morning of the whole body; attention to diet; variety of food;
bran-bread; grapes; stewed prunes; [For the best way of stewing prunes,
see question 244.] French plums; Muscatel raisins; figs; fruit, both
cooked and raw—if it be ripe and sound; oatmeal porridge; lentil powder,
in the form of Du Barry’s Arabica Revalenta; vegetables of all kinds,
especially spinach; exercise in the open air; early rising; daily
visiting the water-closet at a certain hour—there is nothing keeps the
bowels open so regularly and well as establishing the habit of visiting
the water-closet at a certain hour every morning; and the other rules of
health specified in these Conversations. If more attention were paid to
these points, poor school-boys and school-girls would not be compelled
to swallow such nauseous and disgusting messes as they usually are.
Should these plans not succeed (although in the majority of cases, with
patience and perseverance, they will), I would advise an enema once or
twice a week, either simply of warm water, or of one made of gruel,
table salt, and olive oil, in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls of
salt, two of oil, and a pint of warm gruel, which a boy may administer
to himself, or a girl to herself, by means of a proper enema apparatus.
Hydropathy is oftentimes very serviceable in preventing and in curing
costiveness; and as it will sometimes prevent the necessity of
administering medicine, it is both a boon and a blessing. “Hydropathy
also supplies us with various remedies for constipation. From the simple
glass of cold water, taken early in the morning, to the various douches
and sea-baths, a long list of useful appliances might be made out, among
which we may mention the ‘wet compresses’ worn for three hours over the
abdomen [bowels], with a gutta-percha covering.”
I have here a word or two to say to a mother who is always physicking
her family. It is an unnatural thing to be constantly dosing either a
child or any one else with medicine. One would suppose that some people
were only sent into the world to be physicked! If more care were paid to
the rules of health, very little medicine would be required! This is a
bold assertion; but I am confident that it is a true one. It is a
strange admission for a medical man to make, but, nevertheless, my
convictions compel me to avow it.
370. _What is the reason girls are so subject to Costiveness?_
The principal reason why girls suffer more from costiveness than boys,
is that their habits are more sedentary; as the best opening medicines
in the world are an abundance of exercise, of muscular exertion, and of
fresh air.
Unfortunately, poor girls in this enlightened age must be engaged,
sitting all the while, several hours every day at fancy work, the piano,
and other accomplishments; they, consequently, have little time for
exercise of any kind. The bowels, as a matter of course, become
constipated; they are, therefore, dosed with pills, with black draughts,
with brimstone and treacle—oh! the abomination!—and with medicines of
that class, almost _ad infinitum_. What is the consequence? Opening
medicines, by constant repetition, lose their effects, and, therefore,
require to be made stronger and still stronger, until at length the
strongest will scarcely act at all, and the poor unfortunate girl, when
she becomes a woman, _if she ever does become one_, is spiritless,
heavy, dull, and listless, requiring daily doses of physic, until she
almost lives on medicine!
All this misery and wretchedness proceed from Nature’s laws having been
set at defiance, from _artificial_ means taking the place of _natural_
ones—from a mother adopting as her rule and guide fashion and folly,
rather than reason and common sense. When will a mother awake from her
folly and stupidity? This is strong language to address to a lady; but
it is not stronger than the subject demands.
Mothers of England! do, let me entreat you, ponder well upon what I have
said. Do rescue your girls from the bondage of fashion and folly, which
is worse than the bondage of the Egyptian task-masters; for the
Israelites did, in making bricks without straw, work in the open air—“So
the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to
gather stubble instead of straw;” but your girls, many of them at least,
have no work, either in the house or in the open air—they have no
exercise whatever. They are poor, drawling, dawdling, miserable
nonentities, with muscles, for the want of proper exercise, like
ribbons, and with faces, for the lack of fresh air, as white as a sheet
of paper. What a host of charming girls are yearly sacrificed at the
shrine of fashion and of folly!
Another, and a frequent cause of costiveness, is the bad habit of
disobeying the call of having the bowels opened. The moment there is the
slightest inclination to relieve the bowels, _instantly_ ought it to be
attended to, or serious results will follow. Let me urge a mother to
instill into her daughter’s mind the importance of this advice.
