The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-10-15
Your Health
By WILLIAM BRADY, M. D.

! ny WILLIAM DNtAOI, Ms Os !
 Two dear old ladies vacationing in a neighboring cabin, found a snake in the woodpile. One of the harmless little blacksnakes that live along streams, ponds and lakes and marshes in most parts of the coun- try. They called for help. They re- fused to listen to any explanation of the harmlessness of the little snakes. They demanded instant kill ing-and, by damn,I had to comply or else.
 I remember the attitude of my father-from whom I got many of my vagaries, I suppose-in regard to flies. Why kill them, he always asked, as he brushed them away gently. What harm do they do us?
 Well, we know better now -w we know that flies carry all sorts of disease germs on their feet, and therefore may bring us serious ill., ness If they have access to food or food utensils. So I do not mind swatting flies, when necessary. But I do hate to kill an ordinary spider, not because spiders (except the black widow) are harmless to man, but because spiders kill flies, mosquitoes and other insects that are more or less harmful to man.
 Young infants and children who have never been taught, by precept or example, to fear snakes, welcome snakes and play with them as they play with other pets.
 Whether there is any foundation for the idea that snakes charm their prey, don't know, but if a bird or other small animal becomes powerleSs to escape when suddenly confronted by 8 snake it is only because fear momentarily paralyzes the prey, just as sudden fright or terror makes many a person freeze" for a few seconds before he or she can act.
 Every brave, courageous man or woman in the serviceS-and there were as many women in this cate- gory as there were men, in propor- ton with the number who served admitted he or she was all but paralyzed with fear at the time of the act of bravery. Speaking of courage, on p 161 of Navy Nurse CWhittlesey House) by Page Cooper, there is a beautiful picture of it. the first Navy flight nurse to set foot on any battlefield, preparing a wounded marine for evacuation. This picture should be hung along side of that other famous Two lima picture and placed on a postage stamp, too. It must give every nurse new and greater pride in her calling and it should inspire many thou sands of girls to choose nursing as a career.
 It makes a world of difference whether a patient regards pro- posed or necessary operation with dread or with indifference if not actual confidence or assurance. This is one thing I know from experi- ence as a patient. My indifference or lack of anxiety, worry or dread about the operation or the outcome was certainly not due to personal courage or anything of the kind just between ourselves and not for publication I'm MT. Milquetoast's 4F cousin when it comes to sticking my neck out when can possibly hold it in-but thanks entirely to preliminary anOci association treat ment my operation (for gangrenous appendicitis) was actually pleasant experience, every moment of it..
 Anoci association developed by the late great Dr. George Grille be- fore World War D is now a routine principle of all surgery, just as aSepsis is. Anoci association Cor anociation, as 1t is sometimes call- ed) means exclusion of injurious or harmful (nocert in Latin means to injure) impulses, both conscious impressions or stimuli and impulses which beat upon the nerve centers even though the patient be uncon- scious or under full general anes- thesia (for instance pinching, ir- ritation, cauterizing or unnecessary handling of living tisSues).