HOW TO STAY COOL How to Stop Backaches BICYCLING FOR HEALTH THE N ZONAL HEALTH JOURNAL JULY 1959 35c Its Always Picnic mwhen you serve For picnic fare that's a "picnic" to prepare, start with Veja-Links, Patties, or Fry Sticks! Just "heat and eat" — and what a treat! Many Worthington Foods are picnic favorites. Crisp, sweet Worthington Pickles, for example. Or tasty, wholesome Worthington Sandwich Spread. And you'll like other delicious foods in the Worthington family of fine products, mentioned below. But we're sure you'll agree, there's nothing more appetizing than a picnic planned around Worthington Patties, Fry Sticks, or Veja-Links. THERE'S WORTH IN Worthington Foods, Inc., Worthington, Ohio FOODS FRY STICKS — Vegetarian protein in drumstick form for convenience and extra appeal. PATTIES — High-quality vegetarian protein in patty form — just heat and pop into bun! VEJA-LINKS— A different vegetarian protein food in an ever-popular form — real smoked flavor! PICKLES — Sweet dill strips flavored with real lemon juice. Make every meal a picnic . . . and every picnic more enjoyable You'll also enjoy Worthington Choplets, Choplet BURGER, Entree, Proast, Numete, Beta Broth, Veelets, Sav-ree Gravy, VP, Ground Wheat Gluten, Breading Meal, Ready Cooked Wheat, Food Yeast, Miller's Main Course and other famous vegetarian foods. "Because I was nervous and irritable, my doctor started me on Postum!" "You know how it is when you're nervous—the slightest thing makes you drop whatever you're holding. Well, that made me even more nervous and irritable than I was. "The family finally got me to the doctor. He said maybe I'd been drinking too much coffee. Apparently, the caffein in coffee upsets some people sometimes. He suggested I try drinking Postum because it's 100% caffein-free, can't make you nervous—or keep you awake at night. "I followed his advice and, you know, the doctor was right. But one thing he forgot to tell me: just how good Postum is! Why don't you try Postum—you'll be steady enough to thread a needle, too!" is 100% coffee-free A product of General Foods ESSENTIAL Books that discuss with candor and helpfulness the individual problems of sex and associations that face young people and their parents. HAPPINESS for HUSBANDS and WIVES EWING GALLOWAY By Harold Shryock, M.D. On Becoming a Woman BY HAROLD SHRYOCK, M.D. Here is a mingling of Christian idealism and scientific frankness in dealing with an adolescent girl's unfolding sexual and emotional life that will commend itself to every intelligent reader. A study of the factors that make for harmony in marriage. Sensible courtship, the basis of a memorable honeymoon, the merger of personalities, marital adjustments, and a sane attitude toward sex are among the many subjects discussed with sympathy and mature insight. Bound in a beautiful gift binding. Price, $3.50 Price, $2.75 On Becoming a Man BY HAROLD SHRYOCK, M.D. Every adolescent boy will find in this frank discussion of his sexual and emotional development a spiritual idealism that is not only practical but persuasively attractive to noble ambitions. Price, $2.75 ORDER BLANK Life and Health, Washington 12, D.C. Please send me the following: LOVE'S WAY By A. W. Spalding A book for parents, to help them in telling the story of the beginnings of life to the very youngest inquirers. Price, $1.25 Letters From Mother Naomi An older woman's answers to the many questions asked by all normal girls concerning the intimate problems of everyday life in a modern world. Price, $1.75 LOVE'S WAY LETTERS FROM MOTHER NAOMI ON BECOMING A WOMAN ON BECOMING A MAN HAPPINESS FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES Add: Postage and Insur. 15c first book, 5c each additional book. Sales tax where necessary. q`P $1.25 @ 1.75 @ 2.75 @ 2.75 @ 3.50 TOTAL Postage and Sales Tax TOTAL ENCLOSED Publishing Association Washington 12, D.C. NAME STREET CITY ZONE ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■mow ENE AND /4(43 STATE WOMMOMM•MI1111•11••••• YEAR OF no PUBLiCATION Notional Health o J. DeWITT FOX, M.D., L.M.C.C., Editor HARRY M. TIPPETT, M.A., Assistant Editor C. E. WENIGER, Ph.D., Editorial Consultant MARY E. CASTOR, Assistant to the Editor T. K. MARTIN, Art Editor Consulting Editors: ROBERT A. HARE, M.D., F.A.C.P.; WALTER E. MACPHERSON, M.D., F.A.C.P.; HAROLD M. WALTON, M.D., F.A.C.P. ' THEODORE R. FLAIZ, M.D.; J. WAYNE MCFARLAND, M.D.; MAUD E. O'NEIL, PH.D.; M. WEBSTER PRINCE, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. Contributing Editors: D. Lots BuaNErr, R.N. • HENRY W. VOLLMER, M.D., F.A.C.S. • ARLIE L. MooN, M.D. • ERWIN A. CRAWFORD, M.D. JOHN F. BROWNSBERGER, M.D., F.A.C.S. • CARL J. LARSEN, M.D. • H. L. Rirremiouse, M.D. • LEROY E. COOLIDGE, M.D., F.A.C.S. HORACE A. HALL, M.D., F.A.C.S., • ROGER W. BARNES, M.D., F.A.C.S. • BELLE WOOD COMSTOCK, M.D. • CYRIL B. COURVILLE, M.D. LUCILLE J. GOTHAM, B.A. • J. MARK COX, M.D. • GEORGE T. HANDING, M.D., F.A.C.P. • HAROLD SHRYOCK, M.D. • DUNBAR W. SMITH, M.D. C. E. RANDOLPH, M.D. Braille Edition, Life & Health: C. W. DEGERING, MANAGING EDITOR FEATURE ARTICLES Page G. H. HOEHN, M.D. 11 ATHLETE'S FOOT DO YOU SUFFER WITH YOUR BACK? E. WILLIAM IMMERMANN, M.D. 13 HOW TO KEEP COOL SHIRLEY MOTTER LINDE 15 MONDAY MORNING BLUES ARTHUR L. BIETZ, PH.D. 17 PAUL DUDLEY WHITE, M.D. 18 BICYCLING FOR HEALTH FOR HOMEMAKERS MENTAL HYGIENE HOME TREATMENTS . 16 FAMILY PHYSICIAN . 20 MOTHER'S COUNSELOR 22 DIETITIAN SAYS . . 28 HOMEMAKER HINTS . 30 MENTAL HEALTH . GOLDEN AGE WHY THE DRUGGIST SAID, CAT SCRATCH FEVER . 32 . 33 10 . 24 FOR BOYS AND GIRLS WINGS OF HEALTH . . . 26 R. G. CAMPBELL, Circulation and Advertising Manager LIFE AND HEALTH, copyrighted 1959 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington 12, D.C., U.S.A. All rights reserved. Title registered in U.S. Patent Office. SUBSCRIPTION PRICES, U.S. CURRENCY, U.S. and possessions, Canada, Mexico, and Pan-American Union, I year, $3.50. Add 35c a year elsewhere. All subscriptions must be paid for in advance. Single copy, 35 cents, U.S. A FAMILY MAGAZINE FEATURING RELIGIOUS HEALTH INFORMATION. The official journal of the Home Health Education Service. Published monthly by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington 12, D.C. Second-class postage paid at Washington, D.C. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Send to LIFE AND HEALTH, Circulation Department, Washington 12, D.C., at least 30 days prior to the date of the issue with which it is to take effect. Please send us your old address with your new one, enclosing if possible your old address label, to avoid error in old and new lists. JULY. 1454 1411,2,1 How to Give Medicine to Children WONDERFUL Giving medicine to a stubborn child is no small "do it yourself" home project. Dr. Forrest P. White, a Norfolk, Virginia, pediatrician, gives some helpful rules and technics in a recent issue of Today's Health, published by the American Medical Association. He says : 1. Plan your procedure well. Have all your equipment within reach. If two adults are involved, decide what each will do. 2. Place the medicine bottle where the child cannot knock it over, especially if the medicine is expensive. 3. Let the child know that you plan to succeed from the outset. 4. Don't let your child's excitement infect you, but keep calm. If you feel anger rising, don't show it. Just keep talking to the child calmly and soothingly even when he is yelling his head off. 5. If a liquid medicine is given and the child vomits, wait until he calms down and then repeat it. Usually the medicine will stay down the second time. 6. 'The procedure when mother and father work together is for the dad to take the child on his lap and hold his wrists while the mother steadies the head and forces the mouth open. 7. When one parent gives the medicine he holds the child on his lap with the child's legs between his knees and the child's right arm behind the parent's back. The parent uses his left hand to hold the child's left elbow so the arm is above the head and the child's head is held firmly between the parent's body and the child's upraised left arm. 8. When forcing medicine it is best to give only half a teaspoonful at a time. 9. For the unusually rambunctious child, Dr. White suggests pouring half a teaspoonful into each of two spoons, setting them on the table, and then returning the bottle to the shelf before getting the child. 10. The spoon should now be placed on the child's tongue and held there. Tip it to pour a small amount at a time on the back of the tongue. 