of sounds, we must pause before ascribing these differences to the
intervention or non-intervention of will. We shall find certain very
obvious distinctions between the two kinds of sound. The promiscuous
din of movement, voice, and traffic, even in the busiest city, has
in it nothing sharp or accentuated; it forms a continuous whole,
in which each individual variation is averaged and toned down. The
distressing sounds, on the other hand, are often shrill, abrupt,
distinctly accentuated and discrete rather than continuous. Take, for
instance, the ringing of bells: it is monotonous in the extreme, but
it recurs at regular intervals. Hence its action upon the brain is
intensified, just as in the march of troops over a suspension bridge,
each step increases the vibration. The pain to the listener is the
greater because he knows that the shock will come, and awaits it.
Very similar is the case with another gratuitous noise, the barking
of dogs. Each bark, be it acute or grave, is in the highest degree
abrupt, sharply marked, or _staccato_, as we believe a musician would
term it. Though the intervals are less regularly marked than in the
case of church bells, we still have a prolonged series of distinct
shocks communicated to the brain. All the other more distressing
kinds of noise possess the characters or shrillness, loudness, and of
recurrent beats or blasts.
As an instance of an undesigned, unintentional noise being
distressing to those within ear-shot, we may mention the dripping of
water. A single drop, whether penetrating through a defective roof,
falling from the arch of a cavern, or issuing from a leaky pipe, and
repeated at regular intervals, is as annoying as the tolling of a
bell, the barking of a dog, or the short, sharp screams of a fretful
infant. The only difference is that the noise is not heard as far. We
may hence dismiss the “will” theory, and refer the effects of noises
of this class to regularity, accentuation, and sharpness.
It is particularly unfortunate that the multiplication of sound
should accompany, almost hand in hand, that increase of nervous
irritability and that tendency to cerebral disease which rank among
the saddest features of modern life. A people worn out with overwork,
worry, and competitive examinations might at least be spared all
unnecessary noise. Many persons cannot or will not understand how
necessary silence is to the thinker. A friend of the writer’s,
engaged in investigating certain very abstruse questions in physics,
is often compelled to throw aside his work when an organ grinder
enters the street, and suffers with acute pain in the head if he
attempts to go on with his researches.
We should therefore propose, as measures of sanitary reform, the
absolute prohibition of street music, which is more rampant in London
than in any other capital in Europe. The present law, which throws
upon the sufferer the burden of moving in the matter, is a mere
mockery. Another necessary point is the abolition of church bells. In
these days of innumerable clocks and watches every one can tell when
it is the time for divine service without an entire neighbourhood
being disturbed for some 20 minutes at a time. Nonconformist places
of worship collect their congregations without this nuisance.
Further, all dogs convicted of persistent barking should be
disestablished. And lastly, harmoniums, American organs, and wind
instruments in general should be prohibited, except in detached
houses. (_Journal of Science._)
_Chapped Hands._--(_a_) Some persons are sadly troubled with their
hands cracking. It sometimes comes from a persons health; but there
is one great thing to keep in mind--that is, every time you wash or
wet your hands, be sure and dry them well. Always, after wiping them,
hold them to the fire till quite dry. This is very important. As an
outward application, spermaceti ointment, with a small quantity of
lead acetate and some camphor well mixed is a good thing. Rub some
well in at night on going to bed, and do not use strong soap.
(_b_) A mixture of 1-2 dr. hydrochloric acid to 4 oz. water for
use in case of chapped hands, and even when the skin is cracked
and bleeding, relieves the complaint at once, and if persevered in
effects a cure.
(_c_) Into a 3 oz. glass-stoppered bottle pour ½ oz. pure glycerine;
fill up with distilled water and shake. A few drops in the palm
rubbed and distributed over the hands when nearly dry, after washing,
will in a short time render the skin like satin. It is well to scald
the bottle before filling, to check the development of vegetable
organisms (“ropiness”). Do not increase this quantity of glycerine,
or it will make your hands sticky.
(_d_) One part (say 1 oz.) pure glycerine, 1 of Eau-de-Cologne, 2
of water; mix them in a bottle and use a few drops well rubbed in
after every washing of the hands, and as frequently in the day as can
conveniently be done.
