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Copyright, 1913, by th« filar Company Great Britain Rirrht:■> Reserved.
OVER
Mow to Tell
POOR HEALTH
from GOOD
By WILLIAM LEE HOWARD, M. D.
, xrOU'RE looking fine mil," or, "My dear how
well you are looking' What perfect health
you must enjoy!” are expression* we hear
every day.
They are generally meaningless and often state just
the opposite of the truth. To the average layman the
personal appearance of a friend or stranger does not
reveal the facts about his or her bodily health. Of
course we leave out of consideration evidential condi
tions of a real disease, a wasting affection or the
effects of a prolonged illness.
But take th % average man or woman of to-day, and
what may look like perfect health in the morning may
really be the signs of possible death or paralysis the
following day or week.
Clothing, facial massage, constant excitement, artifi
cial stimulation—all of these disguise Nature’s warn-
tlngs. Ignorance of the real signs of ill health and too
much dependence upon medicine and not enough upon
a good physician’s advice are- the causes of saying:
“Bill, you look fine—never saw you looking better In
your life!” and hearing of his death the next day.
Just what are some of the signs of perfect or near
perfect health and those of approaching Illness the
average man or woman can observe?
The eyes are the best indicators of health. If the
eye is dull, If It is yellowish where it should show
white, If the lids droop or twitch, do not tell the indi
vidual he Is “looking fine,” no matter how jovial and
hearty he may seem. He has some temporary or per
manent disturbance of the liver. The liver cells are
clogged and the poison they should throw off through
■natural channels Is hanking up lu the system and is
showing evidence of this in the eyes.
If such an individual the last time you saw him—
say, several months before—was corpulent and now
has lost flesh, weight, and his neck lias shrunken, don’t
ask, "How did you do it?" Such a reduction of flesh
and tho shrinking of the nect show a probable cirrho
sis of the liver. Unless he is under proper treatment
Where to Look for the WARNINGS Natim* Gives of COMING ILLNESS
you will soon hear of his death. If he has waited for
these marked signs of the disease before going to the
doctor, lie is almost certain to die soon.
There should always be a difference of several
incl.e; between the measurements of the chest and
abdomen In both man and woman—of course in favor
of the rhest. A man with an abdominal measurement
of thirty-four Inches should have a chest measurement
of at least thirty-eight inches. If it is the other way
about, the man is not to be congratulated upon bis
healthy appearance. I am referring to persons between
thirty-five and sixty years of age—the prime of life.
In the matron, as she gets to be fifty or over, this
difference is not so important; but the man should
never permit his body to accumulate rolls of fatty
flesh, lie is not in good health who looks puffed in
face, lias over-red complexion, eats heartily, bleeps
well and has the ever jovial appearance we usually
associate with fat men.
Such a man is getting fat around his heart. This
condition compresses his liver and other internal
organs, hardens his arteries and puts those in the
brain in constant danger of bursting—apoplexy.
Look at his haDds. They are red and puffed. Occa
sionally his feet swell. He sits around smoking,
laughing, but will not take any systematic exercise—
it is too much effort. Of course it is an effort, for his
heart and lungs are bound down by fat.
or cold shower bath, drink plenty
of fresh water, they may get riil
of the poisons in their body with
out harm to their tissues.
When reduced in this way there
will be no shrinking of the neck—
a sure sign of some form of in
sidious disease—no flabby muscles,
no cadaverous appearance of facial
lines. Of course, those forty folds
in the neck will disappear—they
must.
When you meet such a changed
man—clear eyes, shapely waist,
hands showing the tendons and
veins—then you may truthfully re
mark, “Bill, you’re looking fine!”
But remember!—no drugs or
medicines to reduce the result of
high living, lack of exercise and
too much beer. Just live as you
did when a boy of ten, and keep
ever in your mind that the result
was the outcome of years of ac
cumulation, and that the reduction
may take a long time unless your
organs have not been too greatly
affected-.
A man gets out ',”f bed and looks ill—glary eyes,
trembling hands, dfctiressed stomach. If you saw him
at this time you w ot) id say: “BUI, old chap, you are
going a hit too fast Bet up—get away and care for
your, if.” But you-*: generally see him an hour or so
after when he has ie d cheeks, steady hands and a brisk
gait. You remark Wow fit he is looking—thanks to the
barber and several focktails. But the flushed face, puffy
hands, yellow ey?s ought to tell you he is artificially
braced. lie is not fit.
A woman's cond ition of health can be just as easily
determined by a- i acute observer and one who knows
something about - ‘h# psychology of women—as much as
one can know abou t the charming and ever-puzzling sex.
