The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-01-09

lieved in machlnes-maybe little
too much. But allow me TO say
that if there is anything on earth
that you don't want a machine for,
it is to find out the state Of your
heart. You need another human
being who has r heart himself and
who knows a lot about ten thou
sand other peoples hearts.
To try to analyze any benefit
you might obtain from this ma
chine, let US say that in the first
place a record Of your blood pres
sure and pulse rate taken with
about twenty curious eyes on you
doesn't mean anything whatever.
In the second place, a knowledge
Of your blood pressure and pulse
rate alone, even if there are no
eyes on you, doesn't mean anything
whatever; or at least it means so
little as to be negligible.
Dangerous Gadget
The machine in question, ac-
cording to the Journal Of the
American Medical AsSocid ton, has
been fixed so that it will not give
a blood pressure higher than 200
in order not to frighten anyone
lin other words so you won't get
an even break so you don't even
get as much truth with one Of
these machines as medical science
could tell you.
There is no limit to the dangers
which are inherent in this kind Of
gadget. Suppose that just the min
ute you got your arm in the strap
a gal came along "and your heart
stood STILL" Your reading would
be triple zero. You would be so
worried about the report Of DR..
Machine that you probably would
miss a good opportunity and so
would the girl. 1t might ruin two
lives completely and forever. 1t
isn't impossible, because there is
nothing that affects the pulse rate
and blood pressure more quickly
than emotion.
l do not believe the public will be
taken in by this new short cut to
diagnosis. | believe they under
stand that the trained human
brain has to go along with the
machinery Of modern medicine in
order to make reports Ineligible.
believe they know it is very easy
to brighten the timid ones about
blood pressure and pulse rate.
Source of Misinformation
Just in case somebody tells you
about his blood pressure and his
pulse rate in the near future and
you should ask where this infor-
nation came from, don't forget
that if he says he knows it is reli-
able because it is done by machine
made to do that, it is probably far
less reliable than if he had little
fve-year-old child guess at what
they were, typed the rates on slip
Of paper and gave them to him.
Machinery has a place in medi-
cine and physicians learn an enor-
NOUS amount from different ma
chimes, but in so complicated a
thing as human life and human
activity, what a machine says
about one human being has to be
interpreted by another human be-
ing.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. P.:-"Would you list some
foods which give an alkaline reac-
ton. have been trying to learn
what to eat in order to keep an
alkaline balance and | feel at a
loss TO learn from your column
that cabbage, beans, cauliflower,
etc. have a highly alkaline reac-
ton because Of the fact that after
these foods are eaten | always
have much gas"
Answer: The formation Of gas
after eating has nothing to do with
either acid or alkaline reaction of
the body. | gather from your let
ter that you worry too much about
your food and your health. Try
not reading my column or any
body else's health column for six
months and see if you don't feel
better.
euuca ton IN MS youth. and taught
drawing once in a school in Reval.
More recently he has been an editor
of the volkischer Beobachter,
which he founded He's seen a little
military service, but doesn't profess