Woman's work. (Athens, Georgia) 1887-1???, May 01, 1890, Image 7

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For Woman’s Work. A REQUIEM. »- - . The hand that swept the sounding Lyre, With more than mortal skill; The tender eyes, the heart of fire, The gentle lips, are still. For her no more the flowers bloom, With beauty sweet aud rare ; They fade in yonder moss-grown tomb, Upon her form so fair. The birds that sang in yonder lane, In sweet and gentle tone; Now sing, alas I a requiem— Their faithful friend is gone. “Aida.” HainE J’fjijsitinn. STAINBACK WILSON, M. D., ATLANTA, GA. Note—Questions pertaining to health and disease will be answered in this paper when it can be done with propriety. When, from the nature of the case, or other reasons, a private answer is desired, a full description should be sent. Address as above, writing my name in full, and enclose stamp. Pressure of business prevents anything original this month; but inlieu of this, I give my readers some choice selections, which I trust will be found useful. Glad to know that this department is appreciated, and is doing good. All should feel free to use the question feature, as per note at the head of depart ment. REMEDY FOR CHRONIC MALARIA. Many persons, supposed by their anx ious friendsand neighbors, (and very often by their physicians also), to be going into a “decline” or to be victims of consump tion, are in reality, suffering from chronic malaria. They are dosed with drugs of every nature and variety. Their symp toms are treated, but not the cause of those symptoms; and, after a variable length of time, they die, the victims of insufficient knowledge. How can you distinguish cases of chronic malaria? It is only necessary to ask the patient, or any one acquainted with his past history, if he ever suffered from chills and fever. For, though it may be years after, (years of apparently good health), the patient is, nevertheless, suffering from chronic malaria, if he suffered at any other period of his life with an acute attack. This is a very efficient plan of treatment: Mix two drachms of tincture of capsicum, two drachms of the tincture of nux vom ica, one drachm of the sulphate of quinine, one drachm of diluted sulphuric acid and three ounces of water. The dose is a tea spoonful in a wineglass of water four times daily. The persistent use of this valuable pre scription will effectually rid the system of the malarial poison, give tone to the stom ach and bowels, and restore the natural purity and vitality of the blood.—House hold Companion. SMALL EATERS LIVE LONG. This article, selected from the Boston Traveler, contains much that will interest and instruct, and is on that account given to our readers: With regard to food, we find from Dr. Humphrey’s report, that 90 per cent, of the aged persons w’ere either moderate or small eaters, and such moderation is quite in ac cord with the teachings of physiology. In old age the changes in the bodily tissues gradually become less active, and less food is required to make up for the daily waste. The appetite and the power of digestion are correspondingly diminished, and, al though for the attainment of a great age a considerable amount of digestive power is absolutely necessary, its perfection, when exercised upon proper articles of diet, is the mostimportant characteristic. Indulgence in the pleasures of the table is one of the common errors of advanced life, and is not infrequent in persons who, up to that pe riod, were moderate or even small eaters. Luxuries in the way of food are apt to be regarded as rewards that have been fully earned by a life of labor, and may, therefore, be lawfully enjoyed. Hence, arise many of the evils and troubles of old age, and nota bly indigestion and gouty symptoms in va rious forms, beside mental discomfort. No hard and fast rules can be laid down, but strict moderation should be the guiding maxim. The diet suitable tor most aged persons is that which contains much nutri tive material in a small bulk, and its quantity should be in proportion to the appetite and power of digestion. Animal food, well cooked, should betaken sparing ly, except under special circumstances. Dr. Parks advocates rice as a partial substi tute for meat when the latter is found to disagree with old persons. Its starch grains are very digestible, and it supplies nitrogen in moderate amount, well fitted to the worn and slowly repaired tissues of the aged. Its bulk, however, is sometimes a disad vantage; in small quantities it is a valuable addition to milk and stewed fruits. The amount of food taken should be divided be tween three or four meals at fairly regular intervals. A sense of fullness or oppression after eating ought not to be disregarded. It indicates that the food taken has either been too abundant or of improper quality. For many elderly people the most suitable time for the principal meal is between one and two p. M. As the day advances the digestive powers become less, and even a moderately substantial meal taken in the evening may seriously overtask them. Undigested food is a potent cause of dis turbed sleep, an evil often very trouble some to old people, and one which ought to be carefully guarded against. CHEAP BUT WHOLESOME LIVING. Dr. Edward Smith says: “If you are very poor, spend near ly all your money on bread. Bread and milk porridge make the best breakfast for husband, wife and chil dren. Buttermilk is very good and cheap food. Whey is food, and is a much better drink than water or beer. Every member of the family should, if possible, have two pints of new milk, skim milk or buttermilk, daily. With plenty of bread and milk there will probably be health and strength, j and no doctors’ bills. When you can buy I Indian corn meal you will find it a stronger I and cheaper food than flour. Potatoes are ' the best of all garden vegetables. Tea is a very dear food. If you are very poor do not buy tea, but spend your money in