The condition erf the eyes is a tell-tale thing just as
it is in man. Tint the condition of her ankles tells
betterthan anything else. If the flesh hangs over the'
edges of pumps or shoes, if there is the slightest appear
ance of comprs i sion at the ankles so that they look
out of properti :n to the size of the feet and lower
limbs, you may 'be certain that if you say; “My dear,
how Well you are! looking!” you are not telling the whole
truth.
The ankle -a™ a well woman should be such as to
show some pro ninence of the bones-and the ankle cavi
ties. When >, Iv er corsets bind the hips there should be
no fold of fl( isljt. If she breathes entirely from the abdo
men and flu shies upon any extra effort, you may be cer
Look at another man who shows
the same physical laziness and ob
truding stomach. He is pale, an
xious looking—always .has some
kind of a grouch. However, he
will stride along at times, be very
active in his affairs, and appear to
tho casual observer as a man in
good health.
Get a good look at his eyes and
you will see at times a slight puf
finess under them. He will show
at intervals a heaviness on his feet.
All these signs disappear at certain
intervals and you wonder at his
vitality. The truth is, his kidneys
are in trouble but he does not know
it.
Such a man or woman needs a
doctor’s advice, not drugs. If they
will carefully heed this advice and
adjust their methods of living,
dress in loose clothing, cut out all
stimulating drinks, commence ex
ercising slowly and not violently,
and after perspiring take a cool
SIGNS THAT ILL HEALTH IS AT HAND.
1,—If a Man’s Chest Measurement (A) Is Less Than His W, ist Measurement (B); 2.—If His Hands Are hefl
and Puffed; 3.—If His Eyes Are Yellow (A) When Ti-eli S Would Show White and If They Are Put A (B)
Beneath Them; 4.—If the Flesh on a Woman’s Feet Puflf V.'ut Over the Edges of Her Shoes.
tain that even if at the time she is in fair health ill
health will soon follow.
Why? Because she has been binding down and
pressing flesh and internal organs—a serious matter
with a woman. The shoes or pumps do not allow a
proper return of blood to the upper limbs and thence
to the heart. The lungs are not being given a chance
to take a sufficient amount of oxygen, and the folds
showing below the corsets indicate that even there the
flesh is being deprived of a clear and unobstructed cir
culation.
All this means in time a disturbance of the only
thing which can maintain good health—unimpeded cir
culation. The way for a woman to keep her beautiful
form is not to bind the flesh, but to free it and see
that enough oxygen is taken in to burn up extra flesh.
A woman's hair will tell the story of her health.
The hair of a healthy woman will be glossy without
being shiny. It will fall around her forehead and neck
in waving folds, not remain stiff or hang “dead.” It
can he bound or rolled in a mass and remain thus with
only slight pressure of bands or pins. When shaken
out it falls as a mass, the strands or a few individual
hairs separating slowly, but always having a tendency
to return to the mass. It will fly out in the wind like
a fresh pennant, returning again and again to the main
tresses.
The odor of hair belonging to a healthy woman is
distinct and pleasing. It is almost impossible to de
scribe it, but it can always be known by its attractive
ness and what might be called a scent of budding
Spring. The hair of a woman in poor health has a
slightly pungent odor a sticky scent, or sometimes the
peculiar characteristics you notice in dead hair or comb
ings. If the hair has been overwashed and vaselined
or pomaded it loses this scent of attractiveness and
health. This is for the brunette.
With the blonde there^is the same healthy appear
ance in the movements of the hair when unconflned,
but there is always more flyffiness and the ends of the
hairs are apt to split. This splitting can be avoided by
clipping the ends. It has nothing to do with the health
of the hair or individual.
There is not that distinct bouquet to the pronounced
blonde tresses there is to the brunette. Absence of it
does not necessarily imply ill health as it does in the
brunette.
Ill health is shown in the hair by crispiness, dry
ness or too oily appearance. The ends of the hair look
“dead.” The scent is gone, or else lies a fatty odor.
It does not stay together in a mass, but tends to collect
in groups of strands. It falls out in spots, not as in
healthy hair, where the combings are from all portions
of the scalp.
Why We Are LOSING Our TOUGH YOU MIGHT TR'K” TOBACCO Smoke Foe of GEMS
to' w> sensfl nf tnnnh iu v«*rv liknlv tn Ho- wmnpn nf f un p-pripnitinna mint Vnw hftiiSA- ) HIL/E it has lODiT beftn kr.nwn that smnkii Tl IVH Q fniln A tho! tallxrn /innln inih'i*
T HE sense of touch is very likely to be
come a lost art in America. A thou
sand labor-saving devices now take
the place of motions which formerly required
deftness and skill. Manual dexterity is giv
ing place to mental guidance, and one of the
most potent factors In the upbuilding of civ
ilization is being abandoned. The effect of
this has been made clear by the restlessness
1 Americans and tho absence of any means
to release their nervous energy.
