A Reader.—“Headache” is one of those symptoms which are met with in a very large number of affections. It is not a specialised symptom pointing to one organ definitely as the seat of disease. It is chiefly met with in the following ailments:—1. Injury, or disease of the brain. In this headache is nearly always present—it is a persistent, intense pain. 2. Abnormal states of the blood. In the infectious fevers headache is extremely common. In typhoid fever it is always present at the beginning of the disease. Under this class of headaches from abnormal states of the blood must be considered the headaches of Bright’s disease, of anæmia, and of indigestion and biliousness. 3. Headache due to mental fatigue. According to which of these causes is at work, the seat of the headache will vary. If the head aches on top, anæmia is the probable cause. Aching of the back of the head is often associated with errors of refraction of the eyes—an extremely common cause of mental fatigue and headache. The various forms of biliousness give rise to headaches in different localities. Frontal headache, occipital headache, and a sense of fulness deep within the skull are all commonly met with in indigestion and biliousness. Fatigue of the brain is a common cause of headaches, and it is, we believe, the cause of your trouble. Overwork, too little sleep, innutritious food, badly-ventilated rooms and errors of refraction of the eyes, all produce fatigue of the brain and headaches. Then there is the “nervous headache,” about which nobody knows very much. To treat headaches it is first necessary to find out what produces them. If you suppress the cause, the headaches will go. In treating headaches it is very necessary to prevent the bowels from becoming confined. Eat well, sleep well, and ventilate your rooms well.
Constant Reader.—The treatment of debility is one of very great difficulty. For the condition, though alas! so very common, is not well understood, and we have no sound working hypothesis as to its cause. The most plausible theory is that debility is loss of nervous energy—that in this condition the nervous system is in the same state as the blood is in anæmia. The best way to treat the condition is by a strong tonic treatment to stimulate the flagging nervous system. The word “tonic” naturally brings up visions of quinine and iron to most persons. Quinine is a tonic, but it is not the tonic which is required in debility. The medicinal tonics are drugs which stimulate for a short time. But in debility we want something which will stimulate for weeks or months, and the Pharmacopœia does not provide us with drugs wherewith to do this. But we can get a strong tonic treatment without drugs in the following way:—Eat well of highly-nutritious food, plenty of meat and green vegetables, custards, milk, etc. Avoid food which fills you up without giving you sufficient nourishment, such as excessive quantities of starchy food, dried peas and beans, soups, etc. Eat as much as you wish. For drinks, the best are milk or milk and soda. Beef essences taken as stimulants are sometimes useful. Cod-liver oil, maltine, cream, etc., are also very helpful. These are definite foods and not drugs. Tea and coffee may be taken in moderation. You should also take plenty of sleep, and plenty of healthy, but not severe, exercise; and, if possible, a change of air and scene.
Optimist.—Some years ago an ingenious person made the remark that there existed on the earth vegetable productions which could cure all human diseases; that we had only to find the trees and we should have a specific for every ailment. Quite so. We have only to find the trees. But it is a significant fact that although we have explored at least nine-tenths of our planet, and have tried almost all vegetable productions for the treatment of disease, we have not yet discovered one single specific for any disease. We see there are something over ten thousand ways by which a man can lose his life. We suppose therefore that we are to discover ten thousand trees with ten thousand separate actions. True, the vegetable kingdom has given up many valuable drugs, but not one single specific has it supplied to us. The mineral kingdom has given us the nearest approach to a specific, i.e., iron for anæmia.
STUDY AND STUDIO.
Miss Vardon (India).—Do not be disappointed when we tell you that we think it is better to wait for a correspondent until the plague, of which you speak, has ceased raging. You have been inoculated, your house is free, and doubtless there is no danger whatever, but your correspondent or her elder friends might feel a little uneasy. Besides, we have received so many letters offering correspondence with the lady in question that we fear yours would be too late.
Sissie Redmond.—1. Write about your farthing to the authorities of the British Museum or of South Kensington Numismatic Department. We thank you for your letter. As you grow older you will not mind “having your hair up” and so forth, but the feelings you express are natural enough for your age.—2. If we had “easier puzzles,” we should have so many solutions that the Puzzle Editor would be wholly buried alive under manuscripts, instead of only half buried, as he is at present.
A Lover of the “G.O.P.”—1. The whole sonnet by Archbishop Trench is as follows. We commend its advice to you with much sympathy:—
“Thou cam’st not to thy place by accident;
It is the very place God meant for thee;
And shouldst thou there small scope for action see,