The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-13
Topeka STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, D. C
SPRING FEVER SPECIFICS.

IL washington, ID. e., Marcn lU.-Cut
down the fats in your diet and eat
| more green's. Make a garden, go
| fishing, take q trip-preferably on
foot and in the country. Mend your
screens. clean up your premises with
| special attention to the happy homes
| of flies and mosquitoes-garbaS
piles, manure piles, and pools of
| water.
This is the prescription of the
| United States public health service
| for spring fever. The government
| afflic-ion either to iaziness or i'm
| agination; they recognize it as a very
real and possibly serious ailment. 1t
is caused, they say, by a long winter
spen- in an artificially dried, over
4 heated and Vitiated atmosphere, to-
| gether with a heavy diet, habitually
| continued after it is no longer need
ed. Its symptoms are lassitude, nerv-
! BUSINESS, Often indigestion, sometimes
| boils, and frequently colds of a pecu-
! llarly annoying quality.
| THESE are the signs of spring that
! reveal themselves to the professional
eye of the doctor. He also sees a
| more poetic aspect of the season. 1t
| is time of change and unrest thru
| out nature. This, of course, is not
| Eews, but it is a neglected fact. Just
/ as birds must migrate and change
| their plumage, animals wander, fishes
| leave the sea to seek fresh waters, so
man must have change and move
ment. But the hard and uncom
| Portable little shell of routine and
! habit which he has built around him
| self in the name of civilization makes
movement and change for him diff
| cult and impoSSib BILE. The impulse
| which was designed to give him the
| fresh air and exercise, the change of
| diet and occupation which he needs
IS lnhlblted. He takes it out by
| .abortously moving from one flat to
/ another and catching a cold out of
the clouds of dust which he kicks up
| in the process.
| therefore give your spring restless
| ness the fullest possible rein For
| tunate for you if you are a fisherman
| or gardener If not. you might be-
| come one or both. Exercise in the
open combined with an intelligent
change of diet, cutting out fats and
| starches and eating more green stuff
| and fruit, will in all probability cor
| rect the 1assitude and indigestion of
| SPRING 1t will also go a long way to-
ward preventing the spring cold. All
| of us who live in modern cities have
| the germs of colds in our mouths and
nostrils all the time. Public buildings
| street cars and trains are full of them.
| At the slightest weakening of the sys-
| tenn they gain a hold on the mucous
| membranes. The general let-down of
spring gives them an ideal opportunity,
| but If the system is toned and
/, strengthened by exercise. there is no
| reason why cold should be taken in the
| spring. The traditional hesitation
about changing your underwear is also
| justified as a cold preventive. A brisk
| cathartic treatment is suggested by
| the government doctors as an excellent
spring health measure.
With regard to colds, the need for
| preventing their spread is again en-
phasized. If the need for proper
| precautions to prevent the spread of
cold infection could be impressed upon
| people, the doctors say, bronchitis,
| pneumonia, middle ear disease and 9TH
| er serious disorders could be greatly
| reduced. The person who has a cold
| should sleep alone, and should in
every way be isolated as much as pos
| S1ble. Old persons, babies and inva1idS
| should be especially protected from
| the infection. Drinking glasses dishes,
handkerchiefs and towels should not
be used by the cold patient in common
| with anyone else.
| In time of spring prepare for sum-
| mer is another motto offered for your
| consideration by the government doc
| tors. One of the first steps to be
| taken in this line is a cleanup of your
| premises with a view to the removal
| of breeding places for disease carriers.
Too often the spring cleanup proceeds
| in a fire of enthusiasm to remove
| everything that is unsightly, often
| leaving what is really dangerous.
One of the first things to claim your
| attention should be pools of water.
/ Any stagnant puddle or pond is a po-
| tential breeder of mosquitoes. This
| fact has been ceaselessly reiterated by
| sanitarians for years, and yet the
| mosquito still finds abundant homes in
| which to rear his myriad family of
| malaria carriers. All open pools of
| stagnant water must be drained and
! filled that they cannot form again.
| A puddle need not exist very long for
| a crop of mosquitoes to be matured
| therein. Hence, the need for making
| it impossible for the puddle to form.
| If you have a pond which is too large
| to drain, or if you wish to preserve
| it for some reason, stock it with gold
| fish or minnows. They will eat the
| wigglers.
| From the mosquito we pass natural
| ly to that spring bromide, the house
| fly, who has been so ZealouSly SETatted
| for so many years. His dead have
| been piled in windows, thousands have
| been paid in bounties for his head, and
the literature of his undoing has filled
| countless columns in the leading dali
| les. Yet he is still with For every
/ fly we swat, unSwatted millions rise.
| From where do they rise? Now, we
| are approaching the heart of the prob
| lem. They arise from garbage cans
and garbage piles, from manure heaps,
| from all other places unlovely to write
| about, still unlovelier to remove.
| Swatting the fly is a thrilling sport
Removing garbage piles and other re-
fuse and offal is not. But the latter
| method is the only one that does the
| work The way to destroy the fly
that would buzz about your dining
room next June is to annihilate his
/ potential ancestry now Nip his fam
| iIy tree in the seed. Begin by killing
| his great grandfather before he is
born. Like the Germans, the flies must
! be starved out.
| You know how to do it. Buy
| new garbage can with lid, ana don
let the garbage collector batter it to
| pieces against the side of his wagon.
either Keep it clean See that all of
| the refuse from your household goes