Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1884 — Nasal Catarrh. [ARTICLE]

Nasal Catarrh.

*■' A radical error underlies nearly all ! medical treatment. A salt-rheum appears on the hand. An ignorant doctor says, “It is a disease of the skin.” He applies an ointment. The eruption j disappears. An ulcer appears on the j ankle. The igDorant doctor says, “It ' is a disease of the ankle. ” He applies 1 a salve. The sore disappears. There is a discharge of matter from the ear. The ignorant doctor sajo, “The earpassage is diseased. ” He prescribes an i injection. The discharge stops. A case of nasal catarrh is presented. The j ignorant doctor says, “Tb s nose is ; sick.” He prescribes a snuff. The discharge stops. In every case the apparent relief is temporary. The difficulty soon returns, and it is worse than before. Harm has been done. Often other difficulties have been added. In every one of these cases the ignorant doctor has entirely mistaken the seat of the malady. Of course, his prescription is a blunder. Salt-rheum is not a disease of the skin. It is a disease of the system showing its df in the skin. Catarrh is not a disease of the man’s nose. It is a disease of the man, showing itself in his nose. The blood which is now in my brain is, before I am done writing this sentence, back in my heart again, aud ’off on a visit to my feet, and now it is back in my heart again, and now it is distributed to my liver, stomach, kidneys—every part. Every part of the body is fed every moment from the same biot d. Every atom of every organism and tissue is obtained from that blood, and every minute all this blood comes back to the heart to be mixed and intermixed. Now, do you suppose that one part of the body can draw away from the rest, get up a disease and carry on an independent operation of its own, on its own responsibility? What I have said is not new. Thiß dependence of local upon general disease is a common idea with the people. A young man begins business with a large capital. He falls into dissipation. In ten years it exhausts his fortune. When at last we seo him beg for bread, we do not say this exhibition of his poverty is financial disease. His financial constitution has been ruined. The begging is only an unpleasant exhibition of that ruin. During this course of dissipation the young man not only ruins his fortune, but ruins his health. His lungs fall into consumption. A doctor may tell you it is a disease of the lungs; but it is no more a disease of the lungs than was begging a malady of the brokendown merchant. In both cases it is only a local exhibition of the constitutional trouble. In brief, a local disease in a living body is an impossibility. Every disease must be systematic before it can assume a local expression. In other words, every local pathological manifestation is an expression of systematic pathological conditions. But to return to nasal catarrh. A man has a catarrhal discharge from his nose. He is an editor, and mostly confined to sedentary habits. His digestion is weak, bowels constipated, head dull, and general condition altogether unsatisfactory. He comes to me with a long story about his catarrh, and finally wishes to know if 1 have any confidence in the advertised cures for disgusting affliction; would be willing to take anything or do anything if lie could only get rid of the horrible nuisance, etc. “Will you do exactly what I advise for a week V” “Yes; I wouldn’t mind standing on my head for that length of time, if I (could only reduce myself to the decent use of one pocket-handkerohief a day.” “Eat a dish of oatmeal, one baked potato, and one slice of bread, for your breakfast; a piece of roast beef as large as your hand, with one boiled potato and one slice of bread for dinner; take Nothing for sapper, and go to bed early. Sleep, if possible, half an hour before ilinner. Drink nothing with your meals, por within two hours afterward. Drink bs much cold water on rising in the taorning and on lying down at night as yon can conveniently swallow, and you may add draughts of cold water, if you wish, before eating your meals. Live four to six hours a day in the open air. Bathe frequently, and every night on going to bed rub the skin hard with hair gloves. In less than a week one handkerchief will do you. And yet you haven’t touched your nose in the way of treatment.” To cure nasal catarrh you have only to make yoar stomach digest well, only to make yourself healthier. Your nose will quickly find it out and adapt itself to the better manners of his companions.—Dio Lewis' Monthly.