(_e_) Mix equal quantities pure glycerine and pure water together,
and add as much common salt as the liquid will dissolve. Rub this
frequently on the cracked portions of the hands, giving an extra
quantity just before going to bed.
(_f_) Salicylic acid and borax, each 1½ dr., glycerine up to 2 oz.
(_g_) Equal quantities carbolic acid and glycerine.
_Chilblains._--(_a_) Chilblains are likely to be caused by sudden
change from cold to heat or _vice versâ_. This will explain why the
hands and feet, nose and ears, are mostly the parts affected, because
they are the parts most prominently exposed to such changes. Invalids
and scrofulous persons are more likely to suffer than the robust and
healthy. As prevention is better than cure, care should be taken to
protect the parts by substances which are non-conductors of heat.
Woollen socks, stout boots, and warm gloves are safe preventives,
and especially taking care not to warm the parts affected by cold by
any other means than friction, and in case of persons predisposed
to chilblains, the frequent ablution of the extremities in tepid
water and the use of good yellow soap is advisable, bathing the
feet and hands in tepid water slightly salted, every night, is a
good antiphlogistic. Should these means fail, where the skin is
not broken, use a liniment of 1 oz. camphorated spirits of wine
mixed with ½ oz. Goulard’s extract; but the best remedy is a lotion
composed of 1 dr. iodine in 3 oz. rectified spirits of wine, to be
applied with a brush not more than once a day. Should the chilblain
be broken or ulcerated a different treatment must be adopted--warm
poultices ought to be applied, and discontinued after about 3 days;
the sores must then be touched with the tincture of iodine once
a day, and then dressed with basilicon ointment; when they begin
to granulate freely, a simple dressing of the above ointment is
sufficient to complete a cure. Care ought always to be taken not to
let chilblains break through the skin, as they are very liable to
mortify.
(_b_) Copper sulphate in solution is about the best thing to allay
the itching before they break. Also is used with very good effect
an embrocation composed of 1 dr. tincture of capsicum and 7 dr.
soap liniment. After they have broken, the best application will
be carbolic acid and linseed oil--1 part of the former to 5 of the
latter, to be applied with a feather (the pure acid should be used
for this). This is the most useful application for any open sore.
(_c_) 1 dr. sugar of lead, 2 dr. white vitriol, then add 4 oz. water;
shake well before using. Rub well on the affected parts with the hand
before a good fire; the best time is in the evening. Do not use this
on those that are broken. This scarcely ever fails to cure the most
inveterate chilblains by once or twice using.
(_d_) Quite effective for unbroken chilblains, but it might be
poisonous to broken ones, so be very careful:--A small quantity of
yellow soap is dissolved in very little water, then methylated spirit
is added to just thin it a little, then add, while hot, tincture of
iodine drop by drop, stirring it the while; when it begins to change
colour there is enough; let get cold, and apply night and morning,
letting it dry on. It is only good while the spirit is in it.
(_e_) Take some precipitated chalk, and mix it in a mortar (or with
a knife in a plate, but the first way is best) with some salad oil
to something thicker than cream--about the thickness of Devonshire
cream. At night apply it thoroughly over all the fingers, rubbing it
in, and smearing it thickly on them, putting a pair of gloves on.
Persevere every night.
(_f_) 6 gr. copper sulphate, ½ oz. Eau-de-Cologne, ½ oz. distilled
water. To be applied twice a day with camel-hair brush. A capital
remedy to arrest inflammation in chilblains.
(_g_) 2 oz. black bryony root, 10 oz. spirit of wine, 2 oz. water.
Macerate 7 days and filter. Apply night and morning with a camel-hair
pencil.
_Cold Feet._--(_a_) There are two remedies--the hot bottle and
lamb’s-wool socks, either or both of which may be used. When
we consider that during the day, whilst we are active, we wear
stockings and shoes, does it not seem strange that at night, when the
temperature of the air is lower, and when we are inactive, that our
feet should have less covering than during the day? The reasonable
plan is to have a special pair of socks for night use, putting them
on when going to bed, and change them when getting up; the result
will be better and more serene sleep, consequently we shall be more
able to undergo our daily exertions. A good walk for ½ hour before
retiring warms the feet, and sends a nice glow all through the body,
and disposes to sleep. (_b_) Wear horse-hair soles winter and summer,
as a remedy for cold and damp feet.