371. _Young people are subject to Pimples on the Face, what is the
remedy?_
These hard red pimples (_acne_) are a common and an obstinate affection
of the skin, principally affecting the forehead, the temples, the nose,
and the cheeks; occasionally attacking the neck, the shoulders, the
back, and the chest; and as they more frequently affect the young, from
the age of 15 to 35, and are disfiguring, they cause much annoyance.
“These pimples are so well known by most persons as scarcely to need
description; they are conical, red, and hard; after awhile, they become
white, and yellow at the point, then discharge a thick yellow-colored
matter, mingled with a whitish substance, and become covered by a hard,
brown scab, and lastly, disappear very slowly, sometimes very
imperfectly, and often leaving an ugly scar behind them. To these
symptoms are not unfrequently added considerable pain, and always much
unsightliness. When these little cones have the black head of a ‘grub’
at their point, they constitute the variety termed _spotted acne_. These
latter often remain stationary for months, without increasing or
becoming red; but when they inflame, they are nowise different in their
course from the common kind.”
I find, in these cases, great benefit to be derived from bathing the
face, night and morning, with strong salt and water—a tablespoonful of
table salt to a teacupful of water; by paying attention to the bowels;
by living on plain, wholesome, nourishing food; and by taking a great
deal of out-door exercise. Sea bathing, in these cases, is often very
beneficial. Grubs and worms have a mortal antipathy to salt.
372. _What is the cause of a Gum-boil?_
A decayed root of a tooth, which causes inflammation and abscess of the
gum, which abscess breaks, and thus becomes a gum-boil.
373. _What is the treatment of a Gum-boil?_
Foment the outside of the face with a hot chamomile and poppy-head
fomentation, and apply to the gum-boil, between the cheek and the gum, a
small white-bread and milk poultice, which renew frequently.
Four poppy-heads and four ounces of chamomile blows to be boiled in
four pints of water for half an hour, and then to be strained to make
the fomentation.
Cut a piece of bread, about the size of the little finger—without
breaking it into crumb—pour boiling hot milk upon it, cover it over,
and let it stand for five minutes, then apply the soaked bread over
the gum-boil, letting it rest between the cheek and the gum.
As soon as the gum-boil has become quiet, _by all means_ have the
affected tooth extracted, or it might cause disease, and consequently
serious injury of the jaw; and whenever the patient catches cold there
will be a renewal of the inflammation, of the abscess, and of the
gum-boil, and as a matter of course, renewed pain, trouble, and
annoyance. Moreover, decayed fangs of teeth often cause the breath to be
offensive.
374. _What is the best remedy for a Corn?_
The best remedy for a _hard corn_ is to remove it. The usual method of
cutting, or of paring a corn away, is erroneous. The following is the
right way; Cut with a _sharp_ pair of pointed scissors around the
circumference of the corn. Work gradually round and round and toward the
center. When you have for some considerable distance well loosened the
edges, you can either with your finger or with a pair of forceps
generally remove the corn bodily, and that with little pain and without
the loss of any blood.
If the corn be properly and wholly removed, it will leave a small cavity
or round hole in the center, where the blood-vessels and the nerve of
the corn—vulgarly called the root—really were, and which, in point of
fact, constituted the very existence or the essence of the corn.
Moreover, if the corn be entirely removed, you will, without giving
yourself the slightest pain, be able to squeeze the part affected
between your finger and thumb.
_Hard corns_ on the sole of the foot and on the sides of the foot are
best treated by filing—by filing them with a sharp cutting file (flat on
one side and convex on the other), neither too coarse nor too fine in
the cutting. The corn ought, once every day, to be filed, and should
daily be continued until you experience a slight pain, which tells you
that the end of the corn is approaching. Many cases of _hard corn_, that
have resisted every other plan of treatment, have been _entirely_ cured
by means of the file. One great advantage of the file is, it cannot
possibly do any harm, and may be used by a timid person, by one who
would not readily submit to any cutting instrument being applied to the
corn.
