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MEDICAL.
Lily W.—What you describe is a typical case of severe anæmia, and though it is possible that your heart may be diseased, we strongly believe that all your symptoms are due to anæmia alone. You say that you have been treated for anæmia, and it is necessary for you to continue that treatment. It is very common, in the more severe grades of anæmia, for the sight to get dim after a few minutes' work—it is only a temporary inconvenience and gets well again when the health improves. Green spectacles would be of no help to you.
M. A.—It is only a theory—and an exceedingly improbable one—that the benefits of sea air are due to ozone. Usually there is more ozone at the seaside than elsewhere, but the quantity present is very minute. Ozone is a poisonous, irrespirable gas of great interest scientifically, but it is not of any medicinal value.
A. E. M.—The seriousness of the complaint that you mention varies with its cause. It is very seldom indeed that it is dangerous. It may be caused by anæmia. The second matter that you describe is not very uncommon. A large number of people when they go to the seaside are affected as you are. The freckles are undoubtedly caused by the sun, but it is uncertain what caused the "peeling." Possibly this is only partly due to the sun and partly due to wind. The best thing you could do for the condition is to apply a little glycerine and rose-water, or a little cold cream to the face and hands. Always wear a veil and gloves when you go out. We should very much doubt if erysipelas, which you say you had some years ago, has anything to do with your present troubles. It is not our experience that erysipelas leaves anything behind it, or affects the subsequent health in any way. The prescription that you mention is well known to us, but is only really useful in some cases.
Virgo.—The question "is cancer hereditary?" has exercised the minds of many great physicians and surgeons for a long period, and it is not yet fully answered. At the present time the general opinion seems to be that cancer is occasionally hereditary. When all sources of error are removed, as far as possible, it appears that it is very rarely hereditary, but that it is a disease that runs in one or two families—chiefly Jewish, which is strange, for cancer is uncommon among Jews as a race. Cancer rarely develops before the fortieth year. Unfortunately it is only too true that the disease is on the increase in England.
Edith Hoppner.—The preparation that you mention contains either carbonate or subnitrate of bismuth, sodium carbonate, mucilage of tragacanth, and either compound infusion of gentian or some simple diluent. It is not a pharmocopœial preparation, but it is exceedingly useful and frequently prescribed for indigestion or diarrhœa.
Troubled.—Wash your head with warm water and borax, dry it well and then apply a little sulphur ointment to the roots of the hair. The complaint is rather difficult to remedy and often lasts many years.