Papers on Health Part 13

As the discharge from ulcerated eyes is very infectious, care should be taken not to communicate it to other persons' eyes. Strict cleanliness should be observed, and all rags employed should be burnt, and disinfectants used to cleanse the patient's and nurse's hands, etc.

Towels should be boiled for half-an-hour before being washed, after they have been used in such a case.

Now a most important matter must be attended to. Castor oil is the most soothing that can be used with the eyes. Fresh olive oil comes next, but it is usually just as easy to get the one as the other. With a feather, or fine camel's-hair brush, and as gently as possible, cover the eyelids with this oil heated to about blood heat. Do not try to force it on the eyeb.a.l.l.s, but if the lids open so much as to let it in, allow it to lubricate the eyeball also. Rub it gently over the eyebrows and all round the eyes, and dry it gently off. Cover the eyes then with a soft covering, and let them have perfect rest.

It sometimes happens that a tiny piece of dust or iron may stick in the surface of the eye, and refuse to be washed away by the tears. Take a square inch of writing paper, curve one of the sides of it, and draw it lightly and quickly over the spot. Never use any sharp instrument or pin. Repeat the operation a few times if unsuccessful.

Diet as recommended in article Eyes, Hazy Sight.

Eyes, Failing Sight.--This often comes as the result simply of an over-wearied body and mind, without any pain or accident whatever. It appears as an inability to see small distant objects, or to see at all in dusky twilight. The sight is also variable--good when the patient is not wearied, and bad when he is tired. When this comes on under thirty years of age, the eyes have almost certainly been overworked, and need rest. Rest from all reading and other work trying for the eyes is the best cure. If this can be had, it should be taken, with much outdoor exercise. Fresh air is a fine tonic for the eyes. Where total rest cannot be had, take as much as possible, and nurse the failing nerves as follows. Apply the bran poultice, as directed for inflamed eyes, just as long as it is felt to be comforting--with one patient it will be longer, with another shorter. Now there is a cooling of the brow and of the eyes themselves, which is as important almost as the heating of the back of the head. We always find, as a matter of fact, that a cold application opposed to a hot one produces a vastly better result that two hot ones opposed, or one hot one by itself alone. So we find in the case of the eyes. We have now, as we write these lines, eyes under our care that are mending every day by means of a bran poultice at the back of the head and neck, and a cold cloth changed on the brow and eyes.

They do not mend anything like so well if heat alone is used. Rub the back of the head and neck with hot olive oil before and after poulticing, and dry well. Do this for an hour at a time, _twice_, or if possible _three times_, a day. Continue for a fortnight, cease treatment for a week, and again treat for another fortnight. This should make such improvement as to encourage to further perseverance with the cure. Sometimes failing sight follows neuralgia. In this case the rubbing described in Eyes, Squinting, given twice a day for fifteen or twenty minutes each day, will be useful in addition to above treatment.

Even in cases in which "cataract" is fully formed, we find that the disease is arrested, and the patient at least gets no worse. But where this malady is only threatened the haze soon pa.s.ses away. We most earnestly wish and pray that this simple treatment should be as widely known as there are failing eyes in this world of trial.

Eyes, Hazy Sight.--Frequently, after inflammation, and even when that has ceased, the sight is left in a hazy condition. The eyes may be in such cases rather cold than hot, and not amenable to the cooling applications. The whole system also lacks vital action. First, in such a case, wash the back thoroughly all over at night with hot water and SOAP (_see_). Dry well and rub hot olive oil into the skin until dry.

In the morning rub the back for a few minutes with vinegar or weak ACETIC ACID (_see_) before getting out of bed, dry, and rub with warm olive oil. A strip of new flannel should be sewn on the underclothing, so as to cover the whole back. The feet and legs should be bathed (_see_ Bathing Feet) twice a week. All alcoholic drinks, and most drugs, should be avoided, while only such food should be taken as can be converted into good blood. Half a teacupful of _distilled_ water should be taken before each meal. The whole of this diet tends to produce healthy blood, which is the great means of dissolving all haziness in the lenses and humours of the eyes.

