The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-02-23
THE NoN-oPERATIvE CURE OF HERNIA

It may not be downright disgrace for a man to vote the same ticket his father and grand
 father always voted, but 1t is circumstantial evi- dence that he is a yes man.
 I was brought up to believe and I have al- ways believed up to this year, that the radical operation for hernla (breech, rupture) is the only effective treatment have taught that here. for many years. have been quite arbitrary about it. insisting that cure of hernia in an adult by any other means than the radical operation is too remote possibility to consider. have urged upon all adults subject to such nuisance. men, l ace disability the advisability of entering hos pital and undergoing the operation, for the sake | of increased efficiency and the comfort one en- 1 joys from of the hernia. have taught that | a spontaneous cure of hernia, in the infant, a l natural cure. may be obtained in many cases if 1 the rupture is properly supported by a. suitable bandage, dressing supporter applied as 1n- structed by the physician but such natural cure is scarcely to be expected after the baby is a year old or older.
 Finally, I have taught believed, that reg ular exercises done while the patient supports the hernial region with his hand, especially sim pie leg raising exercises night and morning. will
 cure hernia in some cases where the protrusion is of recent occurrence and small and reducible.
 The year when T. R. wasn't running I voted
 killed father He made me promise at least I'd never tell.
 All my professional life I've been just like most doctors bit too creduous about the teachings of our medical authorities. The radical operation for hernia is not uni- formy satisfactory I have always assumed. believe that this standard treatment fails to cure the hernia in quite enough cases to ex-
 
 hestancy about undergoing the treatment. In the past I have always been impatient with him about this, for as I say I sincerely believed the operation was virtually a thing and hence | that it offered the working man a way out of | ation an economy as balanced against the cost of lifelong monkeying with trusses and the like. So 1 you see it weighs on my conscience-sure. have one yet-when realize at last that quite few hernia operations fails to cure. l feel 1 an | apology to victims of hernia whom have mis- | led.
 ] Like the quack who gave you another bottle | of his nostrum absolutely tree if the first six bottles failed to do you any good, now offer hernia victims the ambulant treatment which, at any rate. does not interfere with the patients s regular occupation and involves great risk, risk and no harm if it fails to cure This ambul- ant treatment is now being used by many good physicians. It consists of series of injections of
 medicine into the tissue about the inguinal ring, through which hernia rrotrudes. and this brings about deposit of ibrous tissue which
 sufficiently closes the ring to prevent further pro-
 trusion. Of course this injections are not so easy
 as they sound--t requires real skill and thor ough knowledge of the anatomy on the part of | ally requires half dozen more or less sittings at intervals of a week more.
 | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | Immunity
 l I. Is there anything that will make a person
 immune to syphilis? ?. Is there any simple way
 to test food for germs before eating it? (N. H.) Answer-1 No. ?. Only bacteriologist can test food for germs. may say that no need ever fear contracting syphilis through eating | food There is no evidence whatever that even food handled or served by persons having active syphilis ever carries the disease. | High Liver
 My doctor says have an enlarged liver When cat my food seems to stay. (E. w. J.) Answer-lf your doctor is competent to make the diagnosis he should be competent to pre- scribe the treatment Enlarged liver has no par ticular significance to mo-
 ParaiIin in thc Chocolate Kindly tell me whether the paraiIin i'm the in- closed recipe Is harmful. (Mrs $. L.) Answer-The recipe is one for making q choc- olate crunch and it includes half a spoonful of melted paraffin. That is quite harmless ParafIin is commonly used in candies and pastries or cakes to prevent melting It is no more harm ful than the familiar mineral oil," otherwise known as liquid petroleum and Russian oil. which Is commonly taken an intestinal lubri- cant. Paraffin is the thing in solid form. Of course it is not food, and is not absorbed or utilized by the body
 Marathon Run Finished My brother had running for IS years. year ago he began using the drops you sug- gcsted-tcn grains of bOric acid fin ounce of
 alcohol-and the running stopped after a few weeks and has never returned. e. H.) Answer-Assuming the ear did not stop rum ming from sheer exhaustion. The vial should be warmed up by standing in hot water just
 before 1t Is used, and two drops only
 dropped in the each night and morning
 over period of many weeks. If your druggist
 gets unpleasant about providing the ounce of
 alcohol I can't do anything about It.
 Copyright John F. Dille Co)