ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
MEDICAL.
An Anglo-Indian.—It is not necessary for Englishmen to eat as much in India as they do in England, and the reason for this is very easy to explain. We eat to produce energy. That energy is of two kinds—heat and work. Four-fifths of the energy of an Englishman in England—four-fifths of what he eats—produce heat, one-fifth only produces work. The normal temperature of the body is 98.6° F. If we lived in a constant temperature of 98.6° F., it would be unnecessary for the body to produce heat at all, and so four-fifths of its energy would be saved. Therefore if man had been constructed to live in a temperature of 98.6° F., he would only require one-fifth of his ordinary diet. But even in the hottest countries the body does produce heat, because it is its nature to do so; but it has to dispose of that heat at once, because the temperature of the body in health is constant. In very hot countries the body has to keep itself cooler than the surrounding air—it has to dispose of more heat than it produces. It is therefore not difficult to understand why persons in hot countries need, and should take, considerably less food than those in England; and, conversely, the inhabitants of cold countries require a very liberal diet. Also, that Europeans in a hot country require more food than the natives, because the bodies of the latter have learnt, through many generations, not to produce so much excessive heat as the bodies of the Europeans who are “green” to the climate.
Karamea.—1. To cure corns, first wash your feet in hot water and soap and leave them soaking for fifteen minutes. Then take them out of the water; thoroughly dry them and paint the corn with “solvent.” You must not let the solvent touch the surrounding skin. The solvent is made by mixing together salicylic acid, twenty grains; tincture of Indian hemp, five drops; alcohol, two drams; and collodion to the ounce. Paint the corn with this preparation every evening for some days, until the corn drops off. With very hard corns the treatment may take some weeks, but we have never known it to fail, and it is absolutely safe.—2. The sensation of a hand or foot going to sleep is almost always due to pressure upon a nerve, such as occurs from sitting on a hard chair for many minutes at a time.
Curious.—Yawning is a deep and prolonged inspiration (drawing air into the lungs). It occurs commonly when the person is too tired or too lazy to breathe properly. Cough is a sudden spasmodic expiration (forcing air out of the lungs) with the mouth open, following a deep inspiration. During coughing the glottis (the slit through which the air has to pass in order to enter or leave the lungs) is closed at first and then opened. Cough is the natural and only method of clearing the lungs. Sneezing is a short, sudden expiration following a deep inspiration with the mouth shut. Its object is to clear the nose from something “tickling” it. Hiccough is an irregular involuntary expiration usually due to irritation of the lungs by a stomach distended with gas.
An Inquiring Sister.—Your brother is indeed unfortunate, for the condition of his face is one which is most difficult to eradicate. The disease is known as “sycosis,” and often follows the use of a razor which has been inoculated with very virulent germs. Abroad all barbers are compelled to disinfect their razors after using them, and this disease is consequently less common than it is with us. In England a careless barber shaves one man with some skin disease and very often communicates the disease to his next customer. The disease is, as we said, a very chronic one. The only treatment which ever completely cures it is to pick out every hair in the beard and moustache—not all at once, but only those which have pustules at their roots. This is not such a painful undertaking as it reads, for the hairs are loose and come out easily. The face should afterwards be covered with sulphur ointment. It is a formidable disease and needs careful and energetic treatment.
Eileen.—The best treatment for warts is to wash the hand thoroughly with soap and hot water and leave the hand soaking for ten minutes. Then dry the hand and surround the wart with vaseline. The vaseline is to protect the healthy skin from the caustic, and must not be placed upon the wart itself. Now drop one drop of glacial acetic acid upon the wart, leave it a couple of minutes and then drop on another drop of the acid. Finally rub the wart all over with a stick of nitrate of silver (lunar caustic). This treatment may have to be repeated. Warts are usually due to irritation of the skin. They are practically the same thing as corns.
A Girl of Twenty.—It is difficult to be certain what causes your baldness, but probably it is “alopœcia areata.” But if it is this, it has existed for a considerably longer time than is usual. We advise you to paint the bald spots with tincture of iodine every day until the places feel slightly sore. As soon as this occurs, leave off the treatment till the places become well again.
A Suffolk Bunny.—The condition of your face is analogous to chaps on the hands. It is caused by rough winds. Always wear a veil when you go out in a cold wind. A little glycerine and rose-water, or glycerine and lime-water, or a very little cold cream will relieve the roughness.
Bonne.—The pneumonia which follows influenza is of a most fatal character, and the majority of subjects attacked never recover. In January-March, 1895, pneumonia was a very common complication of the influenza which was then exceedingly prevalent. We believe that at that time every single patient attacked with this complication died. Now, although very serious, the presence of pneumonia and influenza together is by no means hopeless. The pneumonia in these cases is not a separate disease, but is a manifestation of the influenzal poison. There are three broad types of influenza: that which chiefly affects the lungs; that which mainly attacks the digestive organs; and the type in which the nervous system bears the chief brunt of the affection. Usually, in one epidemic, one type chiefly prevails, although all may occur. In 1894-1895 the respiratory type of the disease was most prevalent; in 1895-1896 the nervous type; in 1896-1898 the digestive type was most prevalent. And, so far, this year the respiratory type is having another innings. Influenza is a most serious disease, and its death-rate is extremely high; but a very large number of complaints put down to influenza have no connection whatever with that disease. As a rule, when a person says that she has had “a slight touch of influenza,” she means either that she has had a common head-cold or else that she has given herself indigestion from trying to feed herself up as a preventive against influenza!