Every drop of alcohol does so much to reduce that action. We have heard this beautifully described by one of the foremost of living medical men. He began by stating, what no one can doubt, that a certain quant.i.ty of alcohol taken by the strongest man will kill that man as effectually as if he were shot through the head with a rifle bullet.

Now a certain portion of alcohol takes a man's sight entirely away.

Half that quant.i.ty will only render his vision "double"--that is, unfit him to see objects as they really are. Half that again will only perceptibly impair the power of the eyes; but the action of the smallest particle of the substance is the same in nature as that of the largest quant.i.ty. Hence that action is to reduce the very efficiency of the nerves of the eye, which it is of such immense importance to nurse to the uttermost. No mere dictum, however strongly expressed, can hold for a moment against this transparent reason. Hence, if a person must take alcoholic liquor, the cure of inflammation in his eyes, and of the thickening of the transparent portions of these organs, is simply out of the question unless the disease is comparatively slight, and his nervous const.i.tution strong.

The very same reason holds good of tobacco. So of opium. So of every other narcotic, whatever it may be called. Hundreds of men lose their eyesight by the use of tobacco alone. We have seen their eyeb.a.l.l.s gradually becoming sightless when no change could be detected in their eyes--only the optic nerve gradually lost its sensibility till they were entirely blind. We are perfectly aware that there are those who will scout the idea of such an effect, and prescribe these very narcotics largely in such cases; it is because such drugs are used and ordered that we are compelled thus to reason about them. In all cases of failing eyesight they should be carefully avoided. So should all foods which are not easily converted into healthful blood.

Eyes, Healthy.--Cheap, ill-printed literature is responsible for much eye trouble, and it is well worth while to pay, if possible, a little extra for books well printed, especially in the case of those who read much. When reading sit erect, with the back to the light, so that it falls over the shoulder. Too fine work, dim light, wrong diet, and want of exercise produce the dull and strained eye, which eventually becomes seriously diseased. Opening the eyes under cold water will help to strengthen them, and ma.s.saging the muscles of the eye by pa.s.sing the finger and thumb round the socket (with scarcely any pressure on the ball itself) will be found of advantage.

Eyes, Inflamed.--For all kinds of burning inflammatory pain in the eyes, the following treatment is most effective. Place a hot BRAN POULTICE (_see_) beneath the back of the head and neck while the patient lies on the back. Press gently fresh cool damp cloths, frequently changed, all over the eyeb.a.l.l.s and sockets, so as to draw out the heat. No one who has not seen this done can imagine how powerful a remedy it is. It may also be necessary, if the feet be cold, to foment up to the knees. This last fomentation is best done at bedtime, and the feet and legs should be rubbed with olive oil, and a pair of cotton stockings put on to sleep in, to keep the feet comfortable.

If the eyes are very sensitive the treatment should go on in dim light, as may be felt necessary. The poultice and cold cloths may be used for an hour twice a day. In bad cases, where sight has been seriously affected, a good rubbing of all the skin of the head with the finger tips may be given before the poultice is applied. This rubbing must not be a trial to the patient, but gently done, with kindly good will, and it must be pursued for fifteen or twenty minutes, until the whole head is in a warm glow.

Eyes, Inflamed, with General Eruptions over the Body.--In some cases the eye trouble is only a part of a general skin inflammation, accompanied with heat all over the body, and an acrid, irritating discharge from eruptions on the face and elsewhere, especially on the head. The cold cloths and poultice will not work in such a case. The chief agent in the cure is fine soap lather (_see_ Head, Soaping). Let the head be shampooed with it for half-an-hour. The whole body should then be lathered and shampooed for a short time in a warm bath; this is best done at bedtime. Much water is not needed; warm soapy lather, well rubbed all over, is what is required. Ordinary soap will make the skin worse; only M'Clinton's will do to soothe and heal it (_see_ Soap). If white specks show on the eyes, the treatment in article on Eyes, Danger to Sight of, will cure these. When this complaint is obstinate and refuses to heal, medical advice should be sought, as blood poisoning is probably present.