11. Most children resisting medicine open their mouths to cry, and this permits the spoon to be inserted. If instead a child clamps his mouth shut and the mother needs both hands free, she should wrap the child snugly in a sheet or blanket with the child's arms against his sides. Dr. White advises parents to give the child all the love and sympathy he needs after administering the medicine. DEAR EDITOR: 6 We have been reading LIFE AND HEALTH for many years. We have enjoyed it so much and think of it as a wonderful health journal. MR. AND MRS. ROBERT WEISZ Hurdsfield, North Dakota FRIEND IN OUR HOME WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE DEAR EDITOR: I have great pleasure in stating how satisfied I am with your LIFE AND HEALTH magazine. I started to purchase it from a door-to-door salesman in August, 1955. The only regret I have is omitting to purchase it earlier than 1955. From the articles I have acquired a wealth of knowledge concerning good health. There was an item in January, 1958, entitled "Exercise and Reduce." It stated that a walk of one and a half miles a day will enable one to lose about 15 pounds in a year without reducing one's normal intake of food. I can vouch from personal experience that walking keeps down the body weight and prevents obesity. I advise my friends to purchase the LIFE AND HEALTH magazine and acquire more knowledge concerning the care of their bodies. VIVIAN E. R. BASDEO Lodge Village, British Guiana THE JULY COVER DEAR EDITOR: LIFE AND HEALTH has been a friend in our home for many years. When we were first married, some 36 years ago, it was coming to our home in Battle Creek, Michigan. We have enjoyed reading it because of the many helpful articles on health found in it. We have enjoyed it so much that we have personally subscribed to it for many of our relatives and friends. MR. AND MRS. CHARLES 0. ELDRIDGE Loma Linda, California HELPFUL CHANGES DEAR EDITOR: For years we have been subscribers to LIFE AND HEALTH and have appreciated the magazine so much. After reading it we like to pass it on to neighbors and friends. We have also sent subscriptions to relatives, with the result that some of them have made helpful changes in their diet and habits. MRS. F. E. VANSICKLE Montebello, California TWENTY-FIVE YEARS DEAR EDITOR: I have been a reader of your excellent LIFE AND HEALTH magazine for more than twenty-five years. Not only do I enjoy reading the fine articles on health and nutrition that you write about, but I try to apply this knowledge to my daily living. I also look forward eagerly to the monthly visits of Mr. and Mrs. John Murray, who bring me this magazine. Here's hoping you continue the good work and bring your message to an increasing number of readers. MILDRED GOLDBERG New York City Color Transparency by Shostal Supai Grand Canyon, Havasu Falls, Arizona A river flows, placid and smooth, for miles, with nothing to interrupt its progress toward the sea. Then suddenly the bed on which it rested gives way. This apparent disaster becomes a glorious waterfall, and men travel for miles to admire its beauty. Into our own lives, after years of untroubled calm, similar catastrophes will surely come. Shall we be discouraged by them or learn a lesson from the waterfall? The sufferings of Job, recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, have brought comfort to millions. The three-day blindness of Paul changed a misguided persecutor into God's greatest missionary. The martyrdom of the saints became their crowning glory. So, with the help of God—who has "made every thing beautiful in his time"—we too may turn our troubles, our pain, our disappointments, into the loveliest beauty spots in the streams of our lives. YOUR OPINION, PLEASE You are invited to comment on LIFE & HEALTH articles. Which one took your fancy? Did you take exception to something you read? If you have a suggestion for an article by a doctor, nurse, or dietitian, drop us a note. Address: READERS' PULSE LIFE & HEALTH Washington 12, D.C. LIFE & HEALTH Ulcers and the Weather Toothbrush Prevents Dentures False teeth can be "postponed forever" according to Mrs. E. Arthur Underwood, D.D.S., Vancouver, Washington. This lady dentist reported at a recent rural meeting in Wichita, Kansas, that if a person gives his teeth proper care, he can prevent having to wear dentures. She feels that a child should be taught to brush his teeth for three minutes twice a day. The average person brushes his teeth only 67 seconds. She suggests a three-minute hourglass in the bathroom to gauge the amount of time spent brushing. * * * Tragic Birthdays An emotional illness will frequently strike a person on his birthday, or on the anniversary of the death of a parent, Dr. Edward Weiss reports in GP magazine. A patient is usually unaware that his emotional tension is connected with the occasion, but when the connection is explained to him, he generally improves. Dr. Weiss found that women are likely to be most depressed on their forty-fifth and fiftieth birthdays. Men come to melancholy on their sixtieth and sixty-fifth birthdays. * Association convention in Minneapolis. Almost everyone, it seems, considers himself a food expert. Routine school examinations show that poor health resulting from poor nutrition is not limited to poor homes. Children coming from prosperous districts are also poorly nourished. This doesn't mean the children are skinny and scrawny. But many children, and adults as well, can grow fat on food they do not need. One of the deficient foods is protein, found in milk, eggs, cheese, and cereals. Most children are carefully supplied with vitamins and minerals, yet their protein intake is low. Mothers unfortunately pamper their children by giving them whatever they want whenever it suits the fancy of the child. This makes proper feeding a selling job. A child can drink milk and fruit Juices fairly easily, but protein foods often require chewing, which children are loath to do. And protein foods are not necessarily sweet. Many mothers have been remiss in that they have developed the sweet tooth in their children, making them much more eager for desserts and sweets and tasty between-meal snacks than they are for their regular meals. Duodenal ulcers may bleed when there are marked changes in the temperature, according to Dr. Francis K. Davis, Jr., of the Drexel Institute of Technology. Cold weather seems to be more prone to produce severe hemorrhages than warm. Dr. Davis urged that Northerners watch for cold-wave warnings, for a sudden change to cold weather causes constriction of the blood vessels, placing a strain on the cardiovascular system. He suggests that a warm climate with relatively little variation in temperature is more suitable for duodenal ulcer patients. * * * Sugar Myth The argument that sugar is not a cause of dental decay is strictly a myth. It is true that many Jamaicans who chew large amounts of sugar cane have little tooth decay, but this does not mean that the refined sugar has no deleterious effect on the teeth. British investigators point out that sugar cane fiber is as good a tooth cleanser as any in existence. Moreover, sugar cells left lying around the teeth are still alive. The antibodies in them counteract the decaying effect of bacteria. In both these respects the unnatural sweet of candy in the confectioners' shops presents a striking contrast, because it has neither antibodies nor fiber. Wherever Mother Nature provides a sweet in natural form she accompanies it with vitamins and antibodies, and sometimes even with a toothbrush to help keep our teeth clean and healthy. * 7/1 ,90,d Deafness and Measles German measles has long been known to cause blindness in newborn children whose mothers contract the disease during the first three or four months of pregnancy. Recent studies by the British Ministry of Health show that measles may also produce deafness. Congenital deafness was found in 30.4 per cent of a group of children whose mothers had had German measles during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy. Fiftyseven children were examined. Deafness was previously undetected in 62 per cent. The investigators urged that any child born to a mother who had German measles during pregnancy should be checked carefully for many months. ACNE, TEEN-AGER'S TRIAL BY CLEMENT E. COUNTER, M.D. Tells clearly what causes pimples and blackheads and how to get rid of them. BY BURTON H. FERN, M.D. The most satisfying explanation of poliomyelitis we have seen in many years. REGULAR FEATURES LEG CRAMPS BY H. 0. SWARTOUT, FANIILY PHYSICIAN M.D. It your leg pains every time you go walking, this article will help you. Americans Are Hungry Gluttons PROTECTION AGAINST POLIO CHILDREN'S PAGE DIETITIAN SAYS MOTHER'S COUNSELOR How an American can grow fat and starve himself at the same time is a strange paradox of poor nutrition. Unfortunately, nutrition is generally misunderstood and even ignored in most parts of the country, according to Dr. Harold D. Lynch and W. D. Snively, Jr., reporting to a recent American Medical JULY, 1959 7 THE DOCTOR SAYS ... I Qet in the Swim BOUT a year ago a dear friend of mine was fishing with three companions from a small boat off the St. Clair Shores, near Detroit. The boys had life preservers in the boat and were trolling in relatively shallow water. But they became so interested in the fishing they did not notice when the boat drifted into choppy water. A squall suddenly came up and capsized the little craft. From high school on, these boys had been urged to take swimming lessons. They had been given every opportunity at their YMCA, at summer camps and pools, but they had never taken the trouble. So now, when this fishing boat turned over all three boys drowned. When I learned of the tragedy I felt impressed to urge our readers to learn to swim. In this modern day when sports are so popular, it is a pity so many boys and girls grow up without acquiring this vital skill. Teen-agers should by all means know how to swim before getting into a boat, even when there are life preservers aboard. Swimming can offer more than safety in time of emergency, for it is one of the most healthful exercises there are. It exercises nearly all the muscles of the body, and stimulates deep breathing, while it improves lung capacity and brings fresh oxygen into the lungs. This, in turn, clears cobwebs from the brain. (Fresh oxygen is vital to tiptop brain function.) If you are easily bored, tending to be logy and lethargic, I suggest you take up swimming. It will give you a new buoyancy. Swimming can make any middleager prouder of his middle. When middle-age spread, "rubber tire," and "flabby hips" begin to make their appearance it is time to get into the swimming pool. A 8 If you are a good swimmer but feel you don't have time for it, take the time. A few minutes in a pool two or three times a week will do much to flatten the tummy, tone up the hips, and correct body contours. Swimming is better than any girdle, corset, or foundation garment yet designed. Muscles were meant to be used, not to become flabby in constant idleness. One point about swimming is that it requires even less effort than walking. The water buoys you up, making movement easier. Done properly, it is not hard work. With long, smooth strokes you'll glide through the water with the greatest of ease. Posture perfectionists tell us that swimming is an excellent means for bringing muscles back into line and body stance into a more erect position. By loosening and stretching the right muscles, we find we stand straighter and have an easier stride when we get out of the pool. Swimming is something anybody TIPS FOR SAFE SWIMMING 1. Never swim alone. Pick a safe place, with a lifeguard present. 