Thick Soups and Liver. Ordinary bread of all sorts (in quantity), rye,
wheaten, brown or white. All farinaceous (starchy) preparations, such as
hominy, rice, tapioca, arrowroot, sago and vermicelli.
Vegetables: Potatoes, turnips, parsnips, squashes, vegetable-marrows of
all kinds, beets, common artichokes.
Liquids: Beer, sparkling wine of all sorts and the sweet aerated drinks.
Medicines. Codeine.--A patient may begin with one-half grain three times a
day, which may be gradually increased to six or eight grains in the
twenty-four hours (under the doctor's care); withdraw it gradually when
sugar is absent or reduced as far as possible.
DIABETES INSIPIDUS.--A chronic affection characterized by the passage of
large quantities of normal urine of low specific gravity.
Causes.--It is most often found in young males and is probably of nervous
origin. It may follow excitement or brain injury.
Symptoms.--The onset is usually gradual. The urine is pale; ten to twenty
quarts a day. Thirst, dryness of the mouth and skin. Appetite and general
conditions are usually normal; sometimes there are feebleness and
emaciation. Death usually occurs from some other disease.
Treatment.--There is no known cure. Keep the general health in good
condition according to the advice of your family physician.
OBESITY.--An excessive development of fat; it may be hereditary. It occurs
most frequently in women of middle age and in children. Its chief cause is
excessive eating and drinking, especially of the starch and sugar foods
and malt liquors, and lack of exercise. The increase of fat is in all the
normal situations and the heart and liver are often large and fatty. The
condition in general may be good or there may be inactivity of the mind
and body. Disturbances of digestion and symptoms of a fatty heart. There
is less power to resist disease. Death may occur from fatty infiltration
of the heart, resulting in dilatation or rupture.
[CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 331]
Treatment.--Must be in regulating the diet. The person must avoid all
excess in food and drink, and avoid especially foods that contain starch
and sugar. There must be regular and systematic exercise, hot baths and
massages are helps. Medicines made from the poke berry are much used and
are successful in some cases.
Diet.--The food of a fleshy person should be cut down gradually. Its bulk
can be great, but its nourishing properties should be small. The diet for
reduction of obesity should consist chiefly of bulky vegetables, but not
too much of any one article or set of articles. The following list is
recommended by Dr. Hare of Philadelphia:
For Breakfast.--One or two cups of coffee or tea, without milk or sugar,
but sweetened with a fraction of a grain of saccharin. Three ounces of
toasted or ordinary white bread or six ounces of brown bread; enough
butter may be used to make the bread palatable, not more than one ounce.
Sliced raw tomatoes with vinegar, or cooked tomatoes without any sugar or
fats. This diet may be varied by the use of salted or fresh fish, either
at breakfast or dinner. This fish must not be rich like salmon or
sword-fish, but rather like perch or other small fish.
Noon Meal--Dinner.--One soup plate of bouillon, consomme julienne, or
other thin soup, or Mosqueras beef-jelly, followed by one piece of the
white meat of any form of fowl or a small bird. Sometimes a small piece,
the size of one's hand, of rare beef, or mutton but no fat, may be
allowed, and this should be accompanied by string beans, celery (stewed or
raw), spinach, kale, cabbage, beans, asparagus, beets and young onions.
Following this, lettuce with vinegar and a little olive oil (to make a
French dressing), a cup of black coffee or one of tea, and a little acid
fruit, such as sour grapes, tamarinds and sour oranges, or lemons may be
taken, and followed by a cigar, if the patient has such a habit.
Supper.--This should consist of one or two soft boiled eggs, which may be
poached, but not fried, a few ounces of brown bread, some salad and fruit
and perhaps a glass or two of light, dry (not sweet) wine, if the patient
is accustomed to its use.
Before Going to Bed.--To avoid discomfort from a sensation of hunger
during the night, the patient may take a meal of panada, or he may soak
graham or bran crackers or biscuits in water and flavor the mess with salt
and pepper. The reduction of the diet is generally best accomplished
slowly and should be accompanied by measures devoted to the utilization of
the fat present for the support of the body. Thus, the patient should not
be too heavily clad, either day or night, should resort to exercise, daily
becoming more severe, and should not drink freely of water, unless
sweating is established sufficiently to prevent the accumulation of liquid
in vessels and tissues. Baths of the proper kind, cold or Turkish, should
be used, if the patient stands them well. The bowels should be kept active
by laxative fruit or purges. Salts are useful if drinks are thrown off
rapidly. If proper exercise is impossible the rest cure with massage,
electricity, passive exertion and absolute skimmed milk diet may be
resorted to, particularly in those persons known as "fat anemics," who
have not enough red corpuscles in their blood to carry sufficient oxygen
to the tissues to complete oxidation.
