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WV ek Six JHE FARTH
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Discoveries
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By William Brady, M.D.
ATURE has a great faresight. How did she
N know that mankind would one day begin to
pinch his feet in shoes too small and incor
rectly shaped? She knew it, We know she knew
because she piaced a special pad over the inner border
of the great toe Joint right where the friction and
pressure was (o come some thousands of years after
creation,
This pad. or bursa. as doctors eall it Is the only
reason why every one who wears shoes docsn’t grow
& bunion, and at the same time it is the reason why
& great many who wear incorrectly shaped shoes do
bave bunions
A bunion is an inflamed bursal pad covering a
more or less incompletely dislocated great toe joind,
the whole wrapped in smelly, highly-recommended
salve and protected with an aimosphere of fashion,
Some of the present fashions in footwear are bringing
& tremendous crop of bunions to market. .
Of course the doctor. particularly the family doe
tor. sees only the alarming cases of bunioa, The
milder. inciplent bunionis somehow do not find their
way to the doctor's office. People are fond of special
tsm these days. And there is a selfsiyled “foot
specialist” now in every drugstore, every shoestore
and every chiropodist’s office. Only the aggravated
cases reach the doctor's office—sying nothiag about
what may have aggravated them.
When & certaln other bursa=that between the
How Our THUMBS SPREAD DISEASE
OMEBODY'S thumb may have been the real cause
S of that bad cold you had or of your child’s diph
theria or of your wife's typhoid fever. Probably
you never suspected this very useful little part of the
human body of being capable of any harm, but it is a
fact that it is frequently responsible for the spread
of many diseases.
What does the mischief is the bad habit many peo
ple have of using their thumbs to carry saliva from
their mouths to a plece of wrapping paper or some
thing else they wish to moisten so that it will respond
more readily to their touch.
Watch your butcher the next time you buy a plece
of meat. Nine times out of ten he will moisten his
thumb in his mouth in order to facilitate the handling
of the bag or plece of paper in which he vraps your
purchase. Some of his saliva remains on the paper
and when the bundle is done up must inevitably be
pressed against the steak or chop you are going to eat.
Under any conditions this is an exceedingly unsav
ory fact. And if, as is very probably the case, your
butcher's mouth is full of the microbes of diphtheria,
typhoid or some other contagious disease. you and
How ADVERTISING Is HELPING PEOPLE TO LIVE LONGER
Look!! Listen!!
e D P oA £\
sphtheria NSU Tuberculosis
e .. .Wo . A N 0w
Under Penalty of Disease
Ordinance N-.Amrcuwh,“
places provides a penalty
Help us Enforce this Ordinance
Department of Health snd Sanitation
One of the Posters Which Helped
to Reduce the Amount of Spit
ting in the City of Spokane,
i Washington.
1
HE power of advertising is
being turned to far more
important uses than that of
helping producers to sell goods by
making consumers want them. It
has been found, for example, that
ail the ordinary forms of publicity
—newspaper and magazine space,
billboards, window displays, ete.~
furnish an excellent method of ed
ucating the public in the best
methods of preserving their health
and lengthening their lives.
Dr. J. B. Anderson, health com
missioner of the city of Spokane,
Washifigton, is a pioneer in health
advertising. Hu realized, as many
other health officers have since
done, that if people are to be
2
UI A A A ee e e e e e S W
How CORRECT SHOES Will SAVE Your FEET from These UGLY, PAINFUL AFFLICTIONS
s and the patellar tendon and kneecap—becowmes
Inflamed. the condition is called “housemalid’s knes.”
and 1t is & jJoke on the housemald. When the bursa
under the poiat of the shoulder becomes inflamed it
is called sverything from “seuritis” to “rheumatiom.”
and the joke is on the doctor. But whes the bursa
over the toe oint becomes lnflamed it Is no jJoks ot
all, and 1t in impossible 10 priot what it is called.
For years physicians and orthopadic surgeons have
tmplored the shoe manufacturers 1o listen to reason.
The manufacturers have listened respectfully with
one par, keeping the other ear to the ground for
rumors about style, and the rumors have generally
drowned out the doctors. style winning in & rather
stilted, ungraceful, painful walk
The doctors have been shouting “Keep the soles
straight’ Don't turn out the taps!” Put style has
clamored for crooked soles
Some old maid & good many years ago—about the
time of hoop skirts—conceived the idea that by toeing
out she could swish her skirte much more effectively
than she could when toeing straight ahead. 5o she
commenced to turn ‘em out, and the fashion grew and
grew, and the shoemakers fell In with it. and made
shoes with the toss already turned out.
