Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1910 — THE FAMILY DOCTOR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE FAMILY DOCTOR

Why We Congh, Sneese and Sigh. One of the most interesting facts about the human body is its power of self-preservation—its power of evading or overcoming the thousand and one conditions which, unless corrected would be injurious or destructive. Among the most common of these acts of self-preservation are the cough, the sneeze and the sigh. Every one is familiar with these acts; yet few people ever ask themselves the cause, and fewer still could explain them. One of the simplest of the body’s devices for self-protection is the cough. The cough Is merely a blast of air propelled from the lungs in such a manner as to forcibly dislodge some foreign substance which has been drawn into the throat, the windpipe or the tubes leading to the lungs. The membranes lining these parts of the body are-very sensitive, and when a foreign matter comes In contact- with them, an alarm message is at once sent to the nervous “headquarters,” and the result Is the sudden, spasmodic expulsion of breath which is called a cough. Very often the cough is accompanied by the irritation of the accumulation of mucous on the surface mentioned. In this case, as In. the case of a foreign body, the cough is merely a means of expelling the matter. So, you see, a cough is merely one of nature’s methods of self-protection. The ordinary cough cure contains some drug which, by paralyzing the nerves, prevents the cough and allows the mucous to accumulate. Thus the cough medicine does only harm? The cure, for cough is to cough—to cough until the excessive deposit is removed. Meantime, of course, measures should be taken to prevent added deposits. A sneeze is exactly like a cough, save that the obstruction occurs in the nostrils, owing to the deposit of some irritant or foreign matter, and that the blast of air is thrown out through the nose instead of through the throat and mouth. Why do we sigh? When grieved or depressed, the tendency is to hold the breath. This means that the body suffers for oxygen; and the long, deep breath which we call a sigh is merely a means by which the body obtains for Itself the necessary amount of oxygen.—Dr. W. R. C. Latson, in Health-Culture.