Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 188, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1910 — FOR THE LANDSMAN WHO GOES TO SEA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOR THE LANDSMAN WHO GOES TO SEA

By LEONARD K. HIRSHBERG, A. B., M. D.

r * . ILL adjectives and Ills have A three degrees—save one. Seasick and seasickness I / are always in the superlal£“TL. tlve. Even a “light touch” [T His agony to the victim, and to him Is just as bad as the worst case ever suffered by ' ' mortal. I And yet, in Itself, seasickness Is no toore dangerous than a stubbed toe, *nd not nearly as terrible in Its possible effects as a severe bump of the knee. For the knee is one of the most sensitive portions of the anatomy, while the much-abused, yet patient, stomach can stand a lot of bad treatment. Just wnat the percentage of average travelers Is who succumb to Seasickness savants have neglected to fcgure, but a conservative may place tt at about 90 per cent So, when statistical steamship agents tell \f l** you that probably \ '*’ '** f *OO,OOO persons . iSffSl travel by boat on m the Atlantic and \ -hhk Pacific oceans Y.^/7.7 and the great lakes each year, M you can easily ■ compute the num- \ \\«s= s= ® ber of seasick W !S^\\ sufferers at 360,- I \\ 000 persons. And w \ VLo seasickness is no ks\ respecter of per- W M sons —prince and ' _ pauper, young and old, man and .■woman, all alike suffer from its pangs. Even animals teel it, and feel It sorely, while some Persons never qjitgrow it, no matter bow often they go to sea. Sailing out of port on regular trips are more than half a dozen wellknown navigators who “pay tribute to Neptune,” as it is euphemistically expressed, every time they strike deep Jwater. The attack does not last long iwith these victims, but it is doubly conspicuous because of their position. . As every one knows, seasickness is caused by the motion of a vessel at ■ea, but Just how the motion acts on the bodily organism is still an open question. According to some authorities, the violent and unaccustomed movements of the stomach produce gastric disturbances, and these disturbances cause vomiting. By others the theory Is advanced that the center of disturbance is the central nervous system, ■which becomes demoralized by the •trange impressions striking the eyes. Circulation in the medulla oblongata !» Impeded, say still others, with the result that a sort of storm develops in the nerve controlling the stomach. Finally, others aver that the imagination is much to blame, or that the brain itself is shocked, or that muscular fatigue, caused by efforts to maintain one's balance, is the real cause jof the trouble. * T>n the whole, probably all of these things help. At all events, it makes ■no difference to the sufferer, and you may select your own cause when you Bext travel on the briny. . But the first symptoms are somewhat alarming. Comes a,faint sense ■of giddiness; a creepy, chilly feeling of light-headedness. Ofttimes a pereplration breaks out on hands and forebead; your stomach seems sinking—■and then comes nausea. Regardless of the direction of the wind, the victim rushes to the side of the ship and gives up his’last meal.. Tears fill his eyes and his face grows white and his whole body becomes cold and clainmy. Hanging painfully to a stanchion, the sufferer wots not the passage of time nor cares for the coming of eternity. He is paralyzed, overcome by the pangs of a nameless, unearthly terror Then - kind hands lay hold on him and lead him to his cabin, where he lies in most abject misery •for periods varying from 24 hours to the length of the voyage, be it six days or sixteen. Sometimes, however, nausea does not develop, and this kind of sickness is described by its victims as even worse than that in which one gives up all within him. As the neuseated sufferers say that their form is the worse, the question is still open for discussion. At all events, no pang known to terra firms equals in sheer terror and misery the despairing, lost sensation ®f the seasick. First, say those who know whereof they speak, the victim barbors a horrible fear that he is going to die. In the next stage he becomes apathetic and doesn’t care a picayune whether he dies or not; In the third stage he hopes that he win die, and prays for surcease from suffering. - "Please throw me overboard,” is the ■tea frequently urged upon sea cap Sains by unhappy sufferers, and at the jttme they really mean it. Finally, the victim fears that he will pot die, and longs for strength to enKile him to rush to the side and hurl mself into the depthless ocean. Far from being a dangerous affliction, however, seasickness Is beneficial fit many cases, and a large majority _pf travelers ate improved” 4n health, gather than hrirmtd, by the complete JPest and total abstinence it enfprces. \ People who never are seasick invariably eat too much at sea, the salt, •lisp air whetting their appetites and