2. After a hard swim, rest. Don't get chilled in the water, but go ashore and warm up. Fatigue and chilling are preludes to polio in many cases. 3. Avoid showing off and horseplay in the water. Accidents may mean broken bones and can be fatal. 4. Stay ashore after dark and in rough weather. 5. When too tired, change your stroke or float. Don't overdo it. Quit while it is still fun. 6. In case of cramps—keep cool. Cramps don't cause drowning. Ineffective movements and overbreathing can aggravate cramps. Stretch the muscle involved. For calf cramp, straighten knee fast. In sole cramp, press cramped foot against the instep of the other foot and extend toes. 7. If caught in current don't fight it, but swim parallel to shore. 8. When racing, never race out to sea but toward the shore. Know how far you can swim and make certain the racing distance is shorter than your limit. 9. Only good swimmers should go boating. 10. Don't dive from a boat. It may overturn. Slide out of the boat over the side. Should boat swamp or tip, stay with it and keep calm. LIFE & HEALTH can learn. All you need is water, a swimsuit, and the willingness to enjoy yourself. Everybody should develop his swimming skill for his own pleasure and protection. It is a sport that can be enjoyed with a buddy, with the whole family, or with a group of friends. What could be more fun than taking the whole family to the beach, jumping into the breakers, swimming in the surf, and tossing the beach ball back and forth to the kids? But what can be more treacherous than being caught in deep water, unable to swim? You can learn to swim at any age. You are never too old. In fact, if your joints seem a little creaky the water is just what you need. For swimming can make arthritic sufferers more comfortable. European spas that offer water baths for arthritic patients capitalize on joint movements under water. But how much cheaper it is to swim in your local lake or pool than to travel to a foreign spa! The buoyant effect of the water on your body will make joint movements easier than they would be in the air. Hydrotherapy is recommended by rehabilitation specialists for arthritic patients. So get in the swim, and watch those joints loosen up! For you who say, "Where can I learn to swim?" the question is easily answered. Your local American Red Cross conducts swimming classes. In fact, YMCA and YWCA are pioneers in the field of water sports and water safety, having conducted classes for more than 72 years. They operate 700 pools and 600 camps in the United States. You can be one of 360,000 who learn good swimming each year at the "Y." One of the joys that came to me as a boy was learning to swim at the Glendale, California, YMCA, and I've been swimming at the "Y" ever since. From personal experience I can say that swimming is one of the best body-building sports we have. It keeps you fit, makes you feel safer, offers you refreshing fun, and adds zip and zing to your life. If you don't know how to swim enroll in a class at your YMCA right now. If you do know and have been neglecting the sport get back in the swim and see what you've been missing. Make sure your children learn too. It will keep them safe in a boat and enhance your summer's fun. Yours for swimming fun and safety, JULY, 1959 ROFIRS 0 Our eontTi6utot.3 E. William Immermann, M.D. ("Do You Suffer With Your Back?" page 13), is a Chicago, Illinois, orthopedic surgeon. He is author of the classic book Heart Disease. Dr. White's writings are referred to by physicians around the world. He is a former chairman of the committee on cardiovascular disease of the National Research Council, executive director of the National Advisory Heart Council, and president of the International Society of Cardiology. LIFE AND HEALTH was honored to publish one of Dr. White's first articles outside scientific journals. Most of his writing has been for the profession, in heart journals, especially the American Heart Journal and Circulation. He is a pastpresident of the American Heart Association. Dr. White has two children, and lives in Belmont, Massachusetts. He enjoys daily bicycling, working outdoors. He is an extensive traveler, and has made many trips to Europe, Hawaii, Russia, and. Africa. * Dr. Immermann is a graduate of the University of Illinois School of Medicine, and served his internship and orthopedic residency at Cook County Hospital. He spent three years as a major in the Army doing orthopedic reconstructive surgery at Hoff, Mayo, and Oliver General hospitals. At present he is on the teaching staff at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University. He is vice-chairman of the department of bone-and-joint surgery at Mercy Hospital, where he is a senior attending orthopedist. A member of many medical organizations, he is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Dr. Immermann is married to the actress Toni Gilman, who assisted in the drawings noted in his article, and they have three children. His favorite hobby when time permits is photography. * * * Jessie Wilmore Murton ("Evening Prayer," page 34) is a Battle Creek, Michigan, housewife-poet. Born in Kentucky and educated in Tennessee, she moved to Battle Creek after her marriage, where she became a medical secretary of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. She has written verse and articles for magazines and newspapers for many years and published three books of poetry. * * * 4 * Paul Dudley White, M.D. ("Bicycling for Health," page 18), heart consultant to President Eisenhower, is one of the leading authorities on heart disease in the United States. His article reveals some of the findings of his long experience as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and physician in charge of the Cardiac Laboratory and Clinics at the Massachusetts General Hospital for many years. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and educated in the Roxbury Latin School and at. Harvard University. He has been a student all his life. At one time he was a Harvard Traveling Fellow in London, and early became interested in research, practice, and teaching in the field of heart disease. Science writer Shirley Motter Linde ("How to Keep Cool," page 15) lives at Lake Lotawana near Kansas City, Missouri. Most of the time when she isn't doing free-lance writing she spends with her husband, Doug, and their infant son, Scott, either on the lake sailing and water skiing or in the lake and swimming. Their home is right on the lake front, so you can guess how well they like the water. Shirley was born in Cincinnati in 1929, earned a B.S. in zoology from the University of Cincinnati and an M.S. in physiology from the University of Michigan. She got her training in writing in a couple of night school courses and now enjoys conducting workshops in creative writing at the lake. 9 f. THE PITY OF SURRENDER By HARRY MOYLE TIPPETT Life's greatest victories are often seen through the prism of tears. Whittier expressed the lament, "Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress trees!" The cypress tree has long been associated with sorrow, and the poet's thought is that he is bereft indeed who never sees through the murk of grief to a clearer sky beyond. The patriarch Job was recording no new observation when he declared, "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." In a world of chance and error such as we live in, there must needs come occasional spoiling of plans and frequent detours on the way toward coveted goals. Bleak is the chill of dreams that never came true, but rare is the life that has never seen the shimmering horizon suddenly grow dark with ominous storm clouds. Few of us meet these comthon calamities with the confident assurance of the young fellow who hired out to a farmer with the mystifying claim, "I can sleep in the wind." The farmer desperately needed help or he never would have taken the fellow on, for the boy just smiled when asked what he meant. A week or so later a great storm arose, with gales that tore at the very roots of the trees. So sudden was the onslaught in its fury that the fanner in alarm rushed down fanner scurried to the house and there in the attic where the boy roomed he found him fast asleep. The young fellow's claim to be able to sleep in the wind was now clear—he had meant that he heeded the weather warnings and prepared for the inevitable blow. But many of us sail so long on smooth seas that we forget that tempests often suddenly arise, and when they do we have no chosen haven. We have not fortified our spirits with faith and reserve courage to cope with life's sudden furies. Having no resources in trust and prayer, we surrender to the reversal of our good fortune and helplessly resign ourselves to an unhappy fate. Like Miss Havisham in Dickens' Great Expectations we have no plans for emergencies in an evil hour. She was to be married, you remember, but the bridegroom never came. The guests were gathered in happy, chattering groups, the banqueting table groaned with the wedding feast, the bride was glowingly beautiful in her nuptial gown. But the hour for the nuptials passed and time ceased for the bride at twenty minutes to nine, the hour of her humiliation. The shades were drawn, and she lived thereafter in darkness lighted only by candles. The description 65 k of the decay that followed fills the mind with dismay. The bride had met trouble with unconditional surrender. No greater tragedy is there than this—to succumb to trouble without a struggle—for it indicates a breakdown of one's spiritual forces. Many a defeat has been turned into victory by refusing to take a rain check in time of tears and resolutely carrying on with new plans, yes, even if need be, with a new objective. In baseball every good manager knows that the game isn't won or lost till the last man is out. Perhaps the following fragment of verse will suggest the way: "Did you tackle that trouble that came your way With a resolute heart and cheerful? Or hide your face from the light of day With a craven soul and fearful? Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce, Or a trouble is what you make it, And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts, But only how did you take it?" to the cattle yard to house his livestock. To his great surprise the cows and horses were in the barn and the door was shut, a tarpaulin was battened down over the haystack, and the lighter farm machinery was anchored to stable moorings. When he shouted for the new farm hand he was nowhere to be found, but as the floods descended the 10 There is one kind of surrender, of course, that is sublime. It is the yielding of the life in humble consecration to God's holy will as outlined in the Bible, the only divine revelation of truth. Within the sanctuary of its precepts and promises we can calm our common fears and sheath the sharp edges of sorrow. Out of the inner peace this brings we gather strength to press forward to surprising victories. LIFE & HEALTH ATHLETE'S FOOT A. G. H. HOEHII, M.D. Several suggestions to help relieve the itchiness of this distressing malady OB COULD hardly keep his shoes on during the summer. His feet itched so badly, especially between the toes, that sometimes the itching nearly drove him crazy. "You've got athlete's foot," his friends told him. "Go to your doctor and he'll clear it up." "No, no," Bob countered, "Doctors can't do anything for this. t emember Jack? He went to the doctor every two weeks last summer, and the doctor didn't help him at all." It is true that some cases of athlete's foot* baffle the most skilled medical men. It is also true that Bob B probably would get a lot of relief if he went to his doctor, for most cases of athlete's foot can be cleared up in a reasonable length of time under proper care. The disease is caused by a group of fungi that penetrate the skin of the foot but cannot invade living tissue directly. On other parts of the body these same fungi may produce ringworm. But though the fungi feed on only the dead portion of the skin, they produce toxins that irritate the living tissue, making it red, even causing it to bleed. The irritation increases the amount of dead skin cast off, thus providing more food and moisture for the fungus to multiply on. Of course, the fungus has to grow faster than the skin sheds. It can never be inactive or it would be shed off with the dead skin the same as a spot of ink or other dye that penetrates the skin is slowly grown off. So, occasionally, the severity of the reaction of the body will shed tissue so rapidly that the fungus is mechanically cast off because it cannot penetrate as fast as the skin sheds. The common fallacy of trying to blister the skin to cure the disease probably has its origin in this fact. There is no question but that some cases of a chronic fungus infection are cleared up by a violent irritant Athlete's foot may be transmitted in public locker rooms. A healthy skin is a better barrier against infection than are antiseptic foot baths. JULY, 1959 11 that blisters off the skin. However, most cases have widespread spores all around the spot that is obviously infected and reinfection occurs before the broken skin can heal again. Then the pain and suffering caused by the blistering are in vain. Indeed, secondary infection and serious results frequently follow injudicious home care of this sort, and many patients have had the opportunity of relaxing in a hospital bed because they followed a friend's advice to put on a strong preparation that would "burn out" the disease. The problem of how people become infected with fungi has no definite answer. To quote Dr. Albert M. Kligman, "What seems impressive is not the infectiousness of the ringworm fungi, but the high natural resistance of the skin of normal human beings" (Therapy of Fungus Diseases, Little, Brown & Co. Copyright, 1955). Experimental attempts to infect healthy people, using thousands of spores, usually fail or establish only a mild infection that clears quickly of its own accord. Spreading among members of the same family is rare in temperate zones, despite years of exposure; but it is known that cuts, scratches, burns, blisters, or anything that breaks the skin may be followed by infection. Even in these cases it seems to be necessary for a person to be susceptible to the disease first, for attempts to infect cuts and scratches experimentally have usually failed. A patient having a fungus infection of one nail is likely to have it spread to another nail if he develops a hangnail or crushes the nail in a car door. A person with one or more nails already infected must be careful not to use his nails as screw drivers or can openers and should not push back the cuticle. It is known that humidity, which prevents evaporation of perspiration, predisposes to infection and makes the infections much more severe. Some reports from the armed forces indicate that 95 per cent of all personnel become infected with varying degrees of superficial fungus infection when stationed in humid areas. It is also accepted that exposure to unaccustomed organisms makes a difference. A severe outbreak of fungus infections of the feet and groin, frequently occurs after students move into a college dormitory. It has been thought that such an outbreak is caused by exposure to new fungi, but now it is known that fungi are spread so universally that the same organisms that cause a mild infection in the United States are apt to produce violent and disabling infections under the humid conditions of the South Pacific. In fact, of all the many severe infections observed in the South Pacific, only one pathogenic fungus was found that was not native to the United States, and it caused less than a dozen known cases. In public locker rooms the fungi that cause infections are not new strains but probably only more active varieties of strains the patient has been exposed to before. No known lights, powders, or foot baths have proved effective in eliminating fungus spores from these locker rooms or in preventing the infection of persons who dress there. At present, cleanliness of showers and locker rooms is advised, but requiring all visitors to walk through antiseptic solutions has a psychological benefit only. 12 Fortunately, under ordinary conditions the majority of cases of athlete's foot can be cleared up easily. That is why druggists' shelves are crowded with remedies that have a faithful and vocal following. Most of the preparations are useless on the resistant infections. But the directions given for using them are often quite helpful. It is similar to laxatives that require numerous full glasses of water with each dose. The water is the valuable part of the treatment, and if taking the medicine will get you to drink the water, it is probably worth it. The important point to remember in the treatment and prevention of athlete's foot is that fungi are plants that need food and moisture. Without either of these the fungi will die. Therefore: 1. Starve the fungi—remove their food supply. a. Wash the feet with a bland soap or with one of the newer soaps advertised as containing hexachlorophene. (Ask your doctor to give you the name of one, if necessary.) Be careful to wash between the toes and to rub off any dead skin there and on the soles. Washing once a day will suffice for most people, but if the patient perspires heavily, wash twice a day. b. Use clean socks daily, because dead tissue in socks will keep fungi alive. C. Walk barefoot frequently. This tends to rub off dead skin faster than when socks and shoes are used. 2. Dry out the fungi—remove their water supply. a. Dry the feet carefully after washing. Dry between the toes and the edges of the toenails specifically. Public lockers frequently have wet floors, so that the soles of the feet are still wet when the socks are put on. b. Change socks daily or even' twice daily if sweating is a problem, or go barefoot as soon as you get home. Use open, airy socks and do not depend on heavy socks to soak up the. sweat. These usually keep the feet surrounded with moisture. c. A bland foot powder containing pure talcum (with or without perfume) will absorb further moisture and help to keep the feet dry. Use medicated powders with caution. Put the powder in the shoes too. d. Change shoes frequently so the soles and lining are not still moist from the previous day. Some people need to leave a pair three or four days to dry out properly. e. Change to slippers or thongs on getting home from the office. f. Avoid all caffeine products if sweating is a problem. This includes tea, coffee, and cola drinks. g. Exercise the toes so they spread apart and are not cramped tightly together. Undoubtedly the open arrangement of the toes accounts for the rarity of this infection in children. 