Eyes, Paralysis of.--The partial paralysis of the muscles of one eye produces double vision, so that the patient sees two similar objects where there is only one. This double vision is often, however, the result of stomach derangement. If so, it may soon pa.s.s away. The true paralysis is more persistent. To cure this, rub the entire skin of the head gently and steadily with the hands and finger-tips (stroking always _upwards_) for some fifteen minutes. Then apply cold cloths to the eyes as already directed. If the cold cloths are uncomfortable, hot ones should be tried. Do this for fifteen minutes also. Continue alternately for an hour twice or three times a day. We have known one such day's treatment remove the double vision _entirely_, and no relapse occur, but in most cases the treatment must be persevered in and returned to until the paralysis is overcome.

Eyes, Spots on.--These spots are of two different kinds, and yet they are very much the same in nature and substance. What is called "a cataract" is of a different character. We refer not to this, but to the spots that form on the surface of the eyeball, and those that form in the membrane of the eyelid. When inflammation has gone on for some time on the eyeball itself, portions of whitish matter form on the gla.s.sy surface and soon interfere with the sight. When inflammation has gone on in the eyelid, little knots like pin-heads form, producing a feeling as if sand were in the eye. Afterwards these knots grow large and swell the eyelid, and at times the matter in them grows hard, and seems to take up a lasting abode in that tissue. Strong and destructive liquids or powders are sometimes applied, that so affect the whole substance of the eye as to cause blindness. Nothing of this nature is required at all. First, the skin of the head must be dealt with. You will find that this is hot and dry, and somewhat hard on the skull. Rub this gently with the dry hands for a few minutes, then press a cloth tightly wrung out of cold water all round the head. Rub and cool alternately for half-an-hour or more if it continues to produce an agreeable feeling.

When the head is all soothed, and good action has been secured, at least on its surface, begin with the eye itself. The same treatment is required for both cla.s.ses of cases. The eye will be shut at first. You take a fine camel's-hair brush, such as is used by artists, and some vinegar or acetic acid, so weak that you can swallow a portion of it without hurting your throat. This is a very good test of strength for the acid. You carefully brush over the outside of the eyelids and all round the eye with this weak acid. This must be done most carefully and patiently for a length of time, till all sweatiness is washed off, and a fine warm feeling is produced by the acid. The matter softens and breaks up, so that it begins to pa.s.s away. We have seen a little ball of hard white matter break up and come away after a single brus.h.i.+ng carefully done. When the matter is in the eyelid, and is so situated that you can brush over it in the inside of the lid, it is well to do so; but this operation must be gently and carefully done. When you have brushed with the acid long enough, dry the eyelids and cheek carefully, and rub with a little fresh olive or almond oil. It will be well to cover the eye from the cold, and from any dust that might irritate. You will soon find that it is as clear and sound as could be wished.

Eyes, Squinting.--Various affections of the eyeball muscles cause this.

To cure it is often easy, sometimes very difficult. The method of treatment is to stimulate all the nerves of the head and face, and at the same time to soothe their irritation. This is accomplished by ma.s.saging the brow and entire head. It must be gently and soothingly done. The open hands are drawn upwards over the brow from the eyebrows, the rubber standing behind the patient. Then both sides of the head and the back of the head are stroked similarly. After this the whole head is rubbed briskly with the finger-points. This should be done often, even four or five times in the day. If the patient objects, it is being unskilfully done; the right sort of rubbing is always pleasant. A squinting eye has been cured in a few rubbings, where the case was a simple one. If the head becomes very hot, it may be cooled as directed above for Children's Sleep. Squinting may be produced or increased by that state of the stomach and bowels in which worms are bred.

Face, Skin of.--To secure a healthy appearance of this is worth much trouble, and any eruption or unhealthy redness is a great trial, especially to ladies. To cure and prevent these, it is usually necessary to look first to the _diet_. A disagreeable redness of the nose, and pimples in various places, is the common result of too much rich food, not to speak of alcoholic drink, which is always most injurious to the face skin. The use of corsets is another fertile source of this trouble, and many in their desire to improve their figure ruin their faces. Plain, easily digested food is to be taken.

