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Copyright !»1! by Amertear. Examiner ffreat Biitair Eights Rea». .__
NewTbiQgsNotFound in Any Bookr
What LOCKJAW
Is, and How
It Can
Always Be
PREVENTED
By L. K. IIIRSHBERG, A.8., M.D.
5 w ~ XOEN the small boy—or the big boy. for that
matter—blows a jagged hole in his hand or
arm or any other portion of his anatomy with
• Are cracker on July Fourth, prompt action in hav
ing the injury cared for by a doctor is absolutely neces
sary in order to make certain that tetanus, or lock
jaw, does not set in
Lockjaw is practically avoidable In these days of
antitoxin for tetanus and the many institutions where
the treatment for this terrible bacilli poison may be
secured for the asking.
A great many people believe that the germ that
causes lockjaw is in the powder in the deadly fire
cracker. As a matter of fact, the danger Is net there
St all, as these bacilli are everywhere, almost, and are
especially prevalent In dirt. When the firecracker
tears an ugly wound in the flesh, it frequently blows
into this wound some of these tetanus bacilli that were
in the grime upon the hand. Once these bacilli are
away in deep, where neither air nor sunlight can reach
them to destroy them, the danger begins. That is why
the services of a doctor should always be secured, be
cause he alone can dress the wound properly, sterilize
ft and thereby kill tijese germs before they have the
opportunity to get into the blood and bring on lockjaw.
The bacillus tetani is long and slender and has a
number of long feelers, which enable it to move about,
though only very slowly.
No other virulent organism is more widely distrib
uted in nature- It is found in the litter of every barn
yard and in the dust of every city street. The pronga
The Language Spoken by JESUS
THERE 1b nothing in the New Testament
to prove exactly which language Jesus
spoke, but it may be gathered from a
history of His times and a knowledge of the
conditions under which He lived. Some have
thought that because Jesus was born and
brought up as a Jew that therefore He spoke
Hebrew, but they do not know about the
Jew’s of that period or they could hardly sug
gest such a thing. Thft fact is that in the
time of Jesus Hebrew was the classical, the
literary language, in which the books of the
Old Testament were written for the most
part, but the vernacular, the spoken language
of the Jewish people in the first century,
was Aramaic, a modernized dialect of the
Hebrew resembling the older classical lan
guage about as French resembles Latin
That the Jews had forgotten how' to speak
Hebrew Is proved by the book of Nehemiah
in which it is. stated that when the Jews re
turned from Babylonian captivity, although
that had lasted but seventy years, or the
space of two generations, they had forgotten
even the meaning of the Hebrew, for when
Ezra read the law to them he had translators
by his side to explain each verse in Aramaic
In the time of the Maccabees (second cen
tury B. C ) Greek had -been introduced into
Palestine, and was widely spoken, because It
was the fashion to imitate the Greeks In cos
tume. habits and language. But there was a
patriotic reaction to the Aramaic, so it Is
probably that in the time of Jesus the Ara
SECRETS OF SUCCESS-No. 13-THE COOK
By THOMAS W. HOTCHKISS,
Vocational Counsellor.
Or all occupations, the cook probably has
the greatest number of followers; for
every household, every hotel, restau
rant, steamboat or camp has one or more of
them They may not all work for pay—the
m n st of them do not; but those who do not,
those who work In their own homes, have
many occasions to use a know ledge of cook
ing and to impart that knowledge when they
employ help in their kitchens
The best cooks with few exceptions are
those at home, who have seen the art in
their mothers' kitchens, and with the collat
eral scientific aid of the cooking school and
the cook book or even .the cook book alone,
mingled with common sense <nd industry,
have undertaken to gain experience by them
selves.
The exceptions are the professional chefs
of our best hotels, who lead the world as
makers of delicious viands from original
In the hotels and large restaurants,
the cooks specialize; there are meat cooks,
pastry cooks, cooks', confectioners, etc.,
all under a head chef, who has various help
ers in preparing the meals, fish and vege
tables for the knights of the skillet and stew
pan.
What constitutes a good cook? What are
- ———
of every pitchfork in the land harbor it. and it is to
be met tn the earth of every field and flower garden.
