Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1884 — THE PARTLY DOCTOR. [ARTICLE]

THE PARTLY DOCTOR.

: W Rdjg-worm m caused by a parasite and is Known by its circular form. It appears in patches, usually on the head and neck. In mild cases, pencilling with tincture of iodine or acetic acid night and morning will be quite sufficient. An ointment made of chrysaphanic acid, sto 10 grains; vaseline, 1 ounce; mix and apply night and morning. This ointment cured three cases for me and may be found useful in the treatment of others. Pencilling with sulphurous acid and water in equal parts will cure some cases. Water for Infants.—Some 'two years ago Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, called attention to the condition of the blood of infants in summer, which we might term exaqueous, due to the excessive amount of liquid lost by perspiration, and which he deemed predisposed the system to the Summer diseases of children; and now Dr. Charles Remsen calls attention to this point, which has received altogether too little attention. We all know how seldom an infant is given any more water than that contained in its food, and yet we all see how eagirly they will ofte'n drink when it is offered to them. A slightly depressed condition of the anterior fontanelle is one of the earliest symptoms showing the amount of water in the system to be below the standard. Fretfulness, moderate rise of pulse and temperature, a hot, dry skin, and frequent desire to nurse, are other signs. If not relieved, collapse is apt to set in. The treatment adopted for these emergencies consists in wrapping the patient in a wet sheet, applying cold to the head, and plying as much water to the mouth as the child will swallow. The results of this simple method have been extremely satisfactory, the child becoming quiet, and even going to sleep, while all the threatening symtoms subsided with great rapidity.— Health and Home. Doctoring in the Dark—ln many diseases several organs are more or less implicated, and what seems a primary ailment may be one only remote. For. instance, a severe headache may have its erigin in a disordered stomach. On the other hand, sickness at the stomach may be caused by a blow.on the head. Boils and other eruptions on the surface often result from tho imperfect action of the liver in eliminating effete matter from the system. Se, offensive excretions of the skin, are caused by this latter organ’s throwing off what the kidneys or bowels have failed to do. A severe pain in the lower part of the spine may be due to an irritation of a nerve near the base of the brain. A pressure on one side of the brain by an effusion of blood or water (sgrum) into one of its cavities, may cause a paralysis of t"he opposite side of the body. The seat of typhoid fever is in the upper part of the bowels: but some of its worst symptoms are aften in the brain. Uterine diseases are very often dependent on diseases of the liver, and atteniion to this latter organ, as well as to the stomach, brain, spleen, etc., is far more 'important than ordinary local treatment. These facts with many others that might 'be given, help to show why most persons are incompetent to “doctor.’ themselvbs, and why patent medicines are quite likely to do harm rather than good. In sickness, and even in ailments that may seem 7 almost trivial, the most judicious course is to seek the council of a skillful physician. The years that such men have given to the study of disease and to the practiceof medicine, make his opinion of value, and worthy of confidence, and there is always a risk when a person seeks to “doctor” himself.— Youth's Companion.