The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-08


 If there is one thing in the world that will make a man peculiarly and insufferab1y self-conceited, 2, he wrote, it is to have his stomach behave it. self the first day at sea, when nearly all his comrades are seasick. If 1T knew what was the matter with them They were seasick. And was glad of it. We all like to see people seasick when we are not, ourselves. Playing whist by the cabin lamps when it is storning outside is pleasant, walking the quarterdeck in the moon light is pleasant, smoking in the fore top is pleasant when one is not afraid to go up there but these are all feeble and Commonplace compared with the joy of seeing people suffering the mis- cries of seasiekness.' ss Two problems. with regard to sea- sickness have never been solved: what causes it and what cures it. Of alleged causes there is almost as great a. host as of alleged cures. It is 9 disturb ance of the fluid in the semi circular canals in the ear. It is the result Of a change in the blood flow in the cere- belIufn. Ii is a form of anaen1ia. of 1 the brain, brought about by defective | circulation. It is a direct upsetting of the stomach. It is g. disorder or the sympathetic nervous system. The trouble is with the optic nerve. All
 
 Etheories to account for it.
 WHAT IS SEAsLCKNESS? But if you climb aboard the olyra< pic some day when she's in port and
 ask pr. Beaumont. the ships surgeon, | for his opinion on the matter-and you are likely to find him in the mid 1 dle of treatise on the subject. he l will tell you this:
 stSeasickness is not a disease. but a symptom, or rather series of symp- toms. Its visitation the very young | and the very -old are likely to escape. I It's peculiarity is that 1t is not amen able to any one line of treatm ent, or l to any one drug. What helps one
 may be of no use whatever to an kother. Many of the so-ca1led rem edies I are worse than the original complaint.
 The length and the depth and the breadth of modern huge liners, like I the Olympic, have vastly diminished Ithe ravages of the affliction. But there f are some people to whom 1t is a pho i bia. They seem to think that they wouldn't be doing d11e thing in correct style unless they were sick. These un- fortunates will look green when the
 sea is smooth as a, min-pond.
 why not be stoical about it? The
 fact remains that, after a spell of sea- sickness unless too severe, one feels
 much the better for the enforced star
 walton. The chances are that. if it | happened on land, once in a while, lots 1 of people would be the better for it. EsThey would be saved the expense of I visiting the Continent to undergo rig orous diet cures.
 There is as much difference between
 a boat like the Olympic, or the Maur- l etania. or the Kaiser Wilhelm, or La
 France, and Mark Twain's Quaker l City as there was between the Quak CT City and the ark. It's the pitching that okills=the sea-saw motion of the ship. 1 As the big boats nowadays go through | the crest of the waves rather than over
 this feature is very greatly diminished. 1 A large part of the rolling is prevented
 by the use of 4bilge keeIs- In some mys- i terious way, too. much of the smell of I the galley and bakery, of rubber tiline l and bilge water has been done away
 with. The berths are more comfort
 able; the decks more conveniently ar
 ranged.
 Yet there are those. there is no use I denying it, who will be sick in spite of
 all these inprA Atyements- perhaps just
 because they are conservative and old
 fashioned, and hate to see so venera-
 ple tradition die.
 1 ..Who hath desired the sea.2tlze