It has been found in dirty clothes, on shoe soles, in
gutters, on the surface of fruit, ot» pocket knives and
even in sea water.
In view of this universal distribution of the organism
the layman may wonder how it is that every person in
the world, at some time or other, is not laid low by
lockjaw The answer lies in the fact that the bacillus
tetani, though well-nigh omnipresent, is far from vig
orous It dies, in fact, so easily that, many observers
doubt whether it often reproduces its kind outside the
living body.
Sunlight and fresh air are its chief enemies. Let a
mass of the bacilli be placed in a strong light and
where a current of air may reach them and they will
be dead in a few hours. They are also exceedingly
vulnerable to most of the common antiseptics; and
so it happens that in the vast majority of cases they
are killed before they can do any damage.
When the bacilli are introduced into a wound, the
body makes a two-fold effort to combat them and
prevent their entrance into the bloodstream. In the
first place, a sort ot wall begins to form around them
and they are thus isolated and starved out, and, in the
second place, the leucocytes, or germ-eating white blood
corpuscle, begin to attack them and swallow them.
If this process happens to take place in an open
wound into which light and air may enter, the, light and
air greatly aid the leucocytes—by debilitating the
bacilli. The result is that the latter are killed soon
and their dead bodies are expelled.
But in case the bacilli happen to get into a deep or
ragged wound, into which light and air cannot pen
etrate and In which a lot of other germs are living and
multiplying, they increase rapidly and begin to send
their toxins into the blood stream, and so reach all
parts of the body. The leucocytes, busy with the
other germs, cannot fight them effectively, and the
absence of light and air favors their growth.
This is what often happens on the Fourth of July
when some luckless small boy wounds himself with a
giant cracker. The powder makes a ragged, contused
wound, and drives into it# depths the tetanus bacilli
that, happen to be living in the grime upon bls hand.
Instead of sending for a doctor and having the
wound properly washed and dressed, the boy’s mother
binds it up herself —perhaps with a dirty rag—-and tells
him to stop crying. This means that the lockjaw
germs are left where the powder forced them—deep
male was the usual language of conversa- '
tion, though Greek was freely used.
Jesus Himself quotes from the Psalms in i
the classical Hebrew when He is on the cross,
and exclaims, "Lama sabachtani!” —“Why I
hast Thou forsaken me!" just as a mod-!
ern preacher might quote a special pass- <
age of Holy Writ in the original. It was well ,
known to those around Him, for the Psalms
were favorite reading with the Jews in the !
synagogues, and the Book of Psalms was the j
prayer book of the Second Temple. |
it is true that the New Testament has )
come down to us only in Greek, but it is (
more than possible that the reason for writ- !
ing the Gospels in Greek was that they might !
be understood, not only in Palestine, but by (
the Gentiles abroad to whom the Apostles J
went out. !
It. is therefore more than probable that 1
Jesus spoke Aramaic, especially as He ad
dressed himself chiefly to the poorer classes, ;
who would hardly have known Greek in His i
day, as it was the language of the highly \
educated and more fashionable. But He must '.
have known Greek also, for He mixed with J
all kinds and classes of people and argued 1
even with those who affected the new learn i
ing. - j
It may be fairly assumed that Jesus would i
want to speak in that language which would .
be most generally understood by the rank J
and file of the people, and that was the J
Aramaic, the language most like the classical '
Hebrew of the Bible (
the necessary personal attributes, and the
peculiar difficulties th the way of success in
this calling? Does it depend on a fondness
for good living (alimentiveness. as this fac
ulty is called by the phrenologists); on a
scientific method of thought, which reduces
the process of cooking to rules and regula
tions and follows them faithfully, or on an
artistic temperament which perfects the
product with delicacy and fine taste? Un
doubtedly it depends on all of these.
Cooking is both a science and an art. Its
underlying principles, which are not to be
disregarded wholly, rest upon the chemicm
constituency of the food materials, their
proper combination, and their preparation ac
cording to each person's need and choice.
The object of cooking is to make food both
palatable and digestible, to develop new
flavors, and incidentally to destroy micro
organism It is essentially a benevolent
science.
