The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-06-03
Cincinnati, told some Of his fellow


only, and then only through
his column.
Cincinnati, told some of his fellow
medical practitioners. Yes, this
is a machine age in medicine as
anywhere else. And machines are
perfectly accurate. They tell the
facts within the limitations Of
their powers. Only many devotees
of machines don't recognize their
limitations.
The electrocardiograph machine
will tell about a person who has
a heartache or whose heart is skip
ping around, just what part of the
heart muscle is acting up. But the
machine doesn't get around much.
When they get through using it
; they put a canvas hood over it and
leave it in the technician's Office
and go out and close the door. The
machine doesn't know what the
fellow with the skipping heart and
heartache does Saturday night, or
what the letters in his pocket say,
or just where his son in the armed
forces is stationed.
Limitations OF Machines
My old friend, DR.. Adrian
Gibbs, and l were sitting side by
side listening TO a very learned
lecture by very scientific person
about a very complicated case.
"And what would you do next?"
asked the speaker, with dramatic
emphasis. "Look for the bottle
Of opium in the bureau drawer"
muttered DR.. Gibbs, who has had
a good deal of experience with
human nature. The machine can
not look in a bureau drawer.
The present situation creates
conditions that are naturally re-
fected in the heart. All the pro-
verbs remind US Of that. What
we don't remember is that anxiety
doesn't result always in just a
sad heart. 1t may spill over into
symptoms that resemble real di-
sease. You can call it angina
pectoris if you want to and the
machine may say angina pectoris,
but it is heartache just the same
and the cause is not the coronary
circulation, but a son or husband
or brother out on the firing line
at Anzio or New Guinea.
Ispoke last week of the palpita-
tisn oi the nealt, the skipped Seats
and irregularities that are caused
BY emotion.
There is still another set Of
symptoms that are mistaken for
real organic heart disease and
those have to do with shortness of
breath and difficult breathing.
Everybody knows that difficult or
labored breathing, dyspnoea, as
the doctors call it, is a sign Of
heart disease. Fundamentally it
is due to the need of the tissue
cells for oxygen.
Shortness of Breath
The athlete after a race Is
breathing in a labored fashion be-
cause the effort of the race has
caused his muscles to use up an
extra amount of oxygen and 70
accumulate lot Of carbon dioxide.
His heart being strong he is soon
adjusted to a state of compensa-
ton. The weak heart muscle Of
the heart patient causes the same
condition as exertion does in the
case Of the athlete, SO he is short
Of breath at rest.
A great many people, however,
in these emotional times find
themselves with signing respira-
ton and since this initiates the
labored breathing of heart disease
they conclude they are in that
class. This has long been known
as functional, or nervous, dysp-
noea. 1t can easily be distinguished
by any doctor, if he takes the trou-
BILE TO examine the heart of such
a person. In fact it can be dis
tinguished by the character of the
breathing. The commonest SEN
sation is that the breath doesn't
get to the bottom Of the lungs.
The breathing is not exactly lab
ored-there is a signing and a
painting type. 1t isn't present all
the time, but comes in spells. You
can put it down not to heart
disease but to the difficult condi-
tons Of our time.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
NJ. S.: Please tell me Of .
remedy for an oily scalp.
Answer: Use the following as
q shampoo: oil Of eucalyptus-2
parts, oil Of pine needles-2 parts,
glycerin-30 parts. soft soap-50
parts, alcohol - 60 parts, water
enough TO make 1000 parts.