Nervous energy Is misapplied unless them
i some actual physical outlet. The nervous
energy of rage finds its relief in stamping of
the foot or in pounding the table with one's
tlsl; the nervous energy of grief finds minis
sion in tears; tho nervous energy of sus
pense shows itself in a feverish pacing to
and fro: the nervous energy of joy in quick,
rhythmic movements, for, as the phi.isi goes
“we dance for joy.”^
For centuries the nervous energy of women
lias been consumed iu two who- by houm
Hold tasks and by needlework. Hen ' hold
duties require a good deal of physical a rear,
and the more of these a woman has to do
(Short of my-r-exertion I. Hie less lthelj be
is to become nervous. If. however, not hn\
lug many household task.- she turn her
attention to some work in which the finger:
are employed and which dm in ■ d m ml
too close attention, the same l-ervoie peri!
are avoided. One remembers well how
closely knitting and omehet am .issoclati d
with the calm ease of life displayed hv tie
women of two generations past. Now house
hold duties are constantly becoming simpli
fied and the knitting needle has been dis
placed by the looms of commerce.
The same is true of the man of the house.
The "handy man" always found something
to do which kept his fingers busy and thereby
gave the necessary outlet for the nervous
tension. A window blind ran awry, a hinge
was loose on the cupboard door, a window
screen needed new mosquito netting, or a
thousand other small things required his
attention. Nowadays, however, the “handy
man” is becoming u rare specimen, and small
jobs about the house are done by paid out
siders.
In the business world the same is true.
For two nr three decades each year has seen
less actual manual work done by the "boss"
and more planning. Fifteen years ago every
commercial man answered a certain number
of letters himself; now everything is dic
tated Typewriting has taken the place of
the old-lime te—' 'i-oper’s exquisite script,
and the telephone has eliminated the bene
ficial exen-i - that occasional calls on clients
or customers supplied.
it is l»re-i> i-ocaus of the disappearance
of (hi-- use >f letusl physical movement that
the nervous i. tlessness of the age is becom
ing i de. Healing at bridge is not a fair
■ iH-: 11u11 i "• the knitting needle, and smok-
■ • i :i s -snntly is less soothing than
wutln: ,i let("!• in long hand. Poise of mind
i in closer relation to the using of the
. > ie of the body than many people
Imagine.
Cleaning Fish Dishes.
fOT water with plenty of ground mustard add J i- tho op- >■ method of
freeing dishes, kettles, silver and other utensils from the disagreeable
taste and smell of fish.
H 1
When You Cook Cabbage.
'T'ilE unpleasant odor which cabbage and cauliflower ma’ to while cooking
can be avoided by dropping a couple of whole Engl.Walnuts into
the kettle.
For Ink Stains.
T IIE stains of typewriting can be removed from linen by soaking in tur
pentine for twenty-four hours—then pour boiling soda 1 iver the inked
parts, rinse and dry.
To Make Light Biscuits.
r F you put your biscuits in the ice box for a few bout'
t them they will be much lighter than if baked at once.
■before baking
W HILE it has long been known that
tobacco smoke is a valuable preven
tive against infection during the
epidemic of a contagious disease, it is only re
cently that an analysis of smoke-laden air
in a tenement district has been contrasted
with equally dense air in which tobacco
fumes were lacking. These analyses have
shown that more than one-half of the harmful
germs had been destroyed by the tobacco
smoke. This fact has unconsciously been the
means of preventing large loss of life, as was
noted in the recent cholera epidemic in Ger
many, when workers in cigar factories were
found to be immune to cholera, and wherein
the victims were mainly from the non-smokers
of the city.
Experiments conducted in a cholera-stricken
house, one floor of which was occupied with
a cigar factory, led Professor Wencke, of the
Imperial Institute of Berlin, to the conclusion
that the cholera germ cannot endure tobacco
smoke. It was found that saliva containin'
virulent germs was completely sterilized li;
five minutes’ exposure to tobacco smoke. I
was further discovered that although thi
water used in the tobacco factory, both fo
drinking water and in moistening the cigars
was full of septic bacteria, not a cigarmake
sickened, and the cigars themselves were frei
of the deadly peril. Determining to put thi
issue to a drastic test, a few tobacco leave:
were moistened with water, a glass tumbler
ful of which contained over a million activi
germs, whereupon it was found that withii
twenty-four hours every one of the bacill
was dead.
it has been a matter of common knowledge
that inflammations of the mouth are fendei
off by the use of tobacco, and that unheaith;
conditions of the mouth can never he tracei
to smoking, unless the habit is excessive
Now it appears that the smoker in a crowdei
tenement room is truly a benefactor to hu
manity instead of the selfish brute the anti
nicotine crusaders would have us believe.
