Evening star., 1932-04-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

undoubtedly there are many people
with throat structures which make it
| dangerous for them to laugh too heart
ily, either at table or away from it.
X X *
This latter type of choking always
! comes as a surprise, catching its vic
tins at the most unexpected moments
and causing the most conservation on
the part of those around him.
The only remedv for it, as most per-
sons have found out, is prevention. If
at table. they must make eating their
sole business, while eatin., and not mix
1t with talking, laughing or even
reading
A good book, or story, may divert the
attention Of such person to the point
Where his usually trustworthy subcon-
SclouS mind, as it is called, fails to
function with its usual aplomb.
The great sympathetic nervous sys-
TEN either works with aplomb or it
doesn't work at all. When it becomes
frightened, it turns the entire recourseS
OF the body in other directions, such as
that of self-defense, for instance, which
may take the form of flight.
X X x
Nor must talking be omitted as a
SeAuoS VI OAN4l4dI CilOhlllB 1lIo.
II combined with something humorous,
as IS often the case, the combination Is
perfect.
Stephen Leacock, the humorist, once
penned such fetching take of" on
the average Greek play, as presented in
college theatricals, that many person
throughout America, familiar with his
Electra was nearly choked to death
in attempting to read that bit aloud.
Mental pictures of numbering juniors
and seniors. perhaps foot ball stars, in
the roles of Greek maidens, attired in
yellow wigs and long robes, flashed back
across the years, and they were much
too much, under the gentle wordy per-
suasions of the humorist.
One started to laugh, and one kept
on laughing. The more one attempted
to stop, the more difficult stopping be-
came.
At last one made no effort to stop,
but writhed in hopeless agony. once
more proving how close to tears laughter
really is.
Usually a choking spell ends such
discomfort and this is as near as chok-
ing can come to being welcome.
X X x
The efficacy of the ordinary garden
dl4GIy VI A1lOAC 10 dIlObLICL ILluIb.
Here the mystery Of the body's care
of itself steps in again.
Every choking spell, no matter how
caused, as we see it. is in reality an
attempt of the body to put itself on a
plane again.
Something or other-probably the
person involved-haS violated the
ancient edicts.
The equilibrium which nature de-
mands is shattered. Something must
be done about it, and at once, or trouble
| will result.
So the body states work up a little
temporary trouble of their own, in order
to prevent what their inner wisdom
knows, frcm millions Of years expert
ence, may prove to be a much worse
trouble.
Hence this choking, this red face,
these explosive sounds, are indications
that the body is taking care CT itself to
the best Of its abilities, long tried and
mostly successful
On one of Shakespeare's "purple
pages" there is description of the ease
with which life may be ended, by no
more than pin prick Such a de-
scr1ption Is dramatic. But no one has
yet risen to tell in verse the remark
able ability of the body in maintaining
what some physicians, in humble prose,
have termed its stable states" Plain.
everyday choking is one of these
means, and, as such, 1t deserves a
tribute now and then.