Of but one gen
eral rule against it-when in doubt
the fruit.
WITH Deco foc . Good E.r,,o