The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-07-02
IT'S YOUR LIVER OR YOUR MIND

 chlds play compared with trying to break him of his old tricks. Canine nature is not unlike human nature. People who have believed Tor a life time that when one feels out or sorts or generally rotten it's his liver or bowels that are torpid are not likely to get it at all when l | shout and tear my hair and dance apout m a | fury trying to tell them that is ridiculous notion They just think I'm queer nut. Espe- cially when their good doctors give them liver regulator or an intestinal disinfectant or a l bowel wash or corrective diet ana pretty soon they're feeling all right again.
 | Nevertheless and all the world and his wife | to the contrary notwithstanding, tell you, you poor ninnies, that the idea is absurd. IL isn your liver or your bowel that IS torpid; US your mind Must be your mind, or else you'd snap out of 1t some time and apprehend clearly that you get over such occasional depression Just as surely and just promptly in any case no
 matter what remedy you use or whether you resort to remedy or not. You get over IL pe- cause fortunately, the process of metaboilsm in the body is automatically regulated, ana It IS in no way dependent upon the function of the liver or the bowel.
 Laxatives purgatives, cathartics do NOT re- move any poisonous material from the blood or the system They merely hurry the evacuation of water, perhaps temporarily increase the amount of water excreted, and also the normal
 residue of food and any foreign material which
 may have been ingested.
 Here we come to morbid subject mucus
 Mucous is .he normal lubricant secreted Dy all
 healthy mucous membranes. irritation or in-
 flammation of any such mucous membrane in-
 duces the secretion of an increased quantlty of mucus. (Noun, mucus; adjective mucous). Bowel washes colon irrigations necessarily
 irritate, even if only water be used. The more frequently such unnatural internal bath IS resorted to the more mucus is produced, ana
 many an unhappy hypochondriac learns to re- gard the excess of mucus IS something harm- full or evil in itself and so the internal bath habit becomes self-perpetuating. I fear few brass specialists within regular medical ranks take advantage of the mental weakness or their patrons and build up profitable busl- ness irrigating the alimentary tract though the greatest offenders in this line of exploitation are fad healers
 So firmly fixed is the obsesson that our com mon ailments, if not the gravest ills. come from some vague poisoning of the body by un- defined toxic substances in the alimentary tract, that it is like bouncing new rubber ball on a brick wall telling the dumb layman this nor bid idea is without foundation in fact. And with rare exceptions every layman is pretty dumb about this. Why shouldn't he be? Haven't all the doctors both regulars and quacks, been exploiting him on this basis from away back right up to the present moment? Has anybody without obvious bias tried to teach the dumb layman better hygiene or health care? By bias mean the interest of the health teacher who has underwear, beans or real estate to sell you. Your health is my concern but it is not my bus mess; in any your health depends on nothing can sell you, but maybe can teach you something that will prove boon to your health.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Nostrums Have the Laugh on Government Kindly advise whether any harmful effects
 will result if a man daily consumes s ounces of Wine Tonic containing 22 per cent of alcohol
 nledicated with herbs. These wine tOnics arc legally sold by drugstores. (Nfrs H. A. M.) Answer-The "herbs" or other medicinal virtues" in such hootch are practically without effect. The alcohol has the same effect as it would have in whiskey. Whiskey contains l about twice much alcohol as that, So the l equivalent would be four ounces of raw whisky. Ffshskin
 Can you recommend anything for rough, dry | scaling condition of the skin, particularly on | the elbows and knees? I'm ashamed to appear 1 in a bathing suit. My elbows and knees look
 positively dirty. Miss E. R.)
 | Answer-Have druggist prepare collapsible tube of this ointment, and apply small quan- | tity to the affected areas once day.
 | Salicvylic acid ................10 grains | Glycerln ............. uram | Ianonn ....... dramS Benzoinated lard enough to mak ounce Please give me instructions for taking sun baths. am troubled with colds and never get entirely over them. co. D. M.l
 Answer-Undress and play sit or lie in the | sun for not more than ten minutes first day ! and increase duration of exposure ten minutes every day. Do not try to read. Protect eyes If necessary with dark goggles or eyeshade or even baAdage. The guage is to cbsorb all the | ultraviolet you can without burning. Gradual | tanning is the index of intelligent management.
 (Copyright John F. Dille Col