As an art. cooking has thousands of ways
of making the products attractive to both the
eye and the palate. There are many cook
book guides, and books of general instruc
tion in prime essentials. Some of these are
given away by makers of various food prep
arations. such as corn starch, meat extracts,
flour, cocoa, etc., or the makers nf food chop
pers and icecream freezers. The women's
magazines and the Sunday newspapers sup
ply an endless variety of valuable hints. With
Tetanus GERMS Are Everywhere, but LACK Sufficient VIGOR to Do Much Harm
down in the lacerated tissue, among
dead ant*, dying skin cells and cut
off ire tn all light and air.
Protected thus, and living under
conditions Ideally adapted to their
wellfare, the bacilli begin to multi
ply and to secret their poisons.
These poisons are two in numebr,
one being called tetanospasmia and
the other tetanolysin. They are
taken up by the blood and distri
buted to all parts of the body, but
it Is chiefly the nerves that they
attack.
The first symptoms of lockjaw
usually appear from three days
mv * 5
I
™ 11 T W
Hl ?
■ B' 1 *
"The germ that causes lockjaw Is
not in the so-called deadly Fire
cracker, but In the grime on the
hands, and this is blown deep in
to the wound."
YOU MIGHT TRY—
Preserving Tennis Rackets.
O' REQUENTLY the gut strings in tennis rackets will dry and break dur
* ing storage in Winter. Rub each string with vaseline in the Fall
before putting the racket away and the. strings will be as pliable and
strong as when new.
Marking on Wood.
I r any one in your home has a pyrograph outfit, use it. for marking your
* boy’s hockey sticks, baseball bats, tennis rackets and all such wooden
things. Painted names can wear or be scratched off, but when burned
in deeply the identification is there to stay.
A Nut Picking Aid.
PLACE pecans in a pan, and pour boiling water over them; let them
stay for a while, then crack. The meats can be easily removed
from the shells.
Separating Honey.
TO obtain strained honey, separating the honey from the wax as it
comes to us in the frame, place the frame in a bowl in the oven,
just warm enough to melt the honey and wax; then remove '.he
frame and let the honey stand until cold, when th« wax may be skimmed
off the top without any trouble.
Fitting a Cork. ;
IF a cork is too large for the bottle in which you wish to use it, (
lay it on its side, and with a little board or ruler roll it under all i
the pressure you can put on it. It will be elongated to fit in a
very few minutes.
For Old Calendars.
IF a calendar seems too pretty to destroy, paste a piece of sand paper
over the calendar pad and use as a match scratcher. One of these
will not come amiss in each room, if gas is used. .
such guides and with occasional questions
asked of experts, the cook can do very well
at home without a special course at a cook
ing school Experience is the best teacher,
and practice, even with occasional failures,
will eventually bring success. The cooking
si hool. however, gives a thorough education
in the art, and is highly desirable.
Certain well-defined rules will be learned.
Among these are bow to economize on the
purchase and preparation of foods; how long
to roast, boil, or bake various meats, vege
tables, breads, etc.; how much time to allow
each, so they will all be ready and hot at the
hour ,appointed for the meal; and how to
keep the kitchen clean and in order while
working, by preparing and assembling the
ingredients before mixing and cooking them,
by having each article at hand when needed,
all surplus put back in its place, and ail
refuse cleared away.
The first commandment of good cooking is
cleanliness; the second economy. Economy
means saving fcx»d material by avoiding
wastefulness, and also the art of extracting
the greatest amount of nourishment by the
application of moisture and heat. Ingenuity
in cooking is desirab.?, but more essential is
the practice of correct principles. A good
cook will mix his ingredients as an artist
does his colors— with brains. Even the twin
virtues of industry and experience will fail
to make a culinary genius without bigii
mental and intellectual capacity; but the
average "frlain cook" can do very well with
common sense.
to three weeks after the infection, the time in
about half of ail cases being two weeks. The
earlier they appear the more fatal the attack- In all
cases, whether death or recovery follow, the symptoms
of lockjaw are most terrible, and the sufferings of the
patient are equalled only by the horror and anguish of
those who watch at bis bedside.