3. Have your doctor prescribe a bland cream containing one of the undecylenic acid preparations. These are to date the most effective antifungal preparations available that are relatively (Turn to page 27) LIFE & HEALTH Do You Suffer With Your Back? At3 E. WILLIAM immERmAnn, M.D. What you are doing to prevent backache may be the very thing that is causing it! Mut HAT low back pain that sometimes bothers you may be eliminated if you learn correct posture. "What is wrong with my posture? I always sit and stand straight," you say. But standing "straight"—holding the shoulders and neck back with an exaggerated hollow in the low back—is not correct posture. Many folks are familiar with military parade grounds where soldiers stand at attention for hours at a time. It is no wonder so many men used to drop to the ground in a faint and end up at the dispensary with a "GI back." In recent years as the knowledge of the cause and prevention of low back pain has advanced, this situation has been largely corrected in the Army. The general public, however, has not yet taken advantage of this advanced knowledge. What is correct posture? The correct stance in walking, sitting, and standing is one in which the buttocks (hips) are tucked up and under, as if one were walking uphill. This flattens out the curve of the lower spine, shifting the center of gravity away from the spine and permitting more room for the nerves that branch out from the spinal column. Frequently this position will correct a ruptured disc or prevent such an injury. As one approaches the middle thirties the muscles of the buttocks and "stomach" become flabby. This loss of muscle strength causes the pelvis to tilt downward, increasing the hollow in the low back and causing the abdomen to project outward. These muscles become increasingly flabby, till they cannot support the pelvis T JuLr, 1959 13 111 1 1,1 ! eI 1 .11 1 1 1,1!..11 1.111...11 against the strong pull of the back muscles, and the back curve increases. A frequent cause of back pain after childbirth is related to the failure of the mother to carry out exercises that would restore the strength of muscles stretched and weakened by the birth. Our mode of living today is such that we tend to avoid those activities that would help the posture and strengthen the muscles. We shy away from walking, though it would strengthen the muscles of our buttocks. In fact, what walking we do is usually done improperly, walking with our legs rather than our hips, so that buttocks remain almost completely relaxed. Good posture is a 24-hbur-a-day job and not one limited to a few exercises in the morning. Certain exercises are helpful, but these play only a small part. One should practice correct posture throughout the day. Flattening of the low back can be learned by standing with your feet about six inches from a wall and resting the shoulders and back flat against the wall. While in this position rotate the hips up and forward so that your hand cannot be placed between the low back and the wall. When the entire trunk is flat against the wall, push yourself forward with your hands. Without changing the flat position of your back, attempt to walk. At first your movements will be stiff. But with practice you will learn the feel of correct posture, and it will come easily. The upward roll of the pelvis or hips can also be learned by standing with knees bent. After you learn the knack of rolling the pelvis, repeat it with the knees straight. At first there will be a tendency to walk with the shoulders held forward. This will be corrected when the art of flattening the low back is learned. It may take a few weeks or two or three months, depending on the effort you put into it. Back Exercises There are only a few exercises that are really beneficial. (An increasing number of back problems, lately, have resulted from improper exercises directed on morning radio and television shows.) Hamstring Stretch. Stretching the muscles that travel from the pelvis to below the knees is best accomplished in a seated position with the knees held straight. Rock back and forth with outstretched arms, attempting to touch the toes with the finger tips. This should not be done standing up, since arising from the stooped position with the knees straight can cause back pain. The Tummy Tightener. The abdominal muscles are developed while lying on the floor with the knees bent. Keeping the feet flat on the floor, attempt to rise to a sitting position. One may not be able to arise to a complete sitting position, but the attempt to do so will develop the muscles. Back Stretch. The exercise to stretch the back is performed while lying flat on the floor and drawing the knees toward each armpit while rocking back and forth. Buttocks Bounce. To strengthen the muscles of the buttocks lie on the floor with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Fold your hands across the lower abdomen to remind you not to move that part of your 14 I.L1y•11.P Ili anatomy. Keeping the back flat on the floor, roll the hips upward by tightening the buttocks. Then bounce two or three times. These exercises are done at least twice a day. Begin by doing each of them ten times. Every third day increase the number by two until you are doing each exercise twenty-four times. It isn't enough just to walk and stand properly. Most daily activities should be performed with low back flat. But when one lifts a heavy object it is important that the low back be rounded and the knees bent. Upon arising to the erect position, one should not carry the object by leaning backward and resting it against the chest or abdomen. Support it with the arms and hands. If it is too heavy to carry in this manner, the knees should be kept bent and the back rounded until relieved of the load. Whenever stooping it is important to bend the knees. Rising when the knees are straight often produces a back strain. Such activities as reaching for a shelf, painting, hanging clothes, et cetera, should be done at or below shoulder level. Whenever the arms are lifted above this level, the curve of the low back tends to increase. The use of a footstool or ladder will eliminate this difficulty. Improper sitting is a frequent cause of back discomfort. To sit in a chair with the knees lower than the hips produces a hollow in the low back that causes discomfort. This can be corrected by either having a chair of correct height (the hips lower than the knees), by crossing one leg over the other, or by using a footrest with the knees bent. The so-called posture chair used in business offices is often the cause of painful, tired backs. A chair that places the hips at a higher level than the knees and which has a pad for the hollow of the back is ideally designed to cause back pain. The height of the chair should be lowered and the backrest raised so it supports the upper back, keeping the lower back curved outward rather than inward. There is no objection to sitting on a soft upholstered chair. Usually the discomfort associated with this type of chair is produced in rising, since the arms are used to raise oneself out of the chair, and this causes the back to arch. It would be better to lean forward and use the legs for rising. In using a footrest the feet should be placed on its surface, raising the knees higher than the hips. Stretching the legs out on the floor or on a footrest tends to curve the low back. The contour chair, if fitted properly, fulfills the necessary prerequisites for proper posture. Proper posture is also necessary in bed. To sleep on your stomach causes the low back to arch inward, producing an aching, tired back in the morning. Sleeping on either side, with the knees partly bent on a firm mattress is usually most restful. Sleeping on the back is made comfortable by placing a pillow or blanket roll under the knees. Frequently during the day a housewife finds comfort by lying on the floor with her legs on a chair and a couple of pillows under her head and shoulders. If the suggestions made here are conscientiously followed, the chances for relief (Turn to page 25) LIFE & HEALTH HOW TO KEEP BY SHIRLEY (HOTTER LIRDE T'S HOT. Before you've finished breakfast your shirt is soaked and your face is greasy. Temperature and tempers are on a rampage. You wilt into the nearest chair and wonder, "How can I weather the weather ?" You don't have to worry about burning up, scientists say. Your body has the heat under automatic control. No matter how hot the day becomes, your body will still be at its normal average, within a degree I EWING GALLOWAY There is no doubt that this is a good way to keep cool in summer! JULY. 1959 Your clothing, your diet, and the design of your house help keep you warm or cool. or two of 98.6° F. In fact, men have survived experiments of being in 240° F. for half an hour. Raw steak would be cooked by such treatment. The thermostat that aids in this amazing control is the hypothalamus, a small nerve center in the brain that is so sensitive it responds to a change of only half a degree in the temperature of your blood. When the blood temperature rises, messages from the hypothalamus cause the blood to rush to the capillaries in the skin where it can be cooled by the outside air. The hypothalamus also helps the body lose heat by promoting the evaporation of moisture in the lungs and the evaporation of sweat off the skin. Men working in a hot dry atmosphere have lost as much as a quart and a half of water by evaporation in one hour. For those who don't want to simmer all summer, doctors suggest a few simple ideas. A cool head. Don't let yourself become angry or tense over minor annoyances. For when you are hot under the collar you are hot all over. Anger actually makes your body generate heat. Relax, take your time doing things, let your muscles go limp. Work smoothly and rhythmically. Hum a tune. And while you're reading the rest of these suggestions, stretch yourself in the shade with a glass of lemonade. Cool water. Soak your head in water and let it evaporate. It feels so good. Babies are more vulnerable to heat than adults, so if they seem troubled in hot weather, keep their heads moist with a wet cap or handkerchief. 