bread and skim milk. When you cannot obtain sufficient milk, and must drink tea, let it be weak, and add as much milk as you can to it; but it is then better to make broth for breakfast and dinner. Hot food is both more agreeable and digestible than cold food. Children, and old and feeble people need hot food more than strong adults. When you are very poor and have not enough to eat, do not drink cold fluids.” CARE OF THE COMPLEXION. The beauty of the complexion depends much on the physical condition; therefore it is of the utmost importance that the gen eral health be kept in good order. Fresfy air and exercise are better than cosmetics', and are very essential in gaining a clear, fresh complexion. Proper exercise is as necessary to beauty of complexion as it is to strength of body. Water is serviceable to the skin in only moderate amounts, and at a moderate tem perature. Very cold or very warm baths, when used in excess, diminish the elasticity of the skin and its power of resistance to external irritants. Hard water should never be used on the skin. Distilled water or rain water are best. Water may be dis tilled by first boiling, then straining it. pour ing from one vessel to another through a coarse cloth. Rinse the strainer before us ing a second time. Use only the best and purest white soap; highly scented soaps are not advisable. Borax or oatmeal make a good substitute for soap, as they soften and whiten the skin, and are quite as cleansing in theirna ture. Flannel makes the best wash cloth. Never wash the face just before going out into the fresh air, or just after coming in. Nothing is more injurious to the skin. Washing the face with oatmeal takes off the greasy, sweaty look, and leaves the skin like velvet. A few drops of ammonia in the water with which the face is bathed is also excellent for an oily skin, and gives a fresh coloring by bringing the blood to the surface. If the skin has already too much color, borax should be used in place of the ammonia. When the face is constantly pale, bathe it in cold water, rub briskly with a soft towel, and apply daily the following prep aration: Two ounces of glycerine, one ounce of diluted liquid ammonia, and four ounces of water. Rub well into the skin, then wipe carefully. If any irritation is felt, the glycerine should be increased. The following lotion will be found the most satisfactory and the least harmful of any of the preparations for softening and whitening the skin: Boil two table-spoon fuls of fine oatmeal in sufficient soft water to make a thin gruel, and strain carefully. When cool, add a lemon with a dessert spoonful of wine. Keep on the toilet table, making a fresh supply once in about ten days. Bathe the face with this every night before retiring. Do not wipe entirely off, but leave the skin a little damp. In the morning, wash in tepid water and oatmeal, in the proportion of a tablespoonful of oat meal to a quart of water. Dry the face thoroughly, and put on thinly a little gly cerine and cold cream. Leave this on for a few minutes, and then wash off in the oat- meal and water, drying the face well. Now take dry powdered oatmeal and rub over the face, using a bit of flannel or linen cloth. Your complexion will then look a lovely white. The neck and hands may be treated the same way. Masks of quilted cotton cloth dampened ’ with distilled water, and worn at night, are very effective for beautifying the complex ion. Boiling water is a good complexion aid if persevered in, clearing and softening the skin, and giving it the desired rosy tint. This is, of course, through its effect on digestion and general health. A tumbler ful should be taken half an hour before each meal, sipping it slowly with a spoon. If found insipid, a slice of lemon may be added. An important point is thorough ventila tion; bad air will soon spoil the fairest skin. The air should be freely admitted to our rooms. No one should sleep in a room that is not well ventilated. It is better in ventilating a sleeping apartment, to have several small openings than one large one. The very best cosmetic is sleep, and plen ty of it, especially in the early part of the night. Eight hours are not too much for any one, and pale, thin, nervous persons should have even more. There is no dan ger of our taking too much sleep. DIPHTHERIA. When a physician makes a hasty visit to a child, pronounces the case diphtheria, and writes a prescription, and tells you “the disease must run its course, and the child must get much worse before it can get better,” and makes no provision to counteract the poison that is preying upon the life of the child, you may take it for granted that he is ignorant of the nature of the disease, or that he takes no great inter est in the welfare of his patient. Diphtheria should not be left to run its course. It must be checked in its progress as soon as possible. Not a moment should be lost in an endeavor to cheek the pro gress of the disease. A thin slice of salted pork should be tied around the neck. This will keep the pores of the skin open, and produce a slight irritation on the surface, which will, to some extent, counteract the internal inflammation. The most important measure, however, is the application of the Permanganate of Potassa. This can be had at any drug store. No matter what system of medical treatment you employ, this is always important, and should not be neg lected. Put as much as a grain of wheat of the Permanganate of'potassa into a half glass of water, and after scraping the mu cous from the tongue, wash the mouth and gargle the throat with this solution, and this should be done every half hour in se vere cases. When a child is too small to gargle, the mouth should be carefully washed with a soft cotton cloth, and the patient should be allowed to swallow a lit tle of this solution every time the mouth is washed. After the poison is removed from the mouth, allow the child to drink sweet cream, all it will take. This will have a good effect upon the mouth and throat, and gives nourishment and strength to the pa tient. In this disease the strength of the patient must be kept up by nourishing diet and fresh air. If these directions are carefully followed, there is but little danger of this disease terminating fatally; but if the pre cautions are neglected, the case may be come complicated from blood poison, and the patient fall a victim to the disease, no matter what system of medical treatment can be employed.