Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-17
THE TELLTALE TONGUE.

Sir James Mackenzie, a great
Scotch physician, wrote thoughtful
book on the future Of medicine in
which he said the present day ply
sician knew too much about pathol-
ogy and bacteriology and too little
ual physician, he advised him to
watch his microscope less and his
patient more.
1.-THE two best physicians l ever
saw--and they We're great men
known as such all over the world
watched their patients like hawks.
Both made use of a useful epigram.
1t was watch the tongue If the
case was one of typhoid fever. peri
tonitis. or bad surgical case of any
sort. watch the tongue
For some reason or other when
the tongue was broad and moist
and fairly clean the patient was in
the clear. If 1t began to coat, things
were not much wrong, but they We're
not Of the best. II 1t got red at the
tip and later at the edge look out
for squalls. II 4 red-edged tongue
became dry, the patient was In grave
SC long as the edge was moist. But
when the tongue was dry on edge
and tip as we'll as body the gates
were about ready to close.
A good nurse will watch the pa
tents tongue closely. Where MEM
bers Of the household are taking
care Of case Of illness they will do
we'll to watch the tongue closely.
There are certain forms of illness In
which the appearance of the tongue
is good clew to the diagnosis. In
scarlet fever, the strawberry
tongue" is about as good a diagnostic
sign as any.
Dr. Chesley Of Minnesota instruct
ed the teachers Of rural schools in
that state to place themselves with
back to an open window each morn
ing and to have the students form
In line and walk slowly past with
mouths open and tongues out. BY
this tongue and mouth inspection the
teacher sought to exclude from
school those capable OF spreading
contagion.
Where there is any reason to sus-
pect pellagra the tongue should be
watched. A burning in the throat
and q red scalded tongue are early
symptoms of this disease. In fact, a
scalded tongue has served as the sole
basis of diagnosis in some cases of
genuine pellagra and we may have
to rely upon it even more now that
pellagra shows disposition to
change it's symptoms and to cause
less eruption.
But, aside from definite illness, is
there any use watching the tongue?
Constipated people have coated
tongues. Alvarez says in constipa-
ton the intestinal content moving
downward occasionally reverses it.
self Some gases from the lower
intestine are pushed into the upper.
there absorbed. and cause bad
breath. Some from the upper In
testine are pushed into the stomach,
causing belching, and the same proc
esq is responsible in a related way
to coated tongue. But some people
with habitually coated tongues say
they are not constipated.
Maybe they are not. but then
again maybe they are in spite of
their opinions. Some who are not
constipated have coated tongues be-
cause they breathe through their
mouths. Those who have coated
tongues and who do not belong in
either of these classes can interpret
the habitually coated tongue as
meaning that their health habits are
wrong in some way. Perhaps most
of them need to exercise more and
to eat less. Whatever it may be they
need to modify some habit
Many Causes of Headache.
A.