Did you ever notice the fashion artist’'s feel-—not
her own fset, but the feet she draws on her fgures
Well, she turns ‘em out until it hurte just (o look at
them. Ope wonMers how the poor creatures can siand
there on thelr deformed feet for hours upon hours
while the artist 1§ turning ‘em out. But there they
stand. almost on their ianer malleoli—that means the
inner ankle bones—and their toes polating about
due east and west. No wonder they often look fool
fsh! They must feel foolish as well as wsick.
However, deformities are always fashionable Peo
ple would make fun of a perfect Venus de Milo figure
it one should appear in public properly dressed.
Especially her feet-—they would never get over
laughing at her big, broadsoled, squared-toed, low
arched feet. And her straight toes—these would be
a regular scream’
Well. Nature foresaw all this modern degeneracy,
and while she was compelled to bulld normal feet,
still she installed in each foot & bussa to provide for
future needs. But there are two things Nature abhors
- ol S chsal. iR SR
vour family stand an exoellent chance of being made
111 by the germs which he has carefully inclosed in
your package of meat.
Were the butcher or the grocer or the girl at the
candy counter deliberately to smear your purchase
with saliva you would instantly reject it as unfit to
eat. But you ralse no objection to a practise which
amounts to the same thing and which is of the gravest
danger to your health. 1
The mouth is one of the finest germ incubators you
can find. Even when its owner is perfectly heaithy it
is full of bacteria which are quite capabdle of producing
disease in others. Many men and women are always
unconscious carriers of typhoid and diphtheria. The
saliva of others is constantly laden with the germs
which cause that dread disease of the gums, pyorrhea
alveolaris.
When such men and women are employed in places
where food products are sold they can spread the
germs from their own mouths to hundreds of other
persons every day just by persisting in the common
habit of moistening their thumbs with sallva when
doing up parcels. '
aroused to the importance of this
vital question they must be given
something more forceful and much
more replete with human interest
than dull columns of mortality sta
tistics and dry quotations from
medical books. What was wanted
was an appeal with all the “punch”
of the campaigns made in behalf
of tobacco, breakfast foods and
other things infinitely less impor
tant than human life.
His first move was the coastruc
tion of a number of attractive ex
hibits, which were first shown in
Spokane and later at fairs through
out the West. Bach of these illus
trated some important phase of
the prevention of disease or of the
care of the sick.
One was a miniature sickroom,
showing all the details in the care
of a scarlet fever patient. An
_other showed the right and wrong
ways of displaying food for sale.
@till another, taught by means of
models of actual yards in Spokane
the good results to be attained by
making the surroundings of our
homes clean and well kept.
Later Dr. Anderson used exten
sive newspaper space. In prepar
ing copy for this space he did not
hesitate to use a humorous touch
which sroused the public’s inter
est and made every advertisement
sure of a wide reading.
Here are some interesting quo
tations form his health “want ad”
column:
WANTED—PubIic sentiment
that will recognize the neces
sity for co-operation in the
_prevention of disease. .
LOST—By the people gener
ally, appreciation of the vital
necessity of fresh air and sun
shine. Finder will be reward
ed with perfect heaith.
\\&\g‘n
R
The Huge Fly Whose Electric Eyes
Flash Every Time a Baby Dues
to Impress the Public with the
Necessity for Better Care of
Qur Children.
WARNING TO CERTAIN
BIPEDS, GENUS HOMO
Stop making a garbage ,
pouch out of me. Put good,
wholesome food into me. If
this warning I 8 not heeded |
am going on a strike.
(Signed)
HUMAN STOMACH.
FOUND—The secret of un
sanitary streets, alleys and
some homes—carelessness of
Mr. Citizen.
TOO VITAL TO CLASSIFY
FOR SALE—Good health.
Price reasonable. Location,
everywhere. Conslderation,
wholesome food; attention 'to
personal hyglene; cleanliness
around home. Apply Common
Sense.
The frequency with which the
average person consults the “want
ad” column of the daily newspapers
made this publicity “stunt” an in
stant hit, and through it the doctor
reached fiuny persons who prob
ably could not have been reached
in any other way.
Like all other successful health
officials, Dr. Anderson is a vigor
ous enemy of the fly. “The fly is
Copyright, 1918,
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Correct Shoes.
Note How the Feet Are Bedt Inward
and the Straightness of the inside.
—an out-turned toe and a vacuum-—
and it is hard to say which she
abhors the more,
The shoe manufacturers are jast
the opposite, They love loth a
vacuum and an out-turaned toe. They
like vacuums because any old thing
will Al & vacuum satisfactorily. be
it in a skull or in an upper. They
ke out-turned toes because out
turned toes made foot trouble and
foot trouble creates a demand for
faney-priced shoes. The shoe manu
facturers admit all the doectors say
about footwear, but they follow the
dictates of fashion.