_Coughs and Colds._--The _British Medical Journal_ remarks that there
are several well-known processes by which a cold may be caught. As a
disease, there is nothing so common; and yet it is only very recently
that anything like an approach to a knowledge of its pathology
has been attained. There is now, however, a large accumulation of
evidence which points very strongly in the direction that “taking
cold” is actually “being cold.” Colds are most frequently caught
from a wetting. The clothes we wear are good non-conductors of heat,
and so prevent the loss of body-heat which would occur without them.
But let them become moist or saturated with water, and then they
become heat-conductors of a much more active character, and a rapid
and excessive loss of body-heat follows. Nothing is more certain,
however, than that prolonged exposure in wet clothes is commonly
followed by no evil results; that is, so long as there is also active
exercise. The loss of heat is then met by increased production of
heat, and no harm results. But let the urchin who has been drenched
on his way to school sit in his wet clothes during school-hours, and
a cold follows. No matter how inured to exposure the person may be
who, when drenched, remains quiet and inert in his wet clothes, he
takes a cold. Here there is an increased loss without a corresponding
production of heat, and the temperature of the body is lowered, or
the person “catches cold.”
The effect of exercise in producing heat is well known. Unless the
surrounding air be of a low temperature and the clothes light, the
skin soon glows with the warm blood circulating in it, and then comes
perspiration with its cooling action. Here there is a direct loss
of heat induced to meet the increased production of heat. Exercise,
then, in wet clothes, produces more or less a new balance, and
obviates the evil consequences which would otherwise result.
The loss of heat is more certainly induced if the skin be previously
glowing and the circulation through the skin, the cooling area, be
active. Thus, a person leaves a ballroom with his cutaneous vessels
(pores of the skin) dilated, and a rapid loss of body-heat follows,
unless there be a thick great-coat or a brisk walk; if the clothes
become moistened by rain, or be saturated with perspiration, the
radiation of heat is still more marked. Such is the causation of the
cold commonly caught after leaving a heated ballroom. It is probable
that exhaustion is not without its effect in lowering the tonicity
of the vessels, and so those of the skin do not readily contract and
arrest the loss of heat.
A damp bed gives a cold, because the moist bedclothes are much
better conductors of heat than are the same clothes when dry. The
temperature of the body is lowered, and a cold results. Long exposure
in bathing leads to similar consequences. The second feeling of cold
in bathing tells that the body is becoming chilled, and that the
production of heat is insufficient to meet the loss. A run on the
river-bank, or a brisk walk after dressing, commonly restores the
lost balance.
The plan of permitting the wet clothes to dry on the wearer is
very objectionable. The abstraction of heat from the body by the
evaporation of moisture in the clothes produces a marked depression
of the body-temperature, and a severe cold. This is most strikingly
seen in the effects of a wetting in the Tropics. The smart shower
or downpour is quickly followed by a hot sun and a breeze, and the
loss of heat under these circumstances is considerable. The person
is “chilled to the bone,” and the effects are felt for a long time
afterwards.
Alcohol has been abandoned in Arctic regions. It dilates the
cutaneous vessels and increases the loss of body-heat. The drunken
man perishes of cold when the abstainer survives.
When the exposure follows a long continued warmth, the cutaneous
vessels do not contract, but become dilated or paralysed, and then
a large bulk of warm blood courses through the cooling surface, and
a great loss of body-heat is entailed. Not only so, but the current
of chilled blood passes inwards to the right heart and the lungs.
Inflammations of the lungs are common along with severe colds; and
this is possibly the explanation. Such inflammation is specially
liable to occur if at the same time cold air be inspired. The cold
respired air and the currents of chilled blood together, produce
those vaso-motor disturbances in the lungs which, in their graver
aspects, are known as pneumonia.
The practical considerations which are the outcome of this review
of the pathology of cold are these. Never wear wet clothes after
active muscular exertion has ceased, but change them at once; meet
the loss of the body-heat by warm fluids and dry clothes; avoid
long-sustained loss of heat which is not met by increased production
of heat; increase the tonicity of the vessels of the skin by cold
baths, &c., so educating them to contract readily on exposure--by a
partial adoption, indeed, of the “hardening” plan; avoid too warm
and debilitating rooms and temperatures; take especial care against
too great a loss of heat when the skin is glowing; and prevent the
inspiration of cold air by the mouth by some protecting agent, as a
respirator. We can readily understand how a respirator should be an
effective protection against winter bronchitis in those so disposed.