The file, if properly used, is an effectual remedy for a _hard corn_ on
the sole of the foot. I myself have seen the value of it in several
cases, particularly in one case, that of an old gentleman of
ninety-five, who had a corn on the sole of his foot for upwards of half
a century, and which had resisted numerous, indeed, almost innumerable,
remedies; at length I recommended the file, and after a few applications
entire relief was obtained, and the corn was completely eradicated.
The corns between the toes are called _soft corns_. A _soft corn_ is
quickly removed by the strong acetic acid—acid. acetic. fort.—which
ought to be applied to the corn every night by means of a camel’s-hair
brush. The toes should be kept asunder for a few minutes, in order that
the acid may soak in; then apply between the toes a small piece of
cotton-wool.
_Hard corns_, then, on the sole and on the side of the foot, are best
treated by the file; _hard corns_ on the toes by the scissors; and _soft
corns_ between the toes by the strong acetic acid.
In the generality of cases the plans recommended above, if properly
performed, will effect a cure; but if the corn, from pressure or from
any other cause, should return, remove it again and proceed as before
directed. If the corn have been caused either by tight or by ill-fitting
shoes, the only way to prevent a recurrence is, of course, to have the
shoes properly made by a clever shoemaker—by one who thoroughly
understands his business, and who will have a pair of lasts made
purposely for the feet.
As long as fashion, instead of common sense, is followed in the making
of both boots and shoes, men and women will as a matter of course suffer
from corns.
It has often struck me as singular, when all the professions and trades
are so overstocked, that there should be, as there is in every large
town, such a want of chiropodists (corn-cutters)—of respectable
chiropodists—of men who would charge a _fixed_ sum for every visit the
patient may make; for instance, to every working-man a shilling, and to
every gentleman half a crown or five shillings for _each_ sitting, and
not for _each_ corn (which latter system is a most unsatisfactory way of
doing business). I am quite sure that if such a plan were adopted, every
town of any size in the kingdom would employ regularly one chiropodist
at least. However we might dislike some few of the American customs, we
may copy them with advantage in this particular—namely, in having a
regular staff of chiropodists both in civil and in military life.
The German method of making boots and shoes is a capital one for the
prevention of corns, as the boots and shoes are made scientifically, to
fit a _real_ and not an _ideal_ foot.
One of the best preventives of, as well as of the best remedies for,
corns, especially of soft corns between the toes, is washing the feet
every morning, as recommended in a previous Conversation, taking
especial care to wash with the thumb, and afterward to wipe with the
towel between each toe. [See _Youth_—_Ablution_.]
375. _What is the best remedy to destroy a Wart?_
Pure nitric acid, carefully applied to the wart by means of a small
stick of cedar wood, a camel’s-hair pencil-holder, every other day, will
soon destroy it. A very small quantity of pure nitric acid—just a drain
at the bottom of a stoppered bottle—is all that is needed, and which may
be procured of a chemist.
Care must be taken that the acid does not touch the healthy skin, or it
will act as a caustic to it.
The nitric acid should be preserved in a stoppered bottle, and must be
put out of the reach of children.
376. _What is the best remedy for Tender Feet, for Sweaty Feet, and for
Smelling Feet?_
Cold water: bathing the feet in cold water, beginning with tepid water
but gradually from day to day reducing the warm until the water be quite
cold. A large nursery-basin, one-third full of water, ought to be placed
on the floor, and one foot at a time should be put in the water washing
the while with a sponge the foot, and with the thumb between each toe.
Each foot should remain in the water about half a minute. The feet ought
after each washing to be well dried, taking care to dry with the towel
between each toe. The above process must be repeated at least once every
day, every morning, and, if the annoyance be great, every night as well.
A clean pair of stockings ought in these cases to be put on daily, as
perfect cleanliness is absolutely necessary both to afford relief and to
effect a cure.
If the feet be tender, or if there be either bunions or corns, the shoes
and the boots made according to the German method (which are fashioned
according to the actual shape of the foot) should alone be worn.