Tea must only be used _at most_ twice in the day, and should be exceedingly weak. Half-a-teacupful of hot water should be taken before every meal, and everything possible done to promote digestion. The whole skin must be brought into a healthy state by daily was.h.i.+ng with M'Clinton's soap (_see_ Soap); no other should be used for toilet purposes. It is far better than the boasted and expensive "complexion soaps," and can now be had in various forms. Many faces are injured by the kind of soap used in was.h.i.+ng. The use of the kind we recommend is remarkably pleasant and beneficial, and a full account of it, and of our motives in recommending it, will be found under article Soap. If, however, the face will not stand the touch of water at all, good b.u.t.tERMILK (_see_) forms the best wash and cooling application. Also a _cloth mask_ may be worn all night, lined inside with soft creamy soap lather. In violent face irritation this last treatment is especially valuable.

For pimples on the face, the general treatment for the skin mentioned above (_see_ Eyes, Inflamed) is to be used, especially applied to the skin of the back. The b.u.t.termilk wash may also be used, but the best effect comes from the general treatment of the skin.

Fainting.--Fatigue, excessive heat, fright, loss of blood, hunger, etc., are common causes.

The action of the heart is temporarily interfered with, and pallor, a sweat on the forehead, with an indescribable feeling of sinking away, precede unconsciousness.

The first thing to do is to bend down the patient's head till it touches the knees, and keep it there for a few minutes. After he has partially recovered consciousness, the clothing should be loosened, and all tight bands or braces removed. The face and hands should be bathed in cold water, slapping the face with a wet towel. Some stimulant, such as hot tea, coffee, or sal volatile, may then be given.

If there is a wound causing loss of blood, it should be attended to at once.

In case fainting is due to hunger, the greatest care should be taken to give only small quant.i.ties of food after recovery, as a large amount may prove fatal.

A sip of cold water, or bathing the face with cold water, will generally prevent a threatened fainting. If there appears any immediate danger of a relapse, keep the patient in a horizontal position for some time.

Persons liable to fainting fits should be careful to avoid extremes of temperature, such as very hot or very cold baths.

Fall, A.--After a fall from a height, where there is no apparent outward injury, there is often such a severe shock to the spinal cord and brain that continued unconsciousness occurs. In such a case, foment the spine at first, to remove the effects of the concussion. This may bring on serious difficulty of breathing, owing to congestion of the spinal cord. This can be removed by applying cold cloths along the spine. If the difficulty of breathing be present from the first, then apply the cold at once. The first effect of such a fall is to deprive the brain and spinal cord of vital force. This must be restored by _heat_. Subsequent effects due to congestion can be removed by cold.

The effects of a shock in a railway accident may be similarly treated.

Common sense will guide in using heat or cold by watching the effect.

Where heat fails try cold. This is the simple rule. It is good also to give the patient some simple purgative medicine, and some warm drink.

_Avoid all doses of alcoholic drinks._ We have known the flickering flame of life almost extinguished by a teaspoonful of brandy.

Feeding, Over.--It is well to remember that over-feeding is a relative term. To take more than a weak stomach can digest, is to over-feed, although very little be taken. We give some invalids food every two hours but that food is only two-thirds of a teacupful of milk, mixed with a third of boiling water. In every case we must watch to give the right amount, no less and no more. Every case will require to be considered by itself in the light of common sense. The amount of food eaten should be just sufficient to supply the body with material to replace that consumed in work, build up its wasted tissues and leave a slight surplus over for reserve store. Anything more is harmful. In youth, if too much be eaten, nature relieves herself by giving the transgressor of her laws a bilious attack, during which there is no appet.i.te, and so the excess is worked off. In later years this safety valve does not work, and the surplus is generally stored as useless fat, impeding the action of the heart or other internal organs, or as gouty deposits in various parts. The Anglo-Saxon race at all events does not limit its diet as we think it should, and Sir Henry Thompson, M.D., has stated that in his opinion more ill-health arises from over-eating than from the use of intoxicating liquor, great a source of illness as this last undoubtedly is.

Temperance in diet is absolutely necessary therefore, if one would be healthy, and the avoidance of stimulating foods, with a restriction of flesh foods especially, is a precept which the great majority of well-to-do people need to attend to.