Fortunately, it is always possible to prevent lock
jaw, provided only that it be taken in time. Two
methods present themselves. The first consists In
cleansing the wound thoroughly with antiseptics and
dressing it in a proper manner. This can be done only
by an experienced physician. The second method con
sists in injecting tetanus antitoxin into the patient’s
veins, to kill the toxins as fast as they are given off
by the bacilli. If done when the, wound occurs the
patient recovers. If delayed until lockjaw symptoms
appear antitoxin is of little help-
The effectivenesa of antitoxin in treating tetanus
depends altogether upon the celerity with which It is
used. The tetanus toxins, as we have seen, attack the
motor nerves very quickly, and after they once take
lodgment it is very difficult to neutralize them.
Therefore, it is best wnen the presence of tetanus
germs is suspected to make an injection of antitoxin at
once. This fills the blood of the patient with the anti
toxin. and so when the toxins appear they are tackled
and overcome before they have a chance to reach the
nerve ends. i
When the injection has been postponed until the
active symptoms of the malady have appeared—that is
to say, until after the toxins have begun to attack the
nerve ends —it is necessary to inject large and fre
quent doses of the antitoxin. In the last stages of the
disease, indeed, physicians sometimes inject the anti
toxin directly into the spinal and brain cavities. This,
of course, involves a serious and delicate operation,
but it is always worth while to take the risk, because
without the injection the patient is certain to die, while
with it his chances of recovering become very consid
erable.
It seems to be impossible to give the patient too
much antitoxin, and so physicians employ large and
frequent doses. In serious cases injections are made
every two or three hours and double units are used.
When the gravity of the case seems to warrant it the
spinal cord is exposed, the cerebro spinal fluid is drawn
off and its place is filled with antitoxin. It is only
thus that the toxins in the large nerve centres may be
reached and overcome
Why the Religious LAUGH in CHURCH
THERE are few things more embarrassing than the
desire, to taught in church, with which almost
everybody has suffered at one time or another.
It is a phenomenon that happens often, and its great
est annoyance lies in the fact that the event which
has aroused the “funny” feeling, is often something so
trivial that elsewhere than in church it wmuld have
passed unnoticed.
Since humor consists in many cases of a sudden
realization at one and the same time of happenings
that seem incongruous, it follows that the extreme
solemnity that attaches to most church services brings
about a state of mind so far removed from common
events that the common event seems either absurd or
awful. A cat walking along a garden will rarely ap
peal to our sense of humor, but the same cat walking
L- r >
aS w
|\V XL—
—_J
•The incongruity of anything in church appeals quickest
to one in a state of reverence.”
The Crime of Striking a POSTMAN
NOBODY in his right senses attacks a
policeman, because he carries a club
and the punishment would be imme
diate and severe. Nobody is likely to attack
a fireman, because the public has very little
relations with the uniformed fire department
except in time of need, when we are glad to
see them about. But everybody has more or
less relations with the letter-carrier. Every
house in New York is visited by the postman
whenever there is a letter to be delivered,
and there are more or less constant personal
relations with the postman when a special
delivery letter or registered package has to
be delivered and signed for.
Postmen are, as a rule, patient, respectful
and more or less amiable. But now and then
disputes will arise, and that is the time when
it is well to remember that the private citi
zen had better keep his temper and under uo
circumstances lay his hands upon a letter
carrier. You may squabble with the butcher’s
boy or the iceman or the milkman and take
your chances of not' hearing anything further
from the rumpus, but if you lay a finger
upon the letter-carrier you will certainly re
gret it, if you live.
The reason for this is that the entire power
and resources of the United States Govern
ment stand constantly behind the letter
carrier. if necessary, the United States
Tetanus antitoxin is now produced commercially in
several large laboratories, and in most cities it is on
sale at the principal drug stores. A bar to its mors
frequent use is its comparatively high cost
An amount just sufficient to confer immunity in the
case of a suspected wound costs |l, and the amount
needed to arrest an ordinary case costs from $25 to $49
When it becomes necessary to employ it in large
quantities, as In very serious cases, the cost of the
antitoxin alone may reach SIOO, or even more; and, be
sides that, its use involves the employment of skilled
and expensive surgical aid.
But, fortunately, in most large cities there are en
dowed hospitals that give treatment without charge to
all who need it.