Why You Should Never Put MONEY IN YOUR MOUTH
r
HE reason that children, salesladies, conductors
and others should never put any kind of money
in their mouths is not because swallowing
money, as money, is harmful—for boiled, sterilized and
aseptic money can do no harm—Dut because money is 1
passed through so many consumptive, scarlet fever, diph
theria and other loathsome, germ-laden fingers.
Many trolley car conductors, children, and street ven -
ders have the filthy, and often fatal, habit of holding bi
How MUSIC Lures MOSQUITOES to Their DEATH
T fllE Mosquito Commission ap liuted fo wipe out
the mosquitoes of Atlantic City and its neighbor
hood—for which purpose $.’•1,0011 lias been appro
priated by the County Hoard -think-, of trying a new
method for exterminating the la sts wl >rh invoices Un-
use of musical vibrations generated hj electricity.
The idea was originated by A. DeP. Weaver, an elec
trical engineer of Jackson, Miss . while engaged not
long ago in experiments in harmonic telegraphy, in
which a musical note of a certain pitch was produced
by electricity. He was amazed to find that when the
note was raised to a certain number t r vibrations per
second, all the mosquitoes, not only in the room whore
the apparatus was. hut also from other pints it toe
house and from outside, would congregate near the
apparatus and he precipitated from the air witn aston
ishing force against it.
Hi then . >v< surface : 1 sticky fly-paper,
and, after sounding the not- a fe.» . . . onds raptured
all tile mosquitoes in the vicinity
But it occurred to him that the » ethod might easily
he so modified as to kill the ie. electricity
instead of trapping them For t . ; 1, ; he took a
piece of wire window serein, v ; 1 iho paint off it
with tnr: entitle, and mount■ d i: or a he .nl. driving
small pins into the hoard between the meshes at inter
vals in such a way that their heads wet- ’ ish with tho
surface of the wire net. Ail the pin being connected
together electrically, an alternating current, of high
potential was passed through them, ane when the note
was sounded, the mosquitoes wlvh tl -ew themselves
upon the screen were instantly electrocuted.
To make the reuson for tn,. . (ear 't should be ex
plained that the “song of the female mosquito seems
to he intended for no ether purpose than to attract the
mule. The latter is not a sinew, hut he eartv-s on his
head a pair of very remarkable "whiskers’—if such
they may be called—the hairs of which respond sym
pathetically to c» ruin musical vjiyf ions !• i« ty/
Gft s tly Enlarged Model of One of the
Male Mosquito’s Two Whiskers.
They Are Hearing Organs,
Responding Like Tuning
Forks to Certain
1
means of these whiskers (which are branching ante p-
nae), in fact, that the male mosquito hears.
A human being as everybody knows, finds it v«(y
hard to determine with accuracy the direction fro.*-
which a sound proceeds. It is not so, however, with
the male mosquito, which probably has the faculty J
judging sound-direction more highly developed than gtt.v
other animal.- And the reason why is simply this: If
the song of the -female is uttered directly in front 0 f
the head of the male, it is perteived with equal lout 1-
ness with the hairs of both antennae. If the s< yu) id
affects one antenna (or whisker) more than the o th‘ r -
he turns his head until both are affected equally. Vtif m
he knows that the female is directly- in front, anti, he
flies toward her. Experiments have shown that he c an
judge in this way the exact direction of the fe ta ale
within five degrees. i
In view of this exptanatiori it will be understood '*hy
the mosquitoes, when a certain musical note ’ms
sounded, flew against Mr. Weaver’s apparatus A t all
events, it is obvious why the male mosquitoes d .<! it.
The note sounded must have corresponded in the -v'-un-
her of its vibrations to the song of the female. But
why did the females likewise precipitate the.msel ves
upon the wire screen? This is not adequately it ade
clear. The important point, however, is that they did
so; and it is believed by Mr. Wheeler that his me' hod
employed on a great scale out of doors, might rid whole
towns or even districts of the pests, electrocuting them
wholesale.