15 Sweat glands will work more effectively if you wash away accumulated wastes on the skin by frequent baths. A cool bath is always good for a refreshed outlook. Clothing. The best way to keep cool is not to throw off your clothes as some seem to think. Your body should be covered to protect it from the sun, but there should be plenty of opportunity for air to circulate. Lightweight, loose-fitting, porous garments with a coarse mesh are good. Choose material easy to launder for frequent changes. Color is important too. Dark colors absorb heat and make the body hotter; light colors reflect the heat and keep the body cooler. White helps you look and feel fresh; If you must be out in direct sunlight for a long time, wear a hat. A porous cap that protects your head from the sun and still lets air circulate around your scalp will save you from many headaches and possible sunstroke. Food. The answer to dark, hot clothing may be to dye it lighter, but a lighter diet is not the answer to your summer food problems. You still need three healthy meals a day with vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk, cereal, and bread. Cut down on rich foods. They produce a lot of body heat. Concentrate more on fresh fruits and vegetables—cool meals to combat the boiling temperature outside. Be sure to eat a breakfast that's big enough to keep you going all morning. And it shouldn't be necessary to warn you against bolting down your food and then rushing out into the sun, or worse yet, going swimming right away. When you perspire, your body loses a large amount of water. This must be replaced, for if it isn't you will soon feel even more tired and listless, and in extreme cases may go into shock. So drink six to eight glasses' of water or fruit juice every day. Do it gradually, not in one huge gallon gulp that cramps your stomach. Much salt is lost, too, when you sweat, so put salt back into your system with salty foods. If you do heavy work that causes profuse sweating, check with your doctor about taking salt tablets. If you take these on an empty stomach, you may be nauseated, so take them with a glass of water after a meal. Your house. To keep the heat out in the daytime, close all the windows and doors and pull the shades on the side where the sun is shining. Awnings also will help keep the sun out, but you should leave the sides partially open to allow air to circulate. Plan for future heat spells by planting shade trees. At night open your windows top and bottom to let hot air out, cool air in. If the day is blazing hot, soak the porch roof and awnings with your garden hose. As the water evaporates it will absorb heat. Better yet, insulate the attic to keep some of the heat from ever getting into the house. Use fans liberally. Don't invite colds by letting fans blow directly on people, but use them to circulate the air in the room. Put one in your kitchen window, facing outward to draw away the heat from cooking. (Turn to page 29) 16 Medicated Baths for Skin Rashes By MARY CATHERINE NOBLE, R.N., R.P.T. Physical Therapy Department Washington Sanitarium and Hospital Washington, D.C. A bath in oatmeal? Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it? But I am sure you have heard of a soda or starch bath for someone with an itchy rash. Oatmeal, soda, or starch added to bath water soothes irritated skin and hastens healing. It is wise to consult your physician in a severe skin irritation, for some irritations are made worse by water. If a soothing bath is prescribed, the following suggestions may prove helpful. Water of a neutral temperature (94°-97° F.) is used for each of these baths. The water in the tub should be deep enough to cover the patient's body, coming well up on the neck. If the soda bath is to be used, about one pound of bicarbonate of soda should be made into a paste and added to the water. If starch is used, choose a fine laundry starch, made from corn. (Most laundry starch is made from corn, but some starches are coarser than others.) About one pound of starch, made into a paste with cold water, is added to the tub. For the oatmeal bath choose a quick-cooking oatmeal and use one or two pounds. Oatmeal must be put in a thin muslin bag and tied securely so that only the beneficial colloidal substances get into the bath. The oatmeal may be cooked first, using more water than one uses when preparing breakfast cereal, or it may be placed in the bag and very hot water run over it. If this is done first, the temperature of the bath must be cooled to the neutral temperature before use, since a higher temperature will increase the itching and discomfort. There is a colloid oatmeal preparation on the market called Aveeno. It does not require cooking and the tub is easily cleaned after the bath. You should be able to obtain it from your druggist. Instructions for use are on the box. Articles Needed 1. Two or three bath towels. 2. Bath mat. 3. Washcloth. (Turn to page 31) LIFE & HEALTH BY ARTHUR L. BIETZ, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Christianity, College of Medical Evangelists It is not possible to avoid all troubles, but we can learn to meet them courageously. `1•• .11 I If you sometimes feel like this, Dr. Bietz will cheer you up. WOMAN came to my office a while back and lamented, "I can't take any more. Each week that I see coming scares me. I have gotten to the place where I'm sad when I'm happy, because I feel guilty for feeling good when things are so bad." Perhaps there is more of this woman's attitude in each of us than we would like to admit. We are all familiar with the Negro spiritual: A "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down. Sometimes I'm almost to the ground." The greatest- mistake we could make is to shut our eyes to the fact that there is trouble in the world. We can't pretend that if we ignore trouble, it will go away. The Bible itself is concerned with man's tribulation. In Job 5:7 we read: "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." And in John 16:33 the JULY, 1959 Master observed, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." So trouble and problems are a settled fact. Some of the most unhappy people in the world are the ones who feel compelled to be happy all the time. If you take the attitude that in this world you should be free from all difficulties and hardships, you will never be able to face the future without fear and trembling. Actually, the first sign of real Christian maturity and mental hygiene is the capacity to face reality. Before you begin another day ask yourself this question, "Have you grown in your troubles, or have you been shattered by them?" The answer to this question is the fork in the road. You see, the blow of a hammer on glass shatters the glass into a thousand useless pieces; the blow of a hammer on steel forges the steel into instruments of unmeasured usefulness. The problem is not, How much trouble do we have? but, How do we react to our troubles? Some people can lose loved ones, financial fortunes, even their health; but they can still meet Monday morning with a smile. Others surrender to the slightest passing irritation. The difference between us is probably not that some of us have fewer troubles than others; we differ in the way we handle our troubles. Briefly, let us enumerate a few of the most important ways in which we ought to face our days: 1. Don't be bitter. Lin Yutang is one of my favorite philosophers. He tells the story of a Chinese ,who stopped by a market (Turn to page 23) 17 B I CYC I 1\ PAUL DUI Heart Consultant WHITE STAR Dr. White attributes his good health to frequently riding a bicycle. other children, I had a bicycle as a boy. I played with it, I rode to school on it, and I ran errands with it. In those days, fifty or more years ago, there were few automobiles on the streets, and this method of locomotion was quite safe. As a freshman going to college, I used to ride my bicycle morning and afternoon from where I lived in Roxbury to Cambridge and back again, a fivemile distance twice a day. It was perfectly easy and practical. In later years, I took many bicycle trips with my wife in Europe, where there are excellent facilities for bicycle travelers. This was especially true in Holland, where we spent a week cycling around the country on paths both broad and narrow, reserved entirely for cyclists. It was a delightful experience and a pleasant and inexpensive way to see the country. We cycled also in Sweden, England, and France. Our family continues to ride bicycles. We have a small place at Harvard, Massachusetts, thirty miles outside of Boston, where we can enjoy our cycling. However, on occasion we have cycled in other places, for example in New Hampshire; and one summer my son and I cycled around Martha's Vineyard on a very pleasant day. We put our bicycles on the train leaving Boston for Woods Hole, transported them across a IKE 18 short bit of water by boat to Vineyard Haven, and after a pleasant night's sleep cycled to Squibnocket, Menemsha Bight, West Tisbury, and on to Edgartown, where we spent the second night. This day's ride covered about thirty miles. It was perfectly easy and pleasant, and because we were not accustomed to cycling very much, it left us pleasantly tired. Actually, such a distance is less than a third of what our fathers thought very little of when they did a "century," that is, one hundred miles a day. In these days of softness and lackadaisical exercise, a thirty-mile ride renders many of my friends and associates aghast. There are many health reasons why cycling is to be highly recommended if it can be done safely. It helps build good muscle tone, much needed by the American people today. It aids: 1. The circulation, and thereby the heart and its work, by keeping the blood actively moving in the legs (muscular contraction squeezes the veins, which with their valves direct the blood back toward the heart). 