A study of tetanus leads to the conclusion that it is
almost always blameable on a reluctance to seek ex
perienced medical aid. Most persons, when they are
lacerated by a firecracker or a garden implement, bind
up their wounds themselves, frequently without’ even
ordinary washing. The folly of this is only too ap
parent. At best healing is preceded by suppuration,
and the result is much pain and an unsightly scar. At
worst tetanus develops and death is not far away.
Whenever one sustains a contused wound it Is ad
visable to wash it thoroughly and at .once with soap
and water, and to flood it, before binding It up, with
common peroxide of hydrogen. The peroxide gives off
oxygen, which causes the death of all tetanus germs
it reaches. After this has been done the wound
should be covered, not with a handkerchief or an
old rag, but with a strip of the antiseptic bandage sold
at low cost by all drug stores-
A dean, open wound, which bleeds freely, is little
apt to harbor the germs of lockjaw. The light and air
striking into it kill them, and the flowing blood washes
them out. In all such cases, unless the flow of blood
is excessive, it is well to make no effort to stop it
It will cease of itself in a few moments. The use of
such homeb' remedies as spider-webs tould be avoided,
as the webs, particularly if they come from a cellar or
stable, are alive with germs.
Beyond all things it is well to have a doctor drese
all wounds, no matter how small they may be. He
alone is capable of washing them as they should be
washed and of estimating the likelihood of infection.
His fee is money well invested. It may buy only in
surance against a long, terribly painful and expensive
illness, and then again it may buy insurance against
death.
army will be called out to defend a letter
carrier.
All this comes about because the mail is
regarded as a more or less sacred matter.
The United States laws are extremely strict
about interfering with mail, delaying mail,
stealing mail, or even opening a letter which
is not addressed to you. The letter-carrier
is the representative of the great United
States Government. While he is engaged in
his duty of custodian of mail, the Govern
ment guards him with as jealous care as it.
does a Cabinet officer. The Secret Service
detectives of the Government are always
ready to rush out and arrest anybody who
disturbs a postman, and United States Dis
trict Attorneys and United States Judges will
give immediate attention to any case in
volving an attack upon a letter-carrier. If
if once becomes understood that letter-car
riers can be attacked or interfered with or
robbed of their mail, then the whole security
and sacredness of the mail is destroyed.
And this is the reason why the great Federal
Government, with all its resources, stands
behind its postmen.
Not only Is the postman jealously guarded
from personal assault by the Government,
but if you have a dog that worries the post
man, or that he fears may attack him. he
does not have to leave your mail until you
have chained up the animal or disposed of
him. .
along the back of an unoccupied pew during a religious
service is apt to convulse even the most devout wor
shipper- Even such trifles as the dropping of a book
01 umbrella, or a substantial snore, is sufficient to
provoke a sense of merriment.
Nor is this the worst of it. Laughter, and especially
the desire for laughter, is so infectious that even
those who may not have seen or heard the actual or
cuirence that started the feeling, may have difficulty
m restraining themselves. The twitching of the nerve
that runs down to the diaphragm from the. upper lobes
of the front part of the brain Is calculated to test the
strongest powers of resistance- Repression, moreover,
only increases the nerve stimulation and makes it al)
the harder to keep the laugh back.
By a curious paradox, it might be said that a read>
ness to laugh in church shows a religious mind coupled
to a sense of humor, for it stands to reason that the
incongruity of an occurance would not appear to any
one who was not in a state of reverence. A readiness
to regard all accidents in church as shocking shows a
religious mind lacking a sense of humor, while an
noyance in similar eases reveals the fact that the
worshipper is worldly enough to be able to weigh the
occurrence impartially and to be conscious of the fact
that he was disturbed from the attitude of mind he
had assumed.
Nothing could be more unjtwt than to suppose th’*
a school girl with a rare but sudden attack of the
giggles is necessarily frivolous or irreverent, on ths
contrary being partly hysterical, it show’s that her at
'ention was strained and her nerves -t a higher pitch
of tension than ordinarily. There is no cure except
the exercise of will power in causing the suggestion
of devotion or attention to become stronger than ths
suggestion of merriment.