Even at this late day there are
female persons—they are not exactly
girls, not yet women—who like to
boast that they have trouble in find
ing a shoe narrow enough, or one
with a high enough imstep. Some
how these female persons have ae
quired the notion that a narrow foot
and one with a high lnstep is “patri
clan” — from some tenm-cent mnovel,
perhaps.
A small foot, a very marrow foot,
or one With a very high instep is a
stigma or mark of degeneratio ;, com
parable with a notched ear lobe,
webbed toes, high arched palate or
narrow chest.
A gir! or woman who imagines that
small or narrow feet are a feature to
strive for must have a queer idea of
beauty—she must derive her coneep
tions from the fashion plates or from
the freak females that exist only on
magazine covers. Artists do not put
narrow, half-size feet on their mas
terpieces. They would as soon paint
a woman with a crooked nnse or a
missing ear.
The men, too, or at any rate cer
tain dndividuals who wear trousers,
the death angel’'s commercial trav
eler,” he said in one of his public
ity tirades; *he has six legs and
a dozen grips on each leg from
which he retails his samples.”
At this year's Interstate Fair,
held in Spokane, he exkibited a
large fly constructed to scale, to
{llustrate preventable infant mor
tality. The fly's eyes blinked in
an electric flash once every ten
seconds, In accordance with this
inscription placed above the model:
“Death follows in my wake.
Watch me blink. Every time
| do a baby dies from a pre
ventable cause. Observer!
What are you doing to help
prevent this drain on human
resources?”
Dr. Anderson’'s method of deal
ing with troublesome questions by
modern advertising methods is il
Why You Should WATCH Your DENTIST’S HABITS
HAT are your dentist's habits? Don’t
W think for a minute that it's néne of
your business. Not only the condition
of your teeth, but your general health and your
life itself may depend upon the character of
the man who extracts your aching teeth or fills
cavities in them.
§ It your dentist is an intemperate man his
hands are liable to be so unsteady that skilful
work is impossible. Just a little slip of one
of his instruments may do damage to your
teeth or gums that can never be repaired.
And it is perhaps of even greater importance
that your dentist be neat and cleanly in his
habits. Otherwise there is not a little danger
of his spreading infection from the mouth of
gome other patient to your own.
. Although there are few authoritative in
stances of contagion being conveyed in this
manner, science says that such occurren tos are
quite possible. It is, therefore, wise to iatron
ize only dentists who are 80 neat and £leanly
the Star Company., Great Britain Rlzhw\Reurved.
Bunion-Breeding Shoes.
Note How the Toes Are Turned Out.
ward and the Absence of an In
ward Bending Angle in the Lines
Bisecting the Soles and Heels.
bhave lately taken to freak foot
wear. Of all the sad sights one is
compelled to gaze upon in this
great melting pot of nations, &
male person with narrow, pointed shoes is the most
heartrending. A female person with mannish clothes
is enough to draw teaws. If it keeps on how are we
going to distinguish the sexes a century hence? Or
s the world to be sexless?
In order to determine the shape of shoes which
will properly fit the feet the following method 1s ad
vised: -
Rub a Yttle oil or grease upon the sole of the foot.
Wipe off the excess. Lightly dust talcum powder
upon the sole, and shake off the excess. Now stand
ugmnrlmamofblacxm«duhorm
black surface. ‘l'holmpflntwmlnhhnmm
paper. This will be the pattern for the shoes. Cut
1t out and take it with you when you buy shoes. If
it fts the eole, the shoes will be right.
The imprint of an undeformed foot or of one which
has never worn shoes shows a noticeable inward
bending of the forefoot. That is, it a straight line is
drawn from the front of the foot to bisect the fore
foot, it will meet a line biseciing the heel at an
angle pointing outward. A normal last should show
the same inward bending when bisecting lines are
drawn from toes and heel.
This is a very important feature in footwear, in
feet the most important feature from the standpoint of
comfort. In some of the present styles of shoes the
bisecting lines actually bend outward, and in many
they form a straight line. If you want fapt comfort,
freedom from arch strain and insurance against
bunion wear only shoes with inward bending lasts.
The sedond point in prevention, and in rellef of
young bunions is the broadness of toe. Compare the
foot-print with. the last, and see to it that your shoes
are a trifle wider across the sole at the elevel of the
great toe joint than the foot-print is at that level
The final point is to avoid narrow, pointed toes. A
Turk or a heathen Chinese might get along comfort
ably with pointed soles, but a Christian martyr can't
stand such abuse. The rounded toe, fairly coinciding
lustrated by his campaign against
spitting in the street cars and
other pubiic places. Instead of
the conventional sign and red
cross notice, with the amount
SCIENCE NOW KNOWS---
How Many Sightless There Are.’