[332 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
CANCER.--(In the following article on cancer we quote in part from
material issued by the Public Health Department of the State of Michigan).
Cancer is curable if it be operated upon in its early stages.--If it be
left to grow and develop, cancer is always fatal. It may be partially
removed when in an advanced stage, and relief may be had for some time
after operation; but beyond the early stage, cancer cannot at present be
permanently removed, nor permanently cured. Permanent cure of a cancer is
possible if the afflicted person obtains an early diagnosis and receives
early attention from a skilled surgeon. The only permanent cure for cancer
known at the present time is early surgical operation.
Have Operations Failed to Cure?--Very few persons die from operations
performed by skilled surgeons for the removal of cancer. Where cancer
operation is done by experienced surgeons the fatality in America for the
past fourteen years is less than one case out of a hundred, or in other
words ninety-nine persons out of a hundred survive operation for cancer.
Many persons have died from the return of the cancerous growth even after
operation by a skilled surgeon, and this fact has led many persons to
believe that operation for cancer is, therefore, unsuccessful, that it
does not cure. This is not the fact. It is true that cancer often returns
after operation, and that this method does not always effect a permanent
cure; but it is not true that operations are, therefore, useless. The
reason that operations do not remove cancers permanently in a great number
of cases is that such cases do not submit to operation soon enough. The
majority of persons suffering from cancer seek surgical aid too late. If a
house is on fire and one refuses to turn in an alarm until the fire has
spread from cellar to garret, neither blame nor disparagement must be
placed upon the fire department if it failed to save the burning house. So
with cancer; if the public refuses or neglects to operate for cancer at
the time when it can be eradicated, the public cannot censure or belittle
surgery. A cancer is like a green and ripe thistle. Pull up the green
thistle and you have gotten rid of it. But if you wait until the thistle
is ripe, and the winds have blown away the seeds, there is no use of
pulling up that thistle. Early operations are successful. Late ones are
not.
No reliable surgeon claims to save his patient or cure him of cancer if
the disease be in an advanced stage. But experienced surgeons do recognize
the fact that cancer in its early stage can be permanently removed and a
permanent cure can be effected by surgical operation. No other means of
permanent cure are known.
[CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 333]
Caustic pastes applied to cancerous growths or sera, are sometimes
successful in obliterating the cancer for a time; but they are not
reliable for effecting enduring cures, and usually are merely palliative,
The fact that a cancer does not return for three years after removal is
not sure proof that it will not return; the return of a cancerous growth
depends upon its state of development and other conditions at the time of
removal from the cancer. In Johns Hopkins' Hospital forty-seven per cent
of all patients with cancers of the breast operated upon remained well for
three years or more, and seventy-five per cent of this forty-seven per
cent were cured, being in the most favorable condition for cure at the
time of the operation. But where conditions are not favorable at the time
of the operation, many patients have a return of the cancer even after the
three years of apparent cure have elapsed.
What is Cancer?--A cancer is a growth of cancerous cells in a network of
connective tissue. The cause of cancer is not known. It has not been
proved to be communicable and the majority of investigators of this
subject believe that it is not caused by a germ. Nor is it thought to be
inherited. Out of 8,000 cases of cancer at Middlesex Hospital, London, no
evidence of heredity was found. Until the cause of cancer is known, it
cannot be prevented. The only safeguard lies in an early diagnosis of the
condition and an immediate operation. Eminent investigators are carrying
on extensive research and thousands of dollars are being spent annually to
ascertain, if possible, what is the cause of this dread disease, and it is
confidently believed that final success will crown this labor.
When to Suspect Cancer and What to Do.--External or Exposed
Cancer.--Cancer of the exposed or surface parts of the body, such as the
skin of the lip, nose, cheek, forehead, temples, etc., is more readily
recognized than internal cancer, and is therefore more liable to early
operation and prompt cure. One rarely sees these forms of cancer in an
advanced stage, because such cases are readily seen and recognized by
physicians in the early stage of development, when operation can be
sufficiently early to effect a lasting cure.