Of course, no one should, even in summer, dispense with the use of
flannel next the skin, or some substitute, such as merino. It is as
important at that period of the year, as in winter.
Dr. Graham gives the following advice: “When you come out of a cold
atmosphere you should not at first go into a room that has a fire in
it, or if you cannot avoid that, you should keep for a considerable
time at as great a distance as possible, and, above all, refrain from
taking warm or strong liquors when you are cold. This rule is founded
on the same principle as the treatment of any part of the body when
frost-bitten. If it were brought to a fire it would soon mortify,
whereas, if rubbed with snow, no bad consequences follow from it.
Hence, if the following rule were strictly observed--when the whole
body, or any part of it, is chilled, bring it to its natural feeling
and warmth by degrees--the frequent colds we experience in winter
would in a great measure be prevented.”
To neglect the conditions upon which strength of constitution and
purity of blood depend, and then strive to avoid in a sedulously
careful manner the evil influence of colds upon the body, is like
neglecting the substance for the shadow of health; or more properly,
it is like one who starves his body, and then strives to keep quiet
in order that his strength shall not be exhausted. Let food be
taken, and the exhaustion from exercise will not ensue; let all the
conditions of health be observed, and then the natural changes of the
weather will fall harmlessly on the healthy functions of the body.
Occasionally a cold may be arrested, in the first stage, by taking
at the very outset, a hot bath on retiring to rest, with 10 gr.
Dover’s powder at bedtime, followed by a hot drink, such as a basin
of hot gruel or a tumbler of hot toddy, with a dose of castor-oil
in the early morning about 6 o’clock. It is well to remain indoors
for the day. Should, however, these means fail, or the ailment have
progressed too far before the remedy is applied, and the patient
complains of soreness of chest, with cough and feverishness, then he
should keep bed for 3 days. Mustard and linseed poultices are to be
applied to the chest, warm diluent drinks are to be given, such as
gruel, with honey and vinegar in it, to promote gentle perspiration,
and to relieve the severity of the cough. Ipecacuanha wine, 10-15
drop doses in water every 4 hours, will be found useful in promoting
expectoration. Laxative medicine will probably be necessary, and the
diet should be light.
The Continental remedy, lime-flower tea or tisane de tilleul is made
in a teapot in the same way that tea is made, substituting lime
blossoms for tea leaves, and using about 4 times the quantity to make
it. It is taken hot, and used for colds, coughs, &c., much in the
same way that gruel, wheys, and possets are taken in England.
Dr. Ferrier, of King’s College, communicates a remedy for cold in
the head, which has been found effectual. It is a white powder used
as snuff, and composed as follows:--2 gr. hydrochlorate morphia, 2
dr. acacia powder, 6 dr. bismuth trisnitrate. The whole makes up a
quantity of powder, ¼-½ of which may be safely taken in 24 hours.
Dr. Ferrier has twice cured himself of very severe colds by this
means, once by the use of bismuth trisnitrate alone, which is a very
powerful remedy for catarrh of the mucous membrane, and is the most
important ingredient in the above mixture. Others have used the snuff
with perfect success. Instead of increasing the tendency to sneeze,
it almost immediately begins to diminish it. (_Lancet._)
Prof. Strambio, in a note to an Italian medical journal, says that,
notwithstanding the failure of all remedies hitherto recommended
for the immediate cure of a cold, he wishes to communicate to the
profession the great success he has found attending a new one in
his own person, and to ask them to test its efficiency. He found
prolonged mastication and swallowing of a dried leaf or two of the
_Eucalyptus Globulus_ (Blue gum) almost immediately liberated him
from all the effects of a severe cold.
In the treatment of persistent cold in the head, or nasal catarrh,
when there is much discharge from the nasal passages, we are
advised to use a spray-producer with the following solution:--1 gr.
carbolic acid, 2 dr. glycerine, 2 oz. water. After the passages are
clean, a small quantity of vaseline is melted in the bowl of the
spray-producer, and 2-5 drops pinus canadensis mixture are added.
