MEDICAL.
Nemo.—The cause of the perspiration having an unpleasant smell has been attributed to many things. Just lately a germ has been discovered which has the power of rendering the perspiration offensive in a very short time. Usually the sweat is perfectly inodorous when exuded, but in some families a condition known as bromhydrosis obtains, in which the perspiration is of an offensive odour. In some diseases, where excessive perspiration occurs, the sweat soon develops an offensive smell, doubtless due to the machinations of the germ mentioned above. The commonest diseases in which excessive sweating occurs are ague, phthisis, and rheumatic fever. We advise you to take a bath every day, and to change your linen as frequently as you can. A lump of borax, or better still, a wineglassful of vinegar added to your bath will help you to rid yourself of this unpleasant annoyance. If this does not succeed, sponge over the parts of the body which perspire the most freely with a mixture of toilet vinegar and water (1 in 6).
Patient.—You may be suffering from gall-stones, or you may not. This disease is one of the most difficult of all disorders to detect; indeed, it is but rarely diagnosed with certainty. Gall-stones by no means always give rise to symptoms. Jaundice is sometimes due to gall-stones, but as this is a sign of many diseases, it does not follow that because you are jaundiced you have gall-stones. And the converse is equally fallacious, for gall-stones do not always cause jaundice. You must go to a physician, and he will do his best for you; but as we said before, it is by no means always possible to tell whether gall-stones are present.
Eyes.—1. Your eyes become tired because you use them too much. You say you are constantly reading or writing, so your poor eyes are kept constantly at work. You should, if possible, allow your eyes some rest, or more properly recreation, for the eyes cannot rest during the light; but above all things you must be careful not to give your eyes unnecessary labour. Never read small print, or read in a dim or flickering light. Use white paper in preference to blue or cream-colour. If you have reason to believe that your eyes are not quite normal, go to an oculist and have them tested, and obtain spectacles if such are needed. The puffiness under the eyes is only a symptom denoting that the eyes have been over-used. An eye-wash consisting of ten grains of boracic acid, and half a teaspoonful of compound tincture of lavender in a pint of warm water will cause the swelling to subside. Indigestion does affect the eyes in several ways, not the least important of which is to render them less able to resist the effects of over-use.—2. Cure your indigestion and your colour will improve.
Nydia.—You suffer from flushing caused by indigestion. You have been treated for indigestion, and all your symptoms have disappeared except this flushing—not at all an uncommon history, for flushing is one of the most difficult symptoms of indigestion to quell. You know how to treat dyspepsia, so we need not go over that ground again; but to cure flushing, the most important points to attend to are, to avoid tea and coffee, and to drink very sparingly with meals, to masticate thoroughly, and not to run about after meals.
Despondent.—Yes! girls do suffer from gout. We have seen typical acute gout in girls in their “teens.” It is not, however, very common, and, as far as we have seen, it only occurs in members of a gouty family.