The least malignant of all cancers is that kind which first exhibits
itself by a hardening of the skin, forming a nodule looking pimple or a
mole and having a dark red color, due to tortuous blood vessels, upon the
sides of the nose near the eyes, upon the cheek bones, forehead or
temples. This form of epithelioma is called rodent ulcer, flat epithelioma
or cancroid and sometimes does little harm for many years, but should
receive the attention of a physician familiar with cancer and its
eradication.
Deep or squamous cancer occurs on the lip, the tongue or the forehead or
wherever the mucous membrane joins the skin, and is characterized by a
hard, deep-seated sore formed upon any such part, growing down into the
flesh and having a dark red or purplish-red color.
[334 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
If such a cancer is suspected of being present, the patient should at once
seek diagnosis from a competent physician. Cancer of the lip is more
frequent in men than in women, occurring usually in the under lip and
called "Smoker's Cancer." Any hard persistent nodule in the under lip
should cause suspicion and should be taken to a skilled surgeon, as cancer
of the under lip is easily removed when in its early stage of development.
CANCER OF THE STOMACH.--The beginning of cancer of the stomach is very
difficult to recognize and it is far safer and wiser, upon the appearance
of the first suspicious symptom, to seek the aid of some physician skilled
in cancer diagnosis than to ignore and neglect these early warnings of the
disease. Although cancer of the stomach may occur in younger persons, it
is usually met with in persons after forty years of age. Therefore, any
person at this age who suffers from continuous indigestion or
characterized by retention and prolonged fermentation of food in the
stomach, should at once consult a competent physician. In the early stages
of the cancer of the stomach the patient loses weight, but in the later
stages there is more or less pain.
Whenever a physician finds that a patient has a pappy, insipid taste with
a furred, pale, rarely dry and red tongue, and is suffering from
continuous, dull sensations or pain in the region of the stomach,
periodically increasing to paroxysms, often induced by pressure or
increased by it, together with a sensation of weight, drawing pains of
varying character, and frequent pain in the shoulder, loss of appetite,
frequent belching of fetid gas from the stomach, severe and frequent
vomiting, often periodical, often occurring before partaking of a meal but
more often afterwards with slight indigestion, but vomitus being more or
less watery and containing mucus and blood, usually decomposed and
recurring frequently, together with constipation of the bowels, the skin
being sallow, yellowish, dry and flaccid, and losing weight and strength,
he should suspect cancer of the stomach and where possible advise an
immediate surgical operation for the removal of the cancer.
CANCER OF THE UTERUS.--What women should know regarding it. The menopause
or change of life comes on gradually, rarely suddenly. It is not preceded
by excessive flowing or discharge or pain in a healthy woman.
By cancer period is understood those years after forty, although rarely it
may occur earlier. The first symptoms of uterine cancer are:
1. Profuse flowing, even if only a day more than usual. Flowing or
spotting during the interval or after the use of a syringe or the movement
of the bowels.
2. Whites or Leucorrhea, if not existing previously. If existing but
getting more profuse, watery, irritating, or producing itching is a very
suspicious symptom.
[CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 335]
3. Loss of weight, if no other cause is apparent. Pain in the region of
the womb, back or side.
If any of the above symptoms occur after the age of thirty-five or forty,
a woman should seek relief and insist on thorough investigation of the
cause and prompt treatment.
Cancer is always at first a local disease and can be removed if early
recognized and an absolute, permanent cure brought about.
CANCER OF THE BREAST.--Eighty-one per cent of an tumors of the breast are
cancer or become so. Whenever a woman feels a lump in her breast,
particularly if she be at the cancerous age, she should consult a skilled
physician at once and keep that breast under medical observation. If so
advised by her physician or by a skilled surgeon, she should have an
operation for the removal of the cancer, as it can be completely
eradicated when operated upon in its early stages. If left to grow and
develop it will get beyond the aid of even the most skillful surgeon.
Early diagnosis plus surgery is the only hope for a cancerous person.
Operation offers a most hopeful outlook for those afflicted with cancer.
It is more important to make an early diagnosis in cancer of the breast
than it is in appendicitis.
CANCER (CARCINOMA).--This is very malignant. This kind is divided into two
classes, Scirrhus and Epithelial.
1. Scirrhus cancer. This is a hard, irregular growth of moderate size. Its
special seat is the breast, the pyloric (smaller) end of the stomach and
in few instances the glands of the skin.