2. The lungs, which through good tone of the diaphragm make it easier to bring oxygen into the body and pump out carbon dioxide. 3. The brain, by keeping down the cobwebs therein. 4. The nerves, through improving sleep and maintaining equanimity and sanity (vital needs in this country today and a help in combating the hysteria about a red Indian behind every tree or a witch in every college classroom, along with the current ridiculous slavery of our people—men, women, and children -.—to the television and other push-button devices, which should be our tools and not our masters). 5. Our digestion, whereby it may even protect against peptic ulcers if we don't try to establish new speed records every day. 6. Our weight, in its control, if we at the same time keep the caloric and fat content of our diet where it belongs. LIFE & HEALTH 1G for HEALTH BY WHITE, M.D. President Eisenhower 7. Our longevity, since it may quite possibly help in the long run (like other healthy exercise) in reducing the amount of high blood pressure, coronary thrombosis, and diabetes that have engulfed us. This, of course, we must determine by further detailed research, but there is a strong likelihood that it is true. Certainly both for private individuals and for the community and country at large, the substitution of at least a small fraction of the excessive traffic on the roads today by bicycles on safe paths should be a useful step in economy. There are various arguments that can readily be advanced: 1. The initial cost of the bicycle is much less than that of an automobile. A bicycle requires little attention, is able to stand hard use, and can be repaired easily. 2. A bicycle requires no gasoline. 3. It can traverse all types of roads. If a road is blocked, the rider can walk and remount at the first clearing. 4. Almost everyone, aged four to ninety, can ride a bike or can be taught to ride in a few hours. 5. When accidents between bicycles occur, there is much less danger of serious injury to passenger or machine than in the case of the automobile. 6. It is possible to equip bicycles with side cars to transport passengers. One correspondent said that it might be possible to attach a small truck to carry supplies. The argument that a bicycle is difficult to use in severe weather is of some importance, but in almost all cities and towns in the United States cycling can be a practical method of transportation for eight or nine months of the year. Bicycling can be useful as well as enjoyable. It can become and should become, as in Europe and many places abroad, a routine of daily life, to take us to work, to visit our friends, (Turn to page 25) WIDE WORLD PHOTOS With Chicago's Mayor Richard I. Daley at the helm, Dr. White rides tandem in Chicago's Ogden Park. JULY, 1959 19 ale 3coilitj Yhjsician We do not diagnose or treat disease by mail, but answer general health questions. Enclose stamped, addressed envelope. Address: Family Physician, LIFE & HEALTH, Washington 12, D.C. Drinking Sea Water Several of the people I work with say that drinking sea water is good for the health. Some of them even travel to the ocean to buy the water at $1.25 a gallon. One of them claims that his niece, who has multiple sclerosis, was greatly helped by the water. What do you think? There is always someone coming along and claiming that this or that substance has special curative powers. Just because Aunt Martha ate kelp boiled in goat's milk and got over her asthma, it must obviously follow that the kelp and goat's milk effected the cure. Witch doctors in Africa reason the same way, only there they use dried crocodile skin and elephant's hairs instead of sea kelp and goat's milk. We know of no advantage in drinking ocean water. It is argued that it contains certain minerals that are useful in human nutrition. But these minerals may be obtained in ordinary food just as well. We have known of an instance in which "ocean water" was sold at a good figure, making money for the distributors. It was simply ordinary water taken from the city supply. Certain chemicals were added to it and it was sold as an ocean product. Split Fingernails have trouble with my fingernails —they split and grow ridges. Calcium lactate pills helped for a while, but not any more. What should I do next? The nutrition of the nails is not fully understood. Calcium lactate is sometimes advised and results are often encouraging. In many instances of nail imperfection the trouble is caused by the absence of certain minerals in the diet. The freer use of vegetables is frequently helpful. Some people are helped by using additional quantiI 20 ties of vitamin and mineral mixtures. We do not know of any single plan that can be advised, but recommend the reinforcement of the diet over periods of time, watching results. Falling Hair Is there any help for a man who is losing his hair? Does a break in the blood supply to the scalp cause baldness? Can yeast flakes be of help? It seems evident that interference with the blood supply of the scalp is often a factor in the cessation of the growth of hair, but we do not believe it to be the case in all instances. We have seen young men of 20 with practically no hair left. There are various causes of hair loss such as local infection in the glands around the hair roots. Inadequate nutrition probably plays a part sometimes, and there apparently are familial tendencies toward the loss of hair. Some families have practically no record of baldness, whereas others have frequent early baldness. god mows My need By MINERVA OTTO RAU Cod knows my need, for am I not His creature That He Himself has molded from the clay? Therefore He knows my every trait and feature. I lean on Him for strength to meet each day. He gives me books and friends; sunshine and shade; Smooth-flowing hours that cast in high relief Rare, wondrous moments; pain soon overlaid By new-found joy to ease the sting of grief. How can I doubt His wisdom who knows well The winding path each human being treads? What would be best for me, I cannot tell, But when I've made of life a thing of shreds And patches, He it is who mends, And smooths to beauty frayed and tattered ends. If the scalp itself is suspected in any way, it can be gently massaged with the tips of the fingers with a lubricant such as olive oil. Benefit may come in this way. Yeast flakes, because they contain vitamin B, theoretically may be of some value. In certain animal experimentation the giving of large portions of vitamin B, seems to have led to an improved growth of hair and improved color. But the lifetime of animals is not parallel to that of human beings, and we do not have evidence that similar changes can be expected in people. Undeveloped Breasts I have a friend in her early twenties whose breasts have not developed —they have stayed small like a girl about 14. Is there anything that can be done? Please let me know as soon as you can. Some girls naturally have large busts, while others do not. We have seen flat-chested women raise families. At the time of childbirth they develop moderate-sized breasts that supply adequate milk for their children. The normal experience is that when a girl reaches puberty the breasts grow to a marked fullness. At this age, they are made up mostly of fatsupporting tissue, which could not of itself produce milk. The glandular, milk-producing tissue is buried in this fatty substance and develops more completely during pregnancy. Flat breasts may actually produce more milk than a very large breast that is predominantly fat. Where the breasts have not grown, certain glandular preparations and hormones may help. These should be administered under the careful guidance of a physician. The improper use of hormones in the early years of adult life is not recommended. The use of creams is not satisfactory. LIFE & HEALTH mind if I SMOKE? by Harold Shryock, M.D. Four hundred billion cigarettes were consumed by Americans in 1958. What did they do for the consumer? Have you ever wondered what the honest, unbiased facts are about cigarette smoking? From the pen of a noted medical professor and authority on health comes this straightforward presentation. Do you know what the proven facts are about— • Cigarettes and lung cancer? • Cigarettes and heart disease? • The value of the filter-tip cigarette? • Cigarettes and blood pressure? • The increase of lung cancer among women? • The best way to stop smoking? • The claims of the cigarette manufacturers? You will find the answers to these and many other vital questions in MIND IF I SMOKE? A Modern Book for Modern Youth To receive your FREE illustrated brochure on MIND IF I SMOKE? fill in the coupon below and mail to the PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT A, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA Yes, please send me additional material on MIND IF I SMOKE? lh Name Address City State .