(To be continued.)
[ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.]
MEDICAL.
Esther.—Feed the child on milk diluted with an equal quantity of barley-water. Do not give her any patent foods, as these are one of the most fertile causes of rickets. A little meat gravy or a very small amount of chicken or hashed mutton might be given to her occasionally with advantage. A teaspoonful of rich cream twice a day is useful as a preventive from rickets.
Torquay.—Why concern yourself with troubles which may never occur? How can you tell that you will have such anxieties as you suggest? The chances are very much against it. Again, the measures you mention are exceedingly prejudicial to your own health, for many of the most intractable cases of hysteria can be traced to this cause.
A Lover of Beauty.—You should try either brilliantine, cantharidine pomade, or a hair-wash made of rosemary to make your hair soft and wavy. You must not, however, be disappointed if you find that no preparation will produce the kind of hair that you desire.
Nellie.—You cannot expect a physician to know what is the matter with you if you make a point of hiding your symptoms. We can only tell you that your trouble is probably either due to diabetes or to some local ailment. For the rest you must go to your doctor and tell him all about yourself. Your trouble may be one which a very little simple treatment may readily cure, but you may be suffering from an extremely serious disease, which you are allowing to run its course unheeded from a silly conventionalism. If you do not like to tell your own doctor about yourself, go to a stranger in a distant part. But pray get someone to treat you!
A Working Woman.—It is never easy to be sure as to the cause of noises in the head. So many unhealthy conditions may produce this most distressing symptom that it is quite a long work to exclude all possible causes save one, and so to come to a definite conclusion. You ask us whether the noises that trouble you proceed from the ears or head, but there is another possible cause of the trouble that you have not considered; that cause is anæmia. This is very commonly indeed associated with noises in the head, usually surging, rushing, or hissing noises. Moreover, the noises are always more pronounced after exertion or fatigue. This agrees well with your own account, and we therefore think that as your general health improves, as it will do with proper treatment, the noises will gradually decrease and eventually disappear. The fact that your hearing is not at all affected, is a strong point against the noises being due to disease of the auditory nerve. It is not, however, an absolutely certain test of the condition of the nerve. When noises in the head are due to brain disease, they are almost invariably accompanied with severe and frequent, if not constant, headaches. The treatment that we advise is for you to attend to the general laws of health and diet. As regards drugs we think that you would derive most benefit from tabloids of bone marrow. These can be obtained from any chemist. The dose is one tabloid crushed up in a little milk three times a day after meals. They must be taken with great caution at first; on the appearance of trembling, headaches or profuse perspiration, the use of the tabloids should be discontinued for three days. If taken with care, this remedy is exceedingly efficacious and is perfectly safe.
Little Village Doctor.—Your friend is suffering from one of those nondescript diseases which are so common, so difficult to clearly understand or explain, and so very refractory to treatment. We are not all born with the same amount of vital energy, and some of these indefinite illnesses which last for so long a time may simply mean that the suffering individual has not been endowed with sufficient life. We can only, therefore, give you some general information which may or may not prove of value to your friend. In The Girl's Own Paper many articles have appeared on the subject of healthy living; and during the present year we hope to publish several more papers on the chief laws of health. It is obedience to these laws which is of utmost value in cases such as that of your friend. It is doubtful whether any drugs are likely to do her good. Those drugs which partake more of the nature of food may be useful. Cod-liver oil, maltine, thick cream, or possibly bone marrow, might be worth a trial.