Soft Medullary or Encephaloid cancer. This type resembles brain tissue
both in appearance and consistence. It appears quite soft and may be
mistaken for an abscess. In form, it differs according to the organ
attacked. Special seats: The testicle, liver, bladder, kidney, ovary, the
eye and more rarely the breast.
Colloid cancer; jelly-like substance.--The cancer cells have undergone a
degeneration in one of the preceding varieties. The material it contains
is a semi-translucent, glistening, jelly-like substance. Its special
seats are the stomach, bowel, omentum, ovary and, occasionally, the
breast.
Diagnosis.--This kind is very rare before thirty years of age and common
after forty. They involve the gland early, contrary to what the sarcoma
variety does. Innocent growths occur, as a rule, in younger patients, do
not grow so rapidly, do not become adherent to neighboring parts and do
not ulcerate.
2. The Epithelial Cancer (Carcinoma).--These always spring from free
epithelium-clad surfaces, as the skin, and mucous membranes or from the
glands of the same. These growths appear with great frequency at the
points of junction of mucous membranes and skin surfaces, probably because
these parts are subjected to more frequent and varied forms of mechanical
and chemical irritation, Special seats: Skin surfaces, the nose, the lower
lip, the penis and scrotum, the vulva, the anus (mucous surfaces), tongue,
palate, gums, tonsils, larynx, pharynx, gullet, bladder, womb.
[336 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
MOTHERS' REMEDIES.--l. Cancer, Simple Remedy for.--"Give a teaspoonful of
sarsaparilla tea four times daily, made with two ounces of sarsaparilla
root and quart of water boiled to one pint and apply to cancer growth a
poultice made of carrots scraped or mashed cranberries." These simple
remedies will relieve and often cure growths taken for cancers, but if it
is really a cancerous growth no medicine will help and a physician should
be consulted at once.
2. Cancer, Nettles and Laudanum Will Help.--"Take the juice of common
nettles inwardly and mix a little laudanum with the juice and rub the
parts outwardly. Cancer has often yielded to this treatment." This remedy
will no doubt help an ugly looking ulcer, repeatedly taken for cancer, by
the patients themselves and frequently the doctor. It is always well to
give this simple home remedy a trial, at least, for it is frequently
admitted by the medical fraternity to-day that ugly ulcers are often
treated in this way as cancers, sometimes to the lasting detriment of the
sufferer. Then why not try some efficient home remedy like the above until
you are certain that it is a cancer?
TUMORS.--A tumor is a new growth which produces a localized enlargement of
a part, or an organ, has no tendency to a spontaneous cure, has no useful
function, in most cases tends to grow during the whole of the individual's
life. Clinically, tumors are divided into the benign and the malignant.
A benign tumor is usually composed of tissues, resembling those in which
it originates.
A malignant tumor usually consists of tissues widely different from those
in which it originates; its growth is rapid and therefore often painful;
it infiltrates all the surrounding tissues, however resistant, even bone,
because it is never encapsulated; it thus early becomes immovable; the
overlying skin is apt to become adherent, especially when the breast is
involved. Sooner or later it usually infects the group of lymphatic glands
intervening between it and the venous circulation and from these new
centres, or directly through the veins, gives rise to secondary deposits
in the internal organs.
Some varieties. 1. Fibrous tumors; these consist of fibrous tissues. 2.
Fatty tumors (or lipomata); these consist of normal fat tissue. 3.
Cartilaginous tumors; consist of cartilage. 4. Osseous (bony) tumors. 5.
Mucous tumors (myxomata). 6. Muscular tumors (myomata). 7. Vascular tumors
(Angeiomata). 8. Nerve tumors (Neuromata).
Malignant Sarcoma (Sarcomata).--These are a variety of tumors. The result
of these varies with the location of the tumor. If located in the jaw, an
operation may cure it. If in the tonsil or lymphatic gland, it destroys
life rapidly. If in the sub-cutaneous tissue, it may be repeatedly
removed, the system remaining free, or the amputation of the limb involved
will probably cure the disease.
[Illustration: Circulatory System.]
[CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 337]
TUMORS.--Diagnosis. It is uncommon under thirty, quite common after.
Epithelioma of the lower lip is limited almost entirely to men. If, then,
a man of from forty to seventy develops a small tumor in the lower lip
which ulcerates early, it is likely to be the cancer. The same applies to
some extent to the tongue. These growths and sores need attention early.
Treatment.--The best treatment is early free removal of the entire growth
before the glands are involved.