Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-06

soft collars, women are less frequent
ly afflicted by bOils, while that part of
the pOpulace which eSchcWS collars
seldom suffer from the trouble.
Not that many diseases of the blood
and general diseases do not generate
cruptions of the skin, as may be noted
with smallpox: but the boil per Sc is
not n symptom. but disease in itself.
In effect the boil is big brother to the
pimple. the backhead and other
blemishes to which mankind lis heir,
all alike being due To the entry of un-
welcome intruderS into the pores and
sweat glands. Nor will sulphur and
molasses and other socalled tOnics
cure them or prevent them: the only
course open To the sufferer being to
help the white cOrpuscles in their bat
tie with the germs. A lancet I'm the
hands of a friendly physician will be
found a help in time of trouble.
AS n matter of fact. however, the
fallacious idea that boils are a safety
valve for an impure system is only
one of 10000 erroneous medical no.
tions cherished through generations
of ignorance and tradition. SO, too,
some foolish folks fondly aver that gin
is beneficial for the kidneys. or that
camomile tea will cure Indigestion.
Nor are these ideas held only by lay
men, but are entertained also by GER
tain physicians.
For the cure Of most ills nature has
provided the most simple of remedies,
and water will be found the most ac-
tive of agents i'm thousands of cures
credited to other remedies Take. for
instance, the flaxSeed poultice, to
which your grandmother turned in
the days of your infancy as a sOver-
eign relief for your little ailments
Good for coughs, colds and hoarseness
and all diseases Of the lungs and liver,
sprained wrist, broken neck, pain in
the stomach and scores of other COM
plants, thought grandma. You often
found the remedy worse than the
trouble. but you endured the soggy,
smelly p"ultice, both perforce in the
traditional belief that 1t would cure
the affliction. But the curative prop
critics were not in the flaXseed. and
bran or Sawdust would have been
| Just as eficacious.
In the naXseed or any other old
pOultice the virtue lay in the heat, the
stuffing being helpful only in retain
ling the warmth i'm the water. With
out the haXseed the hot water would
have been just as effective, as Is prov
| ed by the use Of the rubber bag for hot
water. The unsightly, unsavory. un-
| comfortable pOultice has given place
| to the clean and convenient water bag,
and many minor ailments have lost
| half their terrOrS.
so. too. with the weird and varie-
gated teas" with which the yOungster
of three decades ago was doscd to his
discontinue. discomfort and diStur-
bance of his internal economy. Sage
| tea, naXSeed. tapioca, or SaXifrage.
each for its own peculiar Ill, was pour
ed by the quart down infant throats
according to the notions Of Oldcn
times And, in spite of the ingredi-
ents rather than because of them, the
remedies often did the work, but the
| real cure was worked by the hot water,
while the nauSeOuS herbs took all the
credit. Some throats improved because
sore throats will do so i'm time, even If
| let strictly alone: stomach aches dis
appeared. because the disturbance had
subsidized i'm the course of nature, and
so on through the entire category of
ailments.
Also obtaining credit under false
pretenses, beef tea was a favorite
remedy Of yore, being especially es-
teemcd as sustenance for cOnvales-
cents to whom more substantial food
was forbidden. So it scaded the
throatS of uncOunted thousands, sup
posedly furnishing food and strength
and really contributing as much nour-
ishment to the half pound as an equal
amount of sOapstone. But the unOs-
tentatious hot water, regarded only as
necessity for the dissolution of the
beef tea. did it's work, despite the
handicap Of the mixture. and grandma
preached the virtues of beef tea, even
unto the third generation OF them that
hated it.
Even to this day you may regard the
porous plaster as a friend. ready at
hand to ease your back-and the liver
pad and the liniment sovereign rene
dies all counter r-irritants they were
called, and they glOried in the high
sounding classification. AS a rule, the
directions indicated, and impressed
upon the users. that the powerful
drugs" in the plaster or the liniment
got beneath the surface of the skin
and worked effectively on the muscles,
or destroyed disease germs there lurk-
ing. But, on no less authority than
the word of a scientific pharmacOlogist,
the axiom is now accepted that the
human skin, except when Dllster-
ed, is almost imperviOus to any drug
hut mercury" That is to say, the epi-
dermis Of n healthy man is as much
boot against gnat bite. But YOU be-
licve in the porous plaster? Well and
good: better cover your back with such
plaster than with n coat of green
paint. which would he just as efiica-
ciOus.
But, you persist. YOU speak from eX-
perience: YOU have rubbed out muScu-
lar soreness with your infallible lini-
mcnt and YOU well know where of you
argue? Right you are. The first day
in the gymnasium stiffened your mus
cles and you aChed as though an auto,
mobile had run over you: but good
rubbing with your favorite liniment
did the work, and next day the muscles
were supple and plant and all the
soreness had vanished. After the rub
bing il would indeed have been strange
if YOU had not felt right again-ior the
rubbing caused the cure, and the llnl-
mrnt contributed only the nasty odnr.
Try hot water the next time, and see
if YOU do not feel even better.
OF all the remedies for muscular
pains none cXcels massagc-nor is 1t
eulaled. Healthy circulation is induc-
cd in the part affected and the rhFtn-
mic motion has psychic effect. In
fact. there is more i'm the laying on OF
hands than generally is known or con-
coded. The stroking of the hair ni a
suffering person OfttimeS will ahate
the pain and the rubbing of the brow
will often cure headache.
For almost all ills nature herself
finds a cure, and these in the simplest
of remedies. Hot water or cold VIII
relieve many troubles. and in the en-
crcise of his own muscles i'm the mas
sage of his body man will find ma
tural and effective substitute for all the
linimentS over CompOunded-Phlla
phia North American.