Evening star., 1937-06-12
the phlegmatic, philosophical type OF
person.
Severed Nerve Brings Relief.

the phlegmatic. philosophical type Of
person.
Severed Nerve Brings Relief.
Sometimes persons almost starve to
death because eating Is 50 painful.
BY partial or complete severing Of the
trtgemnal nerve he brought about
complete relief in 942 out of 949 cases.
Prolonged confinement of elderly
persons in bed is likely to hasten their
deaths, although the initial illness has
not been particularly serious, reported
Drs. Louis B. Laplace and j. T. Nichol-
son OF Philadelphia. Being bed-ridden,
they found, is not serious in persons
under CO. Above that age the Ill ef-
fects appear during the second, third
and fourth weeks in the hospital, and
If patients survive this critical period
it Is unlikely that the effects will be
serious. 1t was found that In the
inactivity Of remaining prone for long
periods the blood accumulates in the
capillaries. Thus the total volume OF
blood is reduced and circulation i'm.
peded by the hardening of the blood
vessels that takes place in old age.
The blood remains in the capillaries
until forced out by contra ctions Of the
muscles. When a person Is confined
to bed his muscles move very little.
The insufnciency Of circulation causes
the tissues to degenerate and ulcers
are formed. As the body absorbs the
products OF the degenerated tissues.
1t is slowly poisoned and as toxemia
develops the person sinks into q stu
por. The best treatment, they said,
was to get the elderly person out of
bed before the poisoning has had time
to develop. If they cannot be allowed
to sit up, they should be massaged
and their position changed often.
Only surgery gives any promise Of
saving lives In gas bacillus infection
which spreads like lightning and kills
nearly half its victims, Drs E. P.
Colman and D. A. Bennett Of Canton.
ILL.,, reported. The infection occurs
most frequently in severe wounds. Sc
runs are Of little use because more
than one organism is responsible for
the disease. Either complete ampu-
tation or severe slashing away OF the
infected tissue Is required to save life
Rabbit Serum Speedier.
Pneumonia serum made from rab-
bits is faster, easier and cheaper to
produce than that made by tmmuniz-
ing horses. 1t was reported by DR..
Frank L. Horsfall, jr.. and his asso-
ciates OF the Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research. During the year
they have treated rs patients with
rabbit serum.
Observations on the effect Of benze-
drine sulphate. which stimulates pro-
foundly the higher centers Of the ner-
vous system, were reported by Drs.
Dwight l.. Wilbur, A. r. MacLean and
Edgar v. Allen OF Rochester. MINI.
They gave the drug to persons who
seemed to have no organic disease
but who complained OF chronic fatigue,
exhaustion. nervous and melancholia
Most Of them were benefited by 1t
and continued to show favorable re-
actions as long as the treatment was
continued. They warned, however, that
the drug does not fundamentally and
permanently alter mental disorder
and that persons who are highly
anxious. nervous and already stimu-
lated tolerate 1t poorly.
A new test for diagnosis Of certain
types OF headache was announced by
DR.. Temple Fay Of Philadelphia He
has devised . means Of measuring the
pressure Of the cerebrospinal fluid and
had found high and low points at
which headaches occur, with a zone
Of comfort" between them A few
patients with headaches. he said, have
responded encouragingly to treatment
aimed at increasing or decreasing the
volume OF fluid. according to its state
as shown by the "cephalalgiogram," as
he calls his pressure readings.