The song of the female mosquito, which has been
likened to the distant note of a bagpipe is 1101 n ade
by her wings, hut by the v ibration of little s' y>C-ters
which regulate the passage of air through openinf s for
breathing on the sides at the insect's chest. A 1 the
air passes in and out. it makes the shutters yi' .'rate.
Fifes and b^os fHp; thn su r Pf > *»*ny.
tween'their teeth the coins and notes for which they
give change. Yet nobody raises any objection, and few
of us realize how dangerously tainted most of the money
we handle is.
Dr. M. Langlois, Director of Science of the French
Academy, has recently pointed out the dangers of this
mouth-holding money habit, lie proves experimentally
that tainted money is no chimera of the muck-rakers. It
is a real peril, as much to he feared as censured.
I)r. Langlois placed various pieces of money in pure,
germ-free water. Then he took this water, which hud
previously been lacking all microbic life, and planted it
l again in gelatin and on potatoes that had been boiled
j and sterilized. What he found should fill with alarm
> those who stick money in their mouths.
$ Copper coins each had more than seven hundred and
sixty thousand bacteria on them. Nickles had one hun
dred and forty thousand and more, while silver and gold
coins carried nearly a quarter of a million germs in their
crevices. The reason nickles carry fewer germs is be
cause wear makes them smooth and leaves fewer lodging
places for ihe bacteria.
Banknotes and all greenbacks are so full- of bacilli
that after he had counted an average of a million and a
quarter to each, the French professor and his assistants
quit counting them.
Among the disease-producing bacteria thus found upon
the money were germs that cause boils, pus, blood pois
oning, pneumonia,' tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria,
tonsilitis, and erysipelas. Dr. Langlois advises every
body who handles money to wash their hands frequently
in soap and water. Moreover, all money should be baked
in a dry oven whenever it is possible, and all banknotes
should be redeemed as soon as they become badly worn
or even slightly soiled.
Silver coins Dr. Langlois found less dangerous than
banknotes and coins of other varieties, because the chemi
cal action of the silver renders many of the germs
harmless.
“Never put money in your mouth.” says Dr. Langlois,
‘‘and try to avoid handling it whenever tiiere are breaks
in the skin of your hands. Barbers who make change
for a customer and then put their hands on another
man’s face are constantly spreading disease, and so are
sales girls who alternately handle money and eatables
like candy.”
Why NERVOUS People Are HAPPIEST
N ERVOUSNESS is a high tension of the nervous
system. It is rather desirable than otherwise to
be several degrees nervous. Well controlled
nervousness is a sign of good breeding in human beings
just as in animals. The higher bred the horse the
more sensitive and the more delicately responsive is
the animal. In a crisis the animal has greater fortitude,
hearing pain without flinching. This the self-controlied
nervous person also does. Again, if well controlled the
nervousness stimulates to more and better work.
Nervousness if ill controlled or not at all controlled
is, on (he contrary, the cause of suffering to the person;
of annoyance to his associates and of inefficiency to
both. Uncontrolled nervousness causes flightiness and
irritability. These lower the vitality and impair the
functions of the heart and the digestive apparatus.
Abrupt movements, shrill voices, hasty speech and im
pulsive, uncertain actions are signs of this state of un
controlled nervousness.
It is not a misfortune to be nervous if you have a
strong and active will. Nervousness in -such instances
means merely that the strings of the violin are properly
taut. Such nervousuess is normal and makes for the
greatest success and happiness.
While nervousness if properly controlled is good for-
to—— netirnsthenia is always misfortune. Neurasthenia
is a lowered condition of the nervous system, the oppo
site of excitation. While a certain degree of nervous
ness is quite normal, neurasthenia is always abnormal.
Nervousness may he a purely healthful state. Neuras
thenia is a disease. The depleted condition of the
nervous system in cases of neurasthenia may even
extend into the nerve fibres themselves and cause a
slow atrophy of those fibres. Too low nervous tension
causes poor circulation and inadequate elimination of
the wastes of the body. Stagnation sets in and the
body becomes like a marsh that requires draining.
The neurasthenic is always a person who cannot or
will not exercise, while the nervous person is ‘‘always
on the go.” Healthy nerves must be surrounded by
healthy muscles, and healthy muscles are the result of
exercise. Melancholy persons and those who commit
suicide are ail in some stage of neurasthenia.
The person of high-strung delicate organization will
under extraordinary pressure become irritable or show
lack of sound judgment, but the reaction is quick. His
anger is a fire of straw. The cause removed, or on
being permitted a moment for reflection, his former
serenity is restored. The neurasthenic, on the other
hand, is “slow to anger” and slow of recovery from
rage.