Rural Hygiene

by Henry N. Ogden

Coffee and tea are generally consumed merely for the pleasure which the warm drink gives. Both, however, have a certain stimulating effect on the nervous system, and when a tired woman refuses food but drinks cup after cup of strong tea, the exhilarating effect can be produced only at the expense of nerves and muscular tissue which must be later atoned for. Similarly, when a man under stress drinks strong black coffee to keep up, he must pay the penalty for the stimulant. The natural forces of the human body are able to do normally a certain amount of work, their ability to perform this work being directly proportioned to the energy derived from the food-supply taken into the body.

No amount of tea, coffee, or alcohol will add to the living tissue of the system; it merely goads the nerves and muscles to further action, however tired and unwilling they may be. When the stimulant is stopped, or after a time in spite of the stimulant, the exhausted nerves and muscles refuse to continue, and the depleted body stops work and may even die. A certain amount of stimulants at infrequent intervals for particular occasions may do no harm, but the pity of it is that the habit once started, the ultimate effects are forgotten in the apparent relief of the moment. In the case of tea, besides the stimulating effect, a certain substance known as tannin is developed, particularly when the tea is boiled, and this substance is really harmful on account of its strong astringent property, which acts injuriously on the membrane of the stomach. The bitter taste of the tannin is disguised when milk is used with the tea, and it has been pointed out that tea used without milk or cream is safer than tea with milk, because without the milk the bitter taste would prevent the tea being boiled so long.

Alcohol is stimulating in its nature, because of its setting free from their usual control by the will the unconscious elements of the brain; while the effect of alcohol on the system as a whole is, as has been carefully proved by scientific investigation, unfortunate in every respect. Whether the alcohol be in the form of whisky or brandy or gin or in such milder forms as wines, beers, and hard cider, the continued use of even a small quantity acts adversely on the memory, on the will, on the intellect, on the inventive power, and on all the mental processes. It has a deteriorating effect on all the muscular tissue throughout the body, and while this is sufficiently deplorable, its effect on the mind is by far the more serious. No idea is more false than that a small amount of alcohol aids in the performance of work of any sort, and experience in the army, navy, and in exploring expeditions all go to show that the use of alcohol in any form reduces the capacity, both for activity and endurance. As a protection against cold, it is worse than useless, and the feeling of warmth which drinking alcohol in any form produces, does not manufacture heat in the body, but is rather a source of danger on account of the reaction of the whole system.

Tobacco.

The use of tobacco may or may not be injurious to the human system, and it is said by those accustomed to its use that it is for them a source of great enjoyment and comfort. The essential poison of tobacco is known as nicotine, and experiments are very readily made with this substance, extracted from the plant, to show its deadly character on the heart and nerve cells of animals. It is easy to demonstrate that the use of tobacco affects the heart, since the common "out-of-breath feeling" which comes to users of tobacco when climbing hills or running is well known. No young man training for an athletic event would think of smoking, on account of the danger to his wind.

No boy should smoke, because nothing should be allowed to interfere with the fullest development of the heart and nervous system, and without question tobacco is a potent factor in influencing both. In many individual cases it has been shown that the use of tobacco in excess has a bad effect on digestion, while in other cases the trembling hand and inattentive mind indicate the result on the nervous system. No general law or rule can be laid down, and each man must act as his own individual constitution seems to require.

The drug habit.

The use of drugs is, in some cases, so persistent and leads to such dire results that it is well worth while to enter a protest against such practices. The poor creatures who have become fast victims of the morphine habit or the opium habit or the cocaine habit, or of any one of a dozen which might be named, will not be affected by anything that may be said here. But a word of warning may serve to restrain those who are only at the beginning of this downward path of which the end is positive and certain. The use of drugs once begun is sure to increase until, stupefied by their action, the victim becomes a sot, unfitted for work and a burden to himself, his relatives, and his friends.

Not less dangerous is the use of so-called patent medicines. In most cases, patent medicines are swindles, pure and simple, containing no remedial ingredients and acting only as stimulants. An advertisement some time since, which claimed to cure not only tuberculosis but also cancer, falling of the womb, hair, or eyelids, insanity, epilepsy, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and pimples was printed in many newspapers. This remarkable remedy was found by analysis to contain ninety-nine parts of water to one part of harmless salts. Many of the vaunted remedies contain morphine or alcohol in such large quantities as to be dangerous, the more so because their presence is not suspected. Such remedies as Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup, Boschees German Sirup, Dr. King's New Discovery for Consumption, Shiloh's Consumptive Cure, Piso's Consumptive Cure, Peruna, Duffy's Malt Whisky, Warner's Safe Cure, and Paine's Celery Compound are all by analysis said to contain large amounts of morphine, chloroform, or alcohol.

Consumptives cannot be cured by any drug now known, and any person who believes it is mistaken. Cancer still baffles the skill of the most clever and the best-trained scientists. It is perfect folly to believe that any drug or man can cure either disease by a few pills or by a few bottles of medicine. The wise man or woman will avoid patent medicines unless they carry their formula on their label and unless they are prescribed by some reputable physician.