This mixture consists of:--15 gr. pinus canadensis, ½ oz. glycerine,
½ gr. carbolic acid, 1½ oz. water. This is to be applied by the spray
to every part.
Dr. Sheppard says, in respect to the use of hot water as a remedial
agent in the treatment of inflammation of the mucous membranes:--“I
have used hot water as a gargle for the past 6-8 years. In throat and
tonsil inflammation, and in coryza (cold in the head), if properly
used in the commencement of the attack, it constitutes one of our
most effective remedies, being frequently promptly curative. To be of
service, it should be used in considerable quantity (½-1 pint at a
time), and just as hot as the throat will tolerate.”
Coughing is greatly under the control of the will, and children ought
to be taught to try to restrain the inclination to cough; very often,
by this very effort, the desire to cough will vanish. If it cannot be
avoided, they should be taught _how_ to cough. It is not in the least
necessary to give way to coughing on every occasion, even though
there be really something to expectorate, until the mucus or other
irritating matter be within easy reach, and then one good, effective,
deliberate cough will do as much, or probably more, for the relief
of the individual, than perhaps a dozen repeated, noisy, resultless
fits of coughing. The noise which accompanies the act can be greatly
modified at the will of the individual. There are some people who
make not the slightest effort to lessen this annoyance. In many cases
the mouth may be closed, and in all the hand may be held before the
mouth during the act, whereby considerable modification of the noise
may be attained.
Avoid making use of any nostrum vaunted as a cure for all sorts of
coughs and colds: all contain opium in some form, and may prove
prejudicial to the complaint which initiates the cough. At the same
time, a distressing cough calls for amelioration. There never can
be harm in causing the patient to inhale steam from a sponge or
basin of boiling water; or infusion of hops may be inhaled. Lozenges
of various kinds are often useful, e.g. fruit, gum, glycerine,
liquorice, marsh-mallow, tamarind, ipecacuanha, &c. Linseed-tea is
a bland, soothing demulcent, useful in sore throat, and in allaying
tickling cough.
The common mullein, _Verbascum thapsus_, has long been used in
Ireland as a domestic remedy for consumptive cough, and Dr. Quinlan
finds that when boiled in milk the patient takes the decoction
readily, and experiences a physiological want when it is omitted.
Its power of checking phthisical looseness of the bowels and the
relief afforded to coughing are very marked, so that patients take
hardly any other cough mixture. In early stages it appears to have
a distinct power of increasing weight, but in advanced cases Dr.
Quinlan remarks that he is not aware of anything that will do this
except koumiss. (_Brit. Med. Jour._)
Dr. Square recommends a solution of 1 part ethyl bromide in 200 of
water as a remedy for whooping-cough. This is of similar strength to
the chloroform water of the British Pharmacopœia, and its dose is the
same, namely, ½-2 oz.
A German journal mentions a case of whooping-cough treated with
turpentine by Ringk, of Berlin, with astonishing results. The patient
was a little girl 3½ years of age, and a fatal issue seemed imminent.
The doctor prescribed ol. terebinth., 10 grams; syr. altheæ, 80
grams; a teaspoonful every 3 hours. The next day the child was
sitting up in bed, with a great slice of bread and butter in her
hand, which she was eating and evidently enjoying. The cough had
totally disappeared, and no evil results followed.
Following are a few simple recipes for expectorants, useful for
winter coughs. The first is particularly suitable for young
children:--(_a_) 1 fl. dr. syrup of squills, ½ fl. dr. gum acacia,
powdered, 8 gr. ammonium chloride, enough peppermint water to make
2 fl. oz. Dose for a child, 1 teaspoonful every 2 hours. (_b_) For
older children and adults, 2 parts syrup of ipecac., 4 syrup of
squills, 1 paregoric. Dose, ½-1 teaspoonful, repeated as often as
necessary. (_c_) 1 oz. syrup of ipecac., 1 oz. syrup of tolu, ½
oz. paregoric, 1 oz. syrup wild cherry. (_d_) For hoarseness, Dr.
Eichelberger gives the following, which he says is very good:--2
dr. tinct. chloride of iron, 4 dr. glycerine, 4 dr. water. Dose, ½
teaspoonful.