The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-02-15

Of the households open to me dur
ing this season the theme sentence
is that wonderful first line in one
Of Ring Lardner's plays in which
the curtain rises on a room in
complete darkness and a voice
says-"Who is that cough
Those German agents, too, who
throng the radio, the silver screen
and the mystery-magaZines must
be getting plenty of competition
from whispering patients who
have lost their voices as result
Of colds and influenza.
The doctors are pestered as to
what to do about these disabilities.
There is one certain answer. Local
remedies are of limited value.
. Over treatment may prolong
coughs and hoarsencss. But you
will be we'll again, brethren and
slstern. Be patient. Time heals.
When Perscphone her vernal
mantle spreads over all the quick
ening hills. and hangs her infant
blossoms on the trees, and the glad
earth caressed by murmuring
showers wakes like a bride TO deck
herself with flowers-you will be
well again. That cough will dis
appear over night. The whisper
will be gone and you will leap and
shout and clash your cymDals and
the great hills will echo back your
voice.
Structure Of Larynx
In the meantime let US LOOK at
the villain Of the piece. For your
chronic coughing and your hoarse-
ness all originate in your larynx,
your voice box, chat thing in the
middle Of your neck, your Adams
apple.
Now the larynx is a very COM
plicated structure. There are car
tiiagos on the outside and inside
are all sorts Of strings and knobs
tho true vocal cords and the
false vocal cords with a hollow
between them, and crevices all in
and around these structures, so
that the remnants Of that cold"
or that flu" or that bronchitis"
get in these clefts and alcoyes and
recesses and hooks and they spawn
and breed and brew and null in
a sluggish fashion and they are
very hard to get out.
They sulk in these caves and
coigns and foXholes and pillboxes
and defy even the swab Of the
laryngologist. But in the course
Of time they all stew enough in
their own meanness to kill them
selves off and a few breaths Of
nice natural warm air instead OF
icy irritating air, will complete the
slaughter and you will get back
to normal. That is why the trip
to Florida or Arizona, New Mexico
or California II your conscience
will permit it in these days really
does the trick.
Gargle Doesn't Help
A valued friend OF mine, DR..
Wolf, recognized what he called
VOLTS disease il was a bronchitis
followed by cough and hoarseness,
and the feature which dlstin-
guished it and made 1t a special
entity was that It didn't get we'll
until the patient went TO warm
climate.
For the stay-at-home there re-
mains the gargle. Now DO not
enjoy knocking an old pal, nor
wrecking an ancient tradition, and
If you get any comfort out of
gargle God bless you, but the fact
IS the gargie is a hypocrite, a
COMFY and a tite-trapper. There
IS another structure called the
epiglottis, which is kind Of
cartilaginous lid anchored TO the
back Of the tongue WHICH immedl-
ately covers over the larynx and
al its contents as soon as any
liquid getsin the throat. If you
want to know how gargle would
feel II 1t got to where the trouble
Is, Just swallow some water "the
wrong way" II the sore throat
is higher up in the pharynx the
gargle is all right.