New-York tribune., 1914-03-29

~ nothing more or less than protest 10
against irritation. The irritation
may be nearby, right around the corner, or
os % 5S from @ss ii; scene %5 e its soSss aaPaso 3 2so q gin, Hs
treatment of them. We have been classify
ing and labelling them a condition; where
as with the possible exception of whooping cough
which is what we call q, and more,-they are only
symptoms.
The condition. the real why may be anything
from an ndamed middleear to an irritated stomach.
1t may even have Its origin in the abdominal organs.
Don't stop a cough Stop the thing that causes it.
and the cough will stop itself The annoying cough is
really one of our best friends. In It's crude way It is
either trying of the presence of disease, or
the conditions from which disease might develop,
is doing its best to disodge or eject from the premises
whole cities and princpates of viruent microbes In
fact this IS one of its bue-ribbon attributes. If we
only realized IT, this ability to keep on, and keep on
keeping on despite the Encouragement of morphine,
codene heron and other less dangerous things con-
nualy used TO Sandbag il into state of coma, entities
a cough to a Carnegie medal for persistence.
Take for instance, the troublesome tickling cough
caused by an eongauon of that little pendent called the
uvua which droopS more or less dangerously from the
back part of the soft palate We may have had consid
cradle use for this ornament those distant days when
we breathed through glS and proceeded through our
natural element by gracefully Tapping tails But
we certainly do not have much for now, unless
we turn the matter upside down and inside out, and
look at 1t from the pecunay selfish viewpoint OF the
doctor or the undertaken.
However this lengthening Of the uvula and the irr
tating effect upon the mucous membrane OF the arynx
or the base Of the tongue which results in the "uvula
cough" is merely an ocular denonstratiOn-to those
who can read and al the same time-that there IS
catarrh in the pharynx some enlargement Of the ton
sls which may hitherto have escaped notice.
If now instead of trying with determined ObStinacy
to stop that cough, TO- and cure the pharyn
geal catarrh relieve the swollen onsil, the uvula
shrnks back, and minds its own business. Sometimes
however, from having reached out warning finger too
long-ke the Indian fakr who holds his above his
head until It grows rigid in that posicion-the uvula
loses power to pull it in again. Nothing remains then
but to part reluctantly from the little sentinel which
accomplish by deX,erously chopping It's head off
THE cough caused by protruding tonsls Is particu-
larly persistent when we lie down. Munchausen's
hon story suggests the method some of us follow in
dealing with this kind of cough He said he got rid Of
his biggest lion by waiting until the animal charged
him full speed with open mouth. Then like flash he
thrust an arm down the beasts throat grasped the TAIL
and with a quick Jerk turned the lion inside out. The
hon continued TO but being headed in the opposite
direction soon eliminated itself a source of danger
This method Of dealing with lions is about par
with our method of cure when pour lot of cough