The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, d. C.
VACATION pERILs.
washington, D. C.

by bugs, and possibly by snakes,
poisoned by ivy, and generally in
state of acute discomfort.
All of these things can be avoided.
but the average man or woman going
into the woods for the first time is
equipped with nothing but a rosy and
romantic notion of life in the sylvan
soIitudes After about a week of
such life, he is usually in a state of
painful establishment and joins the
hotel-p nd-palm-leaf-fan school
of vacationists for the rest OF his life
This is too bad, because a vacation
ought to be an adventure. and 1t Is
good for civilized man to revert to the
primitive once in a while, if he can
do so without too much injury to his
skin and his digestion. And it can be
done. But it takes time and care to
learn how. Getting yourself thru the
woods or over the mountains in COM
fort is a science.
The perils from wild beasts in this
country have about been abolished,
but there are some wild plants that
still bite people every year, and the
worst of this is the large and varied
class of shrubs known as poison ivy
or poison oak. The cases of ivy poi
soning must run into the hundreds of
thousands every year, and every case
represents a vacation ruined or
.
And yet ivy poisoning is generally
preventable. Two things are Nneces-
sary. First, learn to know the plant,
and second, when there is any danger
of having been exposed to it, take pre-
ventive measures. The advisability of
this is usually hard to impress upon
the man who has never had a dose of
poisoning. but after he has spent a
week in a state of most acute discom-
| fort, perhaps with both eyes swollen
' 70 hrx
cessity.
The Ubiquitous Ivy.
| Some form of poison oak or poison
! ivy occurs in almost every part of the
| United States, according to the depart
| ment of agriculture. In some places
| it is so rare as to be little of a men
| ace, but in many sections it is liter
ally impossible to spend day in the
woods without encountering it. This
is especially true in parts of Mary
land, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
other Atlantic coast states.
| Many people believe themselves to
be immune to ivy poinsoning, but the
department of agricultu says it is
/ doubtful whether anyone is wholly
| immune The poison merely takes
hold Of some skins more easily than
| others. Neither is immunity ac-
CURED by an attack, but on the other
! hand, those who have once been
poisoned often seem thereafter to be
more susceptible thin before.
The different kinds of poison ivy
vary greatly in the shape of their
| leaves, and even in the same species
the leaf form So does the
manner of growth. The common east
ern form may appear as a low-grow-
| ing shrub, looking like an ordinary
weed, or it may be a flourishing bush
three or four feet high with light
colored woody trunk. It may be a
c-F111 III
vine three or four inches thick, twin
ing about a tree, and throwing off
aerial shootlets.
There is only one characterize
which the poison Ivy has wherever it
grows and in all its FORMS that is, that
The central leaf is on a stem an inch
or more in length The other two
grow directly opposite each other and
nave practically no stem at all. When
ever you see plant with this style
of foliage, whether it is bush, a weed
may be harmless but it probably is
not. AT certain times of the wear
some of the poison ivy plants bear
clusters of white berries, but this not
a mark OF Identification that can be
relied upon.
The poison of the poison ivy is ar
acld which gets upon the skin an6
slowly sinks in. Hence the counter.
agent is an alkali. Two of the besi
remedies are bicarbonate Of soda
(ordinary baking soda) and common
laundry soap, which contains uncom.
bfned alkah. After the poison ha.
broken out on you, these things viii
help: but the best time to apply then
is after the exposure and before the
appearance of the rash. Once tht
rash has appeared, the chances are
That you are in for a painful illness O
from three to ten days. One fire
4 nf -
affliction, and there are patented RENE
dies on sale, but the experience O
3 most persons is that the poison mus
run its course The remedy tina
the cure is the one that is applied
l when nature has about done tn
work.
How to Prevent Poisoning.
But if an alkali is applied befor,
= the poison has sunk into the skin, tn
E prevention of trouble is possible
e Those who go into the woods wher
they know that the plant grow
should, upon reaching home, wash tn
hands and face and any other parts O
: the body that may have been exposed
= with a strong solution of bicarbonat
= of soda, using laundry soap. I
: should not be forgotten that the poison
r may have got on to the shoes an
:. other clothing, and may be contracte,
t by handling these.
: Next to plants. insects are the grea
: | enemies of vacationists. There ar
i patented dopes for keeping away file
4 and mosquitoes, and many parts of tn
n north woods would be uninhabitabl
for man without some such protection
: Deerflies and horsefEes are especiall
g annoying. Do not go into an unknow
r country without some such prepare
= ton, and also take along some am
|. monia water. A dilute solution @
f this applied to the sting will help, an
e is also good in case of bee or was
= sting.
e Fear of snakes probably keeps NOR
e persons out of the bushes and tn
L tall grass than all other apprehe nsion
e put together. This fear is 1arge1
n neurotic and innate and little justified
: in this country, by the actual damag
Z done by the snakes. The only pois
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