377. _What are the causes of so many young ladies of the present day
being weak, nervous, and unhappy?_
The principal causes are—ignorance of the laws of health, Nature’s laws
being set at naught by fashion and by folly, by want of fresh air and
exercise, by want of occupation, and by want of self-reliance. Weak,
nervous, and unhappy! Well they might be! What have they to make them
strong and happy? Have they work to do to brace the muscles? Have they
occupation—useful, active occupation—to make them happy? No! they have
neither the one nor the other!
378. _What diseases are girls most subject to?_
The diseases peculiar to girls are—Chlorosis, Greensickness, and
Hysterics.
379. _What are the usual causes of Chlorosis?_
Chlorosis is caused by torpor and debility of the whole frame,
_especially of the womb_. It is generally produced by scanty or by
improper food, by the want of air and exercise, and by too close
application within doors. Here we have the same tale over again—close
application within doors, and the want of fresh air and exercise! When
will the eyes of a mother be opened to this important subject?—the most
important that can engage her attention!
380. _What is the usual age for Chlorosis to occur, and what are the
symptoms?_
Chlorosis more frequently attacks girls from fifteen to twenty years of
age; although unmarried women, much older, occasionally have it. I say
_unmarried_, for, as a rule, it is a complaint of the _single_.
The patient, first of all, complains of being languid, tired, and out of
spirits: she is fatigued with the slightest exertion: she has usually
palpitation of the heart (so as to make her fancy that she has a disease
of that organ, which, in all probability, she has _not_); she has
shortness of breath, and a short dry cough; her face is flabby and pale;
her complexion gradually assumes a yellowish or greenish hue—hence the
name of chlorosis; there is a dark, livid circle around her eyes: her
lips lose their color, and become almost white; her tongue is generally
white and pasty; her appetite is bad, and is frequently depraved—the
patient often preferring chalk, slate-pencil, cinder, and even dirt, to
the daintiest food; indigestion frequently attends chlorosis; she has
usually pains over the short-ribs, on the _left_ side; she suffers
greatly from “wind,” and is frequently nearly choked by it; her bowels
are generally costive, and the stools are unhealthy; she has pains in
her hips, loins, and back; and her feet and ankles are oftentimes
swollen. _The menstrual discharge is either suspended, or very partially
performed_; if the latter, it is usually almost colorless. Hysterical
fits not unfrequently occur during an attack of chlorosis.
381. _How may Chlorosis be prevented?_
If health were more and fashion were less studied, chlorosis would not
be such a frequent complaint. This disease generally takes its rise from
mismanagement—from Nature’s laws having been set at defiance. I have
heard a silly mother express an opinion that it is not _genteel_ for a
girl to eat _heartily_! Such language is perfectly absurd and cruel. How
often, too, a weak mother declares that a healthy, blooming girl looks
like a milkmaid! It would be well if she did! How true and sad it is,
that “a pale, delicate face, and clear eyes, indicative of consumption,
are the fashionable _desiderata_ at present for complexion.”
A growing girl requires _plenty_ of _good_ nourishment—as much as her
appetite demands; and if she have it not, she will become either
chlorotic, or consumptive, or delicate. Besides, _the greatest
beautifier in the world is health_; therefore, by a mother studying the
health of her daughter, she will, at the same time, adorn her body with
beauty! I am sorry to say that too many parents think more of the beauty
than of the health of their girls. Sad and lamentable infatuation!
Nathaniel Hawthorne gives a graphic description of a delicate young
lady. He says: “She is one of those delicate, nervous young creatures
not uncommon in New England, and whom I suppose to have become what we
find them by the gradually refining away of the physical system among
young women. Some philosophers choose to glorify this habit of body by
terming it spiritual; but, in my opinion, it is rather the effect of
unwholesome food, bad air, lack of out-door exercise, and neglect of
bathing, on the part of these damsels and their female progenitors, all
resulting in a kind of hereditary dyspepsia.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a distinguished American, was right. Such ladies,
when he wrote, were not uncommon: but within the last two or three
years, to their great credit be it spoken, “a change has come o’er the
spirit of their dreams,” and they are wonderfully improved in health;
for, with all reverence be it spoken, “God helps them who help
themselves,” and they have helped themselves by attending to the rules
of health: “The women of America are growing more and more handsome
every year for just this reason. They are growing rounder of chest,
fuller of limb, gaining substance and development in every direction.
