MEDICAL.
Septemdecim.—Probably you will go on growing for five years longer. Besides which 5 feet 4 inches is not so very short for a woman. It is a very good medium height. It is extremely probable that you will put on another couple of inches, and that in a few years you will be writing to ask us how to get shorter.
Miserable.—You are quite right in ascribing a purely mental cause for your trouble. Blushing is almost always due to mental and not to physical causes. The form that your complaint takes is one of the commonest we have to deal with. As the cause is purely mental, so the treatment must be solely a matter of mental education. A short time ago we published an article on blushing, dealing especially with the kind of blushing from which you suffer. In that article we gave suggestions for the suppression of self-consciousness—the factor par excellence of the commoner varieties of blushing and nervousness.
Enigma.—There is no such disease as “gastric fever.” This name used to be given to various forms of slight fever accompanied with symptoms referable to the stomach or bowels. Most cases of “gastric fever” were, in reality, mild attacks of typhoid fever. Acute indigestion was also not infrequently labelled gastric fever—an inappropriate term, for in acute indigestion there is practically no fever. The term “gastric fever” is not now used by medical men.
Lal.—The symptoms that you detail to us are capable of many explanations. The two most definite and important signs are occasional blood-spitting and shortness of breath when going up a hill. Are you sure that you do cough up blood? Most probably your troubles are simply due to chronic catarrh of the throat, but they may be dependent upon some mischief in the chest. Anyhow, you should have your chest examined before doing anything else.
Dyspeptic.—The bismuth lozenge of the British Pharmacopœia contains two grains of subnitrate of bismuth, precipitated chalk, and carbonate of magnesia, together with mucilage, etc. It is very useful for indigestion, especially when there is a tendency to vomiting. The great use of these lozenges lies in the ease with which they can be carried about. When there is no tendency to sickness, lozenges of bicarbonate of soda or soda-mint are preferable to bismuth lozenges.
Seeking Advice.—The “small pimples” on your face are manifestations of acne. We have so frequently discussed this trouble that we cannot again enter into a full description of its cause and cure. Wash your face with warm water and sulphur soap, and every evening apply sulphur ointment to the place where the pimples are most numerous. Wash away the ointment in the morning and squeeze out a few of the most prominent spots. You are at the age for acne, but with a little care you are not likely to be troubled for long with it. For your hands, wash in warm water and use sulphur soap. Always wear thick gloves when you go out. We published a small article on the care of the hands some few weeks ago.
Scotch Lassie.—Your trouble is due either to indigestion or to anæmia, or to nervousness, or possibly to disease of the heart. Without examining your chest it is beyond the power of any mortal to say which of these various affections is troubling you. Our advice is, therefore, go to your doctor and have your chest examined. You may be disappointed with this curt reply, but it is far more valuable advice than you imagine.
Teething.—There are four wisdom teeth. One on each side of both upper and lower jaws. They are called wisdom teeth because they do not develop until mature years. The first to appear is usually the one in the right side of the lower jaw. This usually appears between the ages of twenty and twenty-two. The wisdom teeth develop in nearly everybody, not only in those who are wise. Nor does the early appearance of the teeth indicate superior mental powers. Indeed, savages and idiots usually have the best teeth. Sometimes they do decay very soon, but very often they remain as sound serviceable teeth until the end.
A Lover of Dancing.—A large vein in the leg is not necessarily a varicose vein, but most probably it is so or will become so in time. A varicose vein is a diseased vein. It is very common, indeed, to have varicose veins in one leg only. If so the left leg is the more commonly affected. Is it your left leg which is affected? Exercise in the form of dancing for a few minutes every morning would be distinctly good for varicose veins. It is standing and sitting which are bad. The best thing for you to do is to get an elastic stocking for the leg. Let the stocking be one or two inches higher than the highest point where the vein extends. If you wear an elastic stocking, varicose veins are not dangerous, but if they are left untreated they cause very serious troubles.