— Dr. Miller, in the Alliance. TREATMENT OF CHILBLAINS. First bathe the parts every day in tepid or cool water, next wear fine but thick cot ton stockings,and change them often. Then, if they are very bad, use a preparation made as follows: About an ounce of tannin is dissolvedin half a pint of water, seventy four grains of iodine are dissolved in an ounce and three-fourths of spirits of wine; the two solutions are then mixed, and enough water is added to make up the whole to two and a half pints. The remedy is applied once daily, the best time is after bathing the parts in water and just before going to bed. The mixture is gently warm ed over a very slow fire; the affected part j («. g., the hand) is dipped in it while still cold, and held there until the liquid on be- : ing stirred feels uncomfortably hot. The vessel used must be of earthenware or porce lain, not of metal. Care should betaken not to use too great a quantity, especially when abrasions are present. Four or five applications are sufficient.— Herald of Health. For frost bites, take a piece of ice, heat an iron poker or shovel; melt the ice with the iron, and let it drop on the frost bitten parts. DRESS MAD. The Modern Young Lady at Two Pe riods of Her Life. Behold her at eleven. Her limbs unfettered by the long skirts of conventionality, she runs, she romps, she slides on the iee ponds, she rolls hoops, she climbs fences, she leaps, she kicks, she runs races and is as fleet of foot as the boys. Her appetite is good, her cheeks rosy, and her movements unconsciously graceful. But all this must cease. Behold her again at twenty. No more does she run or jump or roll hoops, run races or slide on the ice. It is not “proper” now nor ladylike, and she couldn’t if she would, for she is fettered by long skirts, tight shoes and tighter stays. Iler movements have no longer the freedom and uncon scious grace of childhood, and when she walks abroad she walks to be looked at, which now. in her estimation, is the main object of walking. She is already in deli cate health, and has a doctor who prescribes expensive advice and prescriptions for her, and ascribes her complaints to anything and everything but the real cause. That is simply the fettering of her body with fashionable clothes. Physically she is now a prisoner. At eleven she was free. The doctor advises travel, but he doesn’t advise her to take off and keep off her fashionable fetters. She wouldn’t do so if he did, and he wouldn’t advise her if he knew it would bring relief, for she would no longer be lieve in a doctor who would make herdress i like a guy; and being dressed like a “guy” :is dressing different from the style pre i scribed by a Paris modiste. Diana never | coul’d hunt in a trailing skirt, narrow, tight, high-heeled gaiters, and a pinched, corseted waist, but Diana with a belted tunic and 1 unfettered limbs would be bounced oft Broadway by the nearest policemen. ! Dressing for health and freedom of limb ' and body is one thing, and dressing for fashion quite another. A man couldn’t endure the pinching and encumbrances ; peculiar to feminine attire for an hour, and i a pretty spectacle he’d make rushing about in such, during business hours. Yet the “weaker sex” wear double the encum brances of the so-called stronger. To “dress” at all after the style, usesup halfa woman’s time and two-thirds of her strength. CARE OF INFANTS. The first two years of li/l.in V , Hiid it i~ kU. tl mortality. The things the infant are pure air, ayW| seasonable clothing and Hence, the room occupied by the should be well ventilated and kept at’ equable temperature. Its bed should be an ordinary hair mattress, with cotton sheets and woolen blankets. Its clothing should be carefully adapted to the changing sea sons, to protect it from extremes of heat and cold. It should wear a soft flannel wrapper next the skin, thin in summer, heavier in winter. If during infancy, a flannel band is also worn around the mid dle of the body to protect the bowels, and woolen stockings long enough to cover the knees, they will secure almost entire ex emption from attacks of colic and diarrhoea. CHAPPED HANDS. As both a precaution and cure for chap ped hands we have usecj the following with benefit: Wash the hands, and face also if it is inclined to chap, with borax water, and afterward rub with an ointment made by melting mutton tallow (or suet), and then gradually adding an equal quantity of glycerine, stirring the two together un til cool. For the hands, this mixture can be best applied at night, using it freely, and warming it in by the fire, after which an old pair of gloves can be put on to keep the bed clothes from being soiled, and also make the skin of the hands softer. An ex cellent glycerine ointment for chapped hands is made by melting with a gentle heat, two ounces of s./eet oil of almonds, half an ounce of spermaceti, and one drachm of white wax. When melted, re move from the stove, and add gradually one ounce of glycerine, and stir until the mixture is cold. The ointment can be scented with any perfume to suit the fancy. Keep in wide-necked bottles. HOW IT PAYS. Dear Woman's Work: I send an exchange, which you will please insert in the subscribers column. I have had two inserted before this, in your valuable paper, from which I received very many orders, and some nice letters. Thanking all for past favors and desiring their further patronage, I am, yours sin cerely. Annie Lamkin.