Whatever may be urged to the contrary, we believe this to be a
demonstrable fact.... When the rising generation of American girls once
begin to wear thick shoes, to take much exercise in the open air, to
skate, to play croquet, and to affect the saddle, it not only begins to
grow more wise but more healthful, and—which must follow as the night
the day—more beautiful.”
If a young girl had plenty of wholesome meat, varied from day to day,
either plain roast or boiled, and neither stewed, nor hashed, nor highly
seasoned, for her stomach; if she had an abundance of fresh air for her
lungs; if she had plenty of active exercise, such as skipping, dancing,
running, riding, swimming, for her muscles; if her clothing were warm
and loose, and adapted to the season; if her mind were more occupied
with active, _useful_ occupation, such as household work, than at
present, and if she were kept calm and untroubled from the hurly-burly
and excitement of fashionable life,—chlorosis would almost be an unknown
disease. It is a complaint of rare occurrence with country girls, but of
great frequency with fine city ladies.
382. _What treatment should you advise?_
The treatment which would prevent should be adopted when the complaint
first makes its appearance. If the above means do not quickly remove
it, the mother must then apply to a medical man, and he will give
medicines _which will soon have the desired effect_. If the disease be
allowed for any length of time to run on, it might produce either
organic—incurable—disease of the heart, or consumption, or
indigestion, or confirmed ill health.
383. _At what period of life is a lady most prone to Hysterics, and what
are the symptoms?_
The time of life when hysterics occur is generally from the age of
fifteen to fifty. Hysterics come on by paroxysms—hence they are called
hysterical fits. A patient, just before an attack, is low spirited:
crying without a cause; she is “nervous,” as it is called; she has
flushings of the face; she is at other times very pale; she has
shortness of breath and occasional palpitations of the heart; her
appetite is usually bad; she passes quantities of colorless limpid
urine, having the appearance of pump water; she is much troubled with
flatulence in her bowels, and, in consequence, she feels bloated and
uncomfortable. The “wind” at length rises upward toward the stomach, and
still upward to the throat, giving her the sensation of a ball stopping
her breathing, and producing a feeling of suffocation. The sensation of
a ball in the throat (_globus hystericus_) is the commencement of the
fit.
She now becomes _partially_ insensible, although she seldom loses
_complete_ consciousness. Her face becomes flushed, her nostrils
dilated, her head thrown back, and her stomach and bowels enormously
distended with “wind.” After a short time she throws her arms and legs
about convulsively, she beats her breast, tears her hair and clothes,
laughs boisterously, and screams violently; at other times she makes a
peculiar noise; sometimes she sobs, and her face is much distorted. At
length she brings up enormous quantities of wind; after a time, she
bursts into a violent flood of tears, and then gradually comes to
herself.
As soon as the fit is at an end she generally passes enormous quantities
of colorless limpid urine. She might, in a short time, fall into another
attack similar to the above. When she comes to herself she feels
exhausted and tired, and usually complains of slight headache, and of
great soreness of the body and limbs. She seldom remembers what has
occurred during the fit. Hysterics are sometimes frightful to witness;
but, in themselves, are not at all dangerous.
384. _What are the causes of Hysterics?_
Delicate health, chlorosis, improper and not sufficiently nourishing
food, grief, anxiety, excitement of the mind, closely confined rooms,
want of exercise, indigestion, flatulence, and tight lacing are the
causes which usually produce hysterics. Hysterics are frequently
feigned; indeed, oftener than any other complaint; and even a _genuine_
case is usually much aggravated by a patient herself giving way to them.
385. _What do you recommend an Hysterical lady to do?_
To improve her health by proper management; to rise early and to take a
walk, that she may breathe pure and wholesome air,—indeed, she ought to
live nearly half her time in the open air, exercising herself with
walking, skipping, etc.; to employ her mind with botany, croquet,
archery, or with any other out-door amusement; to confine herself to
plain, wholesome, nourishing food; to avoid tight lacing; to eschew
fashionable amusements; and, above all, not to give way to her feelings,
but if she feel an attack approaching, to rouse herself.