Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1893 — THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH. [ARTICLE]

THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH.

Danger of Beating Carpets in th* City. —The City Improvement Society considers it vitally necessary, in view of the pending danger from cholera, that citizens should be informed that the pernicious habit, which has become so general, of beating carpets, rugs, clothing, etc., in the open spaces called “yards,” in the rear of their premise*, is in direct violation of Section 98 of the Sanitary Code, which provides that the above shall not be done “ in any place where particles may be set in motion and pass into any occupied premises.” Sympathetic Inflammation. —This peculiarity is strikingly exemplified in cuses of foreign bodies entering the eye, and in a recent explanation of the matter by Dr. David Webster, emphasis is laid upon tho necessity, in all instances of inflammation of one eye coming on suddenly and without apparent cause, of searching carefully'for such intruders on the corner and on the conjunctivia—removing them, when found, with as little injury as possible to the surrounding pnrts. Dr. Webster guys that when a foreign body is lodged within tho eyeball, especially in tho ciliary region, the patient ia in danger of losing the followeye by sympathetic inflammation, whether the foreign body is removed or not, though the removal of the foreign body greatly lessons such danger; but if the foreign body has alrcudy destroyed the sight, the eye should ho cleared without delay. If sympathetic iuflummatiou sets in, Dr. Webster says that the soouer the eyeball containing the foreign body ia cleared —unless it has serviceable vision —the better will bo tho patient’s chance* of retaining useful sight, or, if the fellow-eye is attacked with symptom* of severe sympathetic irritation, tho eve containing tno foreign body should be cleared without waiting for actual sympathetic inflammation. Further,'the magnet is serviceable in cases where the foreign body is of attractable material and can bo seen, and is not firmly imbedded in the eyewall, or encapstded with organized lymph.

About Tight Lacing. —lt would still he premature to conclude that we have done with tho practice of the ill effects of tight lacing. Were we disposed to doubt the prevalence of this custom, tire medical records of every day could prove its continuance, nor can wo *ee iiow it should bo otherwise as long as tho stiff corset retains its place' us an articleof dress. Now and then some fatal misohunco is found to bo traceable to it* abuse, while instances where ill health has boon the peualty aro far from uncommon. Every practitioner is familia* with eases of this kind, and it needs nosearching examination to convince him. that among tho pallid complexions and palpitating hearts which require his attentlon some arc directly traceable to the pinching vanity of the corset. Why this effect should follow such a cause we need hardly explain to medical readers. They can well appreciate the vicious influence of cramping pressure exercised upon the trunk and its viscera without cessation for the greater part of every day, say* the London /.meet. Let us, nevertheless, discuss briefly the effect of such pressure upon the different organs exposed to it. Naturally the kidney* being deeply placed may bo expected to escape entirely from its direct action and they constitute the sole example of such immunity. The lungs and heart suffer almost if not in equal degree and the consequonces In their case are visible iu impaired respiration, defective nutrition of the blood, with consequent impoverishment of every organ and tissue and a weakened and excited or languid cardiac action, culminating, it may even happen, as in an instance lately reported, in fatal syncope. The effect upon digestion is noteworthy. There being but little space for the normal expansion of the stomach afte*r eating, less and less food is taken until the foolish sufferer is virtually halfstarved. Constipation is a neceesary sequel, and flatulant distension adds another impediment to the coarse of a laboring circulation and overpressed respjratory organs. Naturally those viscera which lie low in the pelvis feci this strain, so that almost every function required for healthy existence is deprived of its normal exercise. What then of health itself ? And need we feel surprised If now and then the thoughtless vanity which thus exchanges every physical comfort for mere appearance leads to forfeit of life also? If experience be credited, it is so.