Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1893 — THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH. [ARTICLE]

THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH.

Benefit of Yawning. —“ Not only is: it very healthy to yawn,” says a French physician, “ but artificial yawning should be resorted to in cases of sore throat, buzzing of the ears, catarrh and liketroubles.” It is said to be as efficacious in its way as gargling the throat, with which process it should be combined. The reason stated is that during the act of yawning there is considerable stretching of the muscles of the pharynx and soft palate, which are in this way put through a sort of massage ; besides this, in the act of yawning the throat tubes contract and drive into the pharynx the mucus that has accumulated.

Text Books Spread Contagious Dis-eases.--Physicians have lately been calling attention to the danger of the transmission of contagious diseases through the use of text-books in the public schools. There have been several epidemics of diphtheria in School No. 41, at Dean street and New York avenue,Brooklyn, and it is believed that the disease has been conveyed to healthy pupils by the use of books which had been in the hands of other pupils bofore they fell sick. There is grave danger of the spread of disease by the use of the free text-books in the schools, the same books going to a different pupil every term. The books are also taken home, and if a child is taken ill are returned to the school and given out to others. A disease microbe from the lungs or skin would lodge In a book and remain dormant until the book was opened. Straighten the Back. —One of the greatest and most common deformities of the day, observes a medical writer in the Boston Transcript, is one that with care and attention can be remedied. It is the round-shouldered or stooping habit. Many of the most natural figures show this tendency to stoop, while in the narrow-chested it is marked to a painful degree. And yet, by raising one’s self leisurely upon the toes in a perpendicular position several times a day this deformity could be easily rectified. To do this properly one must be in a perfectly upright position, the arms dropping at the side, the heels well together, and the toes forming an angle of 45 deg. The rise should be made very slowly and from the balls of both feet, and the descent should be accomplished in the same way, without swaying the body out of its perpendicular line. The exercise is not an easy one, but may be accomplished by perseverance and patience. It can be modified, too, by standing first on one leg, then on the other. Inflating and raising the chest at the same time is a part of the exercise, and if persevered in will ultimately show an increased chest measurement, development of lung power and perfectly straight and erect figure.

“Microbks Good and Bad.”—“Microbes Good and Bad ” was the subject of a lecture delivered by Dr. E. B. Foote before the Brooklyn Philosophical Association recently. Dr. Foote began by saying that microbes are known by a number of names, such as germs and bacteria. Sometimes Ithey are classified as plants, but they should always be termed animals. They are to be found everywhere, and the agriculturists, the dairymen, the surgeons, and even the sick people, are always fighting these little animais more or less. They stick their noses into all our affairs, and have often ruined a whole kingdom. The study of microbes first began in 1861, but it was not until a number of years later that the office they occupy in our lives was fully understood, when Pasteur made some remarkable discoveries. It was,from Pasteur that we learned the exact relation between microbes and contagious diseases. As is well known, microbes are very small, and a drop of water would afford a microbe as much room to sport around in as would New York harbor a whale. Even the common fly and the potato bug have their pest in the shape of a bacteria, for at certain seasons of the year they are attacked by the microbes and soon drop out of existence. Bacteria do not look alike, hence students are able to dis tinguish typhoid fever germs from consumption microbes, etc. Microbes breed exceedingly rapidly. One microbe under the right conditions will in twelve hours produce 17,000,000. Hence we can ■readily see, comparatively, how indestructible they are? While bacteria or microbes are generally supposed to be of Bo practical use, it must be admitted that the theory is a delusion. This world would be deluged with mummies were it not for bacteria. It is the microbes that attack the bodies of all dead animals and destroy them. Microbes and all germs in water are killed by repeated boiling. In the human system the bacteria and microbes which come to the blood are arrested by the White blood corpuscles, who play the part of policemen. The microbes are taken to headquarters, the heart, and turned over to the sergeant, the liver, who, after confining them for some time, sends them out of thle system. Thus, so long as the blood is in a healthy condition, we can readily see that there ought to be no fear of disease.