the luxurious bills of fare tempting their palates and stomachs to overindulgence in good things. But the victim of seasickness cannot eat, and an occasional fast is a mighty good thing for the system. As far as Is known, no one ever died of seasickness, although frequently this cause is ascribed in reports of the death of travelers. In practically all such cases, however, some organic disease has been the real cause, and not the simple seasickness itself. For example, a woman last summer was carried ashore from an Atlantic liner, unconscious and dying, after suffering from seasickness for the two weeks of the voyage. When the end came, her death was ascribed to exhaustion, following mal-de-mer, but the truth soon was demonstrated that she had been hopelessly ill with a heart malady when she had set sail. Some veteran traveler once counted one thousand and one alleged remedies but as the end was not in sight he stopped counting and roughly guessed that there must be ten thousand and ten. And each Is as good as the other—or as useless. Still, each satisfies the patient’s wild yearning to take something for It, and so eases hls mind and contributes for it, and so eases hls mand ondsOea in some degree to a sort of faith cure. A glass of water given to a nervous woman relievos her immensely, if she Is led to believe it contains in solution some subtle and powerful speclflq. So, too, with preventive measures; they are as numerous as the vain imaginings of man. Some are absurd and ethers may really be useful. As a general rule, a landsman preparing for a voyage should prepare by taking, for two or three before sailing, some mild aperient, preferably one of the less ardent bitter waters. The sea air has the peculiar effect ojf Impeding the intestinal functions of most persons, and the aperient serves to counteract this tendency. As soon as the first symptom of discomfort strikes you, retire to your cabin and lie down —stretching at full length on the couch. Lie on your side, with your face to the wall and close your eyes. If you use any pillow, let it be a flat x>ne, so that your head maty not be elevated. Then try to slee^ Should this treatment ease you and relieve you, give reverent thanks, and fervent. If however, nausea develops, prepare yourself for the worst of suffering and console yourself with the thought that “you are not the only one.” While the bromides, chloral, cocaine, chloroform and other drugs are useful In combating some of the more violent symptoms of seasickness, none should be taken without the advice of the ship’s surgeon. Various wines and iiquors also are recommended by certain authorities, but to be effective they must be taken in large quantities. And the relief 13 only temporary, the patient becoming gloriously drunk and sleeping off hls “bun,” only to wake up to renewed illness and nausea In some cases, however, champagne Is really effective iiTTelieving violent nausea, the effect being due to Its carbonic acid gas., and practically the same' result may be obtained by the use of soda water. Best of all, say some surgeons of vast experience, is the plan of permitting the Initial vomiting to continue. “Leave the patient alone In hls misery for a couple of heurs,” said one veteran to the writer. “By that time hls stomach will be empty. Then give him a goblet of warm water, which will at once be ejected. After that administer half a dram of bromide of potassium hi aa large a quantity of water as he cam swallow, if the bro-

mide solution is concentrated, it will make him vomit again, while If It la sufficiently diluted he will retain it. Put him to bed and an hour or so later give him another dose. Nine times out of ten he will drop off to sleep and will awaken well and hungry.” By other good authorities this treatment Is said to be good in smooth water, but Ineffective In stress of storm, when they aver, nature must take its course, and the seasick victims can only endure in what patience they may be able to muster. The growing custom of taking sedatives and sleeping powders on shipboard cannot be too strongly condemned. Cocaine, morphine and Blmllar depressants are contained in most of these elixirs, and, while effective enough when administered by a regular physician, such things are extremely risky when employed in an unscientific, haphazard manner. While morphine may make a person sleep, its other effects are often dissipation, and in many persons it excites vomiting rather than states it. In consequence, the prudent voyager will steer clear of all "bracers” that contaiu It. So, too, are cocaine, chloral and chloroform and similar “remedies” open to largely the same objection, albeit it is the theory of those who recommend there that they deaden the abnormal sensitiveness of the stomach lining and thus stop the vomiting. This may be all very true, but also it is true that their effects are not limited to the stomach, while, further than this, with healthy persons the vomiting of seasickness is by no means alarming. Indeed, severe «“fetching’ without vomiting, is often more painful and harmful than the vomiting, and fully as disagreeable. “Hot water for mine when I’m se» sick,” says one man, and, “Hot, black coffee for mine,” says another, and there you are. A iist of all remedies for seasickness would fill a large book, and would include all the bromides, ano dynes, narcotics, opiates and anesthetics, to say nothing of a thousand and one other fearsome things. Besides there is a long list of mechanical devices for the prevention or cure of seasickness. Some persons use tight belts and others are addicted to ice bags on their backs, while another reliß3 upon massage. Yet none of these measures has a sound theory to back it, and none has been found generally efficacious. Some persons are always seasick, no matter how many voyages they make; others have never been seasick and never will be, no matter how stormy the weather. May you be one of the latter number.