THE total number of blind persons throughout the world is roughly estl
mated at 2,390,000, the United States having something over 57,000.
Blindness is less common here than in most other countries.
The Most Valuable Fruit Tree.
AN alligator pear tree in Whittler, Cal, is probably the most valuable
fruit tree in the world. It is insured against wind and fire by Lloyds
of London for $30,000. Last year it produced 3,000 pears, averaging the
grower 60 cents each. It also produced $1,600 worth of bud wood, mak
ing a total production of $3,000 for the year.
in their habits as to ensure every precaution
being taken.
The lists of organisms which may contam
inate dental instruments is formidable, but this
does not mean that the diseases of which they
are the cause necessarily ensue if they are
accidentally carried into the mouth. Their
presence upon dental instruments is, however,
an indication of what surgeons call poor
technic. In surgery poor technic is usually at
tended with disastrous results, but in dentistry
errors of tkis character may produce no in
effects. ]
Cleanliness should be the primary considera
tion in all dental operations, says a writer in
the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. The
white coat of the operator represents more
than comfort; it is the symbol of neatness.
The dentist who works with unclean instru
ments, who provides soiled linen or who places
a common drinking glass before his patient
should be judged accordingly.
T
Aa ‘
y
imprint of a Nor
mal, Healthy Foot,
Showing a Slight
taward Turning
of the Great Toe.
¥
X-Ray Photograph of a Bunion-Ridden Foot.
See How the Toe Has Been Turned Outward, Expo®
mmumw«vmnnem Point In
dicated by the Arrow and Causing a Bunion,
with the rounded outlie of the toes In the (oowrllt.!
is the only proper shape, and in fact the only one that
looks well after a month’'s wear.
Adopting proper footwear will overcome a tendency
to bunion and cure inciplent bunion, provided the in
flammation is still limited to. the bursal pad and there
is nd®pus formation or open sinus.
If the bursa suppurates nothing less than incision
by the doctor will suffice.
It the great toe joiat becomes partially dislocated
and the ends of the bopes enlarged, as always happens
it bunion is neglected, then there is but one cure, and
that is a radical opemation, removing the enlarged
heads of the bones and building % new Joint, This
operation requires a general anesthetic, and it lays
the patient up for a period of two or three weeks—pre
vents walking, that is—but the bunion is completely
routed and the patient does not regret the outlay of
time.
A bunion is about the most useless luxury one caa
enjoy. It is entirely unnecessary, yet a lot of people
nurse one for years on end rather than consult the
family doctor about such a trivial thing.
URIOUSLY enough it has been discovered that
C severe cold as well as heat is essential in the
preparation of some of our foods.
Meats are greatly improved in taste and are made
much more tender Ly being frozen before cooking.
Fowls, too, are often frozen in order to render thém
tender and more delicious. And now it has been dis
covered that some Xinds of cooked foods are very
much improved by being frozen, or at least by being
kept for a period in a temperature not much above
imprint of a Foot
Deformed by 1l
Fitting Shoes
Which Have
Caused a Bunion.
of the fine for violation mentioned,
he had notices printed with the
following warning in bold letters:
“Stop spitting, on penalty of
DISEASE.”
the freezing point.
Soups, especially vegetable soups,
will be found to have a much more
appetizing flavor if they are per
mitted to freeze for a short time
after being thoroughly cooked in the
usual way.
A freezing or very low temper
ature will keep such fopds much
longer than a milder temperature,
and it is surprising to see what a
pleasing difference there is in thelir
flavor when finally thawed out and
heated for serving. v
This fact will doubtless result in
the devising of small cold storage
plants, arranged so that a freezing
temperature can be provided quickly
and at a low cost, belng put on the
market.
Iceless freezers, as weli as fireless
cookers, will be coming into general
use in the next few years when the
public awakes to the improvement
which can be effected in soups,
meats, poultry, by freezing before
they are finally heated for serv
ing.
Tortunately, the members of the profes
gion who do these things are criticized
and suffer from loss of patronage, so that
there is a strong tendency on the part of den
tists to maintain their surroundings above re
proach. With the sterllization of instruments
some carelessness may manifest fiself, partly
owing to the fact that many instruments are
injured by such processes, are too compli
cated to be treated in this manner, or that the
public is not competent to detect errors in the
methods of sterilization. However, the publio
is rapidly learning the value of aseptic meth
ods, and the proper equipment is now found in
nearly all dental offices. §
A good instance of the efforts the great ma
jority of dentists are making to protect their
patients against contagion is furnished by the
fact that various dental associations through
out the country have lately requested the
United States Public Health Service to inves
tigate and report to them the best methods of
sterilizing all instruments. ¢