Bilious attacks, headaches, indigestion, etc., are simply nature's protest against the excess of food being forced upon her, and the natural cure is to severely restrict, or still better, entirely stop the food supply for a day or two. The idea that "the system must be kept up" is a very foolish one; people have lived for forty days and upwards on water alone, and a few days' fasting is a far safer remedy for the troubles we have mentioned than purgative drugs.

Those who have a stomach which quickly rebels against too much or unsuitable food, may, as Sir Henry Thompson says, congratulate themselves on having a good janitor preventing the entrance of what would injure. The man who can and does eat anything, rarely lives to old age.

The perfect appet.i.te which comes from the moderate use of simple foods is a relish which must be experienced to be appreciated.

One way in which the amount of food needed to satisfy the appet.i.te and build up the body may be very largely reduced, is by increasing the amount of mastication. If each bite of food is chewed and chewed until it is all reduced to a liquid state, the amount required will be less than half of what is usually taken, and so much less strain will be thrown on the excretory organs.

Feet, Cold.--Continued coldness of the feet gives rise to many more serious troubles, and should always be attended to. There is no better cure than daily BATHING THE FEET (_see_), followed by rubbing for several minutes, say five, with hot olive oil after drying. Rub briskly, until the feet glow. Put on dry warm stockings, and see that all foot-gear is kept as dry as possible. Another method of curing cold _sweaty_ feet is to rub the soles with CAYENNE "TEA" (_see_), and afterwards with warm olive oil. Dry carefully, and wear an extra pair of dry cotton socks or stockings. When the sweating is very abundant and obstinate, there is usually more or less failure in the nerves which keep the skin in order. The feet must then be properly _bathed_ (_see_ Bathing the Feet), then dried and treated with cayenne lotion as above.

Feet Giving Way.--Where there is a great deal of standing to be done by any one, the feet sometimes yield more or less at the arch of the instep. This becomes flattened, and even great pain ensues; lameness sometimes follows. Young girls who have to stand much are especially liable to suffer in this way. In the first place _rest must be had_.

Wise masters will provide due rest for their employees, foolish ones overwork them. Rest is not against, but in favour of work; work cannot be well done without due rest. The proper rest for feet such as we speak of will be the most easy and comfortable position. _Comfort_ is the test of the right treatment. Bathe the feet in hot water for a good while, using plenty of soap. Rub gently with hot olive oil, pressing any displaced bones into, or near, their place. Carefully avoid giving pain. Ma.s.sage similarly with oil the whole limb, and also the back (_see_ Ma.s.sage). Do this every day at least once. You may have months to wait, but a sound limb is worth a good deal of patience. When standing is absolutely necessary, strips of strong sticking plaster pa.s.sed down from above the ankle bones, and round under the instep, help greatly.

Boots are better than shoes, and should be comfortably easy, with low heels.

Fever.--In all fevers, to _cool down_ the excessive heat of the patient (_see_ Heat, Internal) is the best process of treatment. This may be best done by continued cooling of the head. Have a towel well wrung out of cold water. Fold it so as to envelop the head. Press it gently to the head all round, changing the place of pressure frequently. Have a second towel ready, and continue cooling with freshly cooled towels perhaps for an hour or an hour-and-a-half. Then leave the last cold towel on, and put a dry towel above it. The next cooling, when the fever heat again arises, may be given, if it can be managed, by placing a cold towel along the spine. Cover this with a dry one, and let the patient lie on it. Change this, though not quite so frequently as in the case of the head. Work _carefully and gently_, so as not to annoy the patient. If ice can be had, it may be put in the water used to cool the cloths. If the feet be cold, foment them in a blanket (_see_ Fomentation). Keep this on the feet for an hour. There will most likely be great relief with even one course of such treatment. It must, however, be _persevered in_ until the fever be conquered. In any case of fever, when a patient is too weak to bear the hot fomentation and cold towels, we would recommend rubbing the feet and limbs if cold with hot oil, and the stomach and chest, and if possible the back with soap lather. It is well at first to soap the stomach only, and for some time; and each time till the last it is well to wipe off what you have rubbed on, so that the skin may be as clean as possible for the next.

To do this only once is often quite sufficient to soothe, so that the patient falls off into a gentle, natural sleep.