• the Mother's counselor Questions for this department should be addressed: Mother's Counselor, LIFE Cr HEALTH, Washington 12, D.C. Enclose stamped, addressed envelope for reply. By BELLE WOOD COMSTOCK, M.D. Eczema and Hay Fever Our daughter, age 3, suffered with eczema on the inside of her arms from the age of 7 months. Now the eczema is dormant and she has hay fever. She has difficulty breathing at night and early in the morning. She has a goose-down pillow; her foam-rubber pillow was uncomfortable. Could she be allergic to her pets or to something in her diet? She is probably a nervous, sensitive child and no doubt tends to allergies. It was good to remove the foam-rubber pillow if it wasn't comfortable. You may give her any other kind except a feather one. Kapokfilled pillows are available, also dacron pillows. She could be allergic to some of her pets. Keep her away from them, especially dogs and cats. Her diet should be smooth and bland and easily digested, but it must contain all the essentials. Omit any foods to which she may seem allergic, such as oranges and strawberries. Give her cereals, but avoid wheat. Experiment with eliminating all wheat for a while, except perhaps oven toast baked very crisp. Boil all her milk. Keep her happy and the atmosphere of the home free from anxiety. See your doctor about her. He may advise a soothing ointment. Cod-liver ointments are often good. Breaking Toys My children seem to break every toy I give them. They seem to be naturally destructive. I try to stop them but it does no good. Am I supposed to put up with this as a normal phase that the children will outgrow? I am not sure that children are naturally destructive, but I do know that they are naturally inquisitive and love 22 to take things apart to see what is in- easily. Simple toys of this kind can side and how they run. Whatever be found, and there are educational they get hold of, whether a clock or toys young children enjoy. For older a mechanical toy, they love to take it children, Tinker Toy and erector sets apart and put it together again. satisfy the same need. There was a toddler in my room Breakable toys are not best for the other day. Spying a covered con- children. If a child insists on treattainer, he took it down, set it on the ing his toys roughly, take them from floor beside him, and proceeded to him and put them away, and buy no take the cover off and put it on again. more until he has learned how to use This continued for at least twenty 'them. minutes. He was having great fun. No toy could have pleased him so Tears at Bedtime much. My three-year-old daughter has Give a child a toy he can take apart, and take it apart he surely will. He slept with me and my husband for the would like to put it together again, past two years. She bites her nails but does not always know how. It and seems to be nervous. Every time would be a fine thing for children I try to get her to sleep in her own to have toys they can put together bed she becomes almost hysterical. How can I get her to sleep by herself without upsetting her? It is certainly important that your little girl learn to sleep in her own bed. It is not good for her healthwise to sleep with her parents. She is unMartha, Age Six doubtedly a nervous child. She may be allergic. Perhaps fortifying her By JEAN CARPENTER MERGARD diet with Parke, Davis panteric capsules and Squibbs vitamin B capsules She spends her time on little things— will help. I suggest them for many Or so to us they count for small— children. A bird's crushed egg, an earthworm's plight When you put her into her own litOn stark cement, the fading light tle bed and she becomes hysterical, Of a firefly, and the lonely call screaming, crying, or showing other At night when a whippoorwill sings. evidence of emotionalism, lift her up gently, undress her, and place her She worries for small winter birds; carefully in a tepid or slightly warm When snow upon the hard ground comes bath. With soothing words keep her In drifts and trees are spun with ice, there for a few minutes. Carefully She dons her boots to go out twice hold her head out of the water with A day with suet bits and crumbs, your hand. Calling with sweet, gentle words. This is good treatment for any hysterical child. I think you will find that when you put her back to bed she will Though life's demands make stern our brow, be relaxed and comfortable. We sense her loving impetus; And we must pause to wonder how Give her plenty of loving and cudSo warm a child was born to us. dling during the day, especially just before you want her to go to bed. I believe this will go a long way toward '11F\111I-"Nr",11•11•^11 '11111."--.11,,,IIII--"Ir.1111.^.1 '11111."--"WW solving your problem. - LIFE & HEALTH Monday Morning Blues (Continued from page 17) on his way home from work to purchase a pot of soy sauce. He tied the pot to the end of a bamboo pole and started walking home. Suddenly the pot dropped off the pole and shattered. Someone saw it and yelled, but the Chinese kept right on walking and never turned around. Finally, the man who had seen the accident ran up to him, grabbed his arm, and said, "Man, don't you know your pot of soy sauce fell off?" Complacently the Chinese retorted, "Yes, I heard it break. There's nothing I can do about it, so why should I let it detain me from getting home and enjoying the evening with my family?" Most of us would have done differently and some of us might even have acted like the chap who stubbed his toe on a curb, then in fury backed up and really kicked the curb, so that he ended up with a very sore foot indeed. It would be wonderful if we could all learn that when we have troubles, bitterness only serves to make these troubles worse. 2. Don't surrender to your troubles. So many people hug trouble. One day a doctor told me, "I wish my patients wouldn't identify themselves so quickly with their pain. They hang on to it and entertain it. They love to speak of it and moan over it. They seem to live for it." Christ never surrendered to His troubles. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane He faced them, then said to His disciples, "Rise, let us be going," and He went to meet His would-be captors. Go out and conquer your troubles, before they conquer you! 3. Don't meet your low moods by thinking trouble will help to make you good. Some parents think their children must go through a lot of trouble in order to develop character, so they give them plenty of it. Such thinking is poisonous. The idea that good is the result of evil is false. The best sign of being able to have a happy home is to come from one. Children that do not come from happy homes usually find it difficult to get along with other people. You have perhaps heard of the minister who was walking along with a certain family. His collar was unbuttoned, so one of the solicitous parishioners asked, "What is wrong? I see your collar is unbuttoned and you have a bandage around your neck." "Yes," answered the minister, "I have a number of large boils there, but then, I suppose it's good for us to suffer a little. It teaches us patience." JULY, 1959 At that point a six-year-old girl interrupted with a wise idea. "Well," she said, "if pain is good for you, why don't you button your collar?" The philosophy that the more trouble you have the better you'll be is a poor philosophy. We must believe that trouble is an enemy, but that we can take that enemy and wrest some good from him. 4. Learn to adjust. Learn to be flexible like the trees on the coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The winds have blown against them for years and they have learned to give, but they do not break. They give and come back. An outstanding psychiatrist has said that people break because they cannot adjust. 5. Anticipate low ebbs. This is infinitely important. We must realize and accept that life has its low moments as well as its high ones. Can you laugh when you're low? Can you say, "Well, here I go down; but it won't be for long. I'll be up again"? The music of human experience is played in different keys. If it were all in one key, it would become monotonous. The ocean is not always calm, quietly reflecting the sun. Sometimes the breakers heave and foam and roar tempestuously. 6. Cooperate with adversity. Does this seem strange? For fourteen years a severe backache has kept a man I know in almost constant pain. He says that the only time he can't bear this misfortune is when he has a compulsion to get rid of it; but as he accepts it and cooperates with it, he says he can go on with his lifework. The pain doesn't direct him; he directs his pain. 7. Never dwell on defeat. I like the statement by Tommy Hendricks who was one of the great baseball players of the New York Yankees. He wrote in a book, "Whenever our team loses, I forget that and focus on the next game and make up my mind that the next game is going to be successful. I do that, not because I'm a poor loser, but because I'm so dreadfully afraid that if I keep my eyes on defeat, I will attract it to myself." 8. Acquire a sense of humor. Laugh at yourself. When you suffer from Monday morning blues, look in the mirror and laugh at your own depressed image. Don't take yourself so seriously that you forget how to smile. 9. Take time to reflect. It is always well to think through your problems. And the most comforting part is that you need never face them alone. There is Someone who has already gone through your adversities. He under(Turn to page 27) Beautifully Located in a Suburb of Our Nation's Capital T HIS modern general hospital maintains therapeutic standards aimed at bringing new strength and vigor to body, mind, and spirit of each medical, surgical, and obstetrical case admitted. EUGENE LELAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Riverdale, Maryland et RELIEF From Arthritic, Rheumatic Pain with ieett Effective help for neuritis, colds, and "flu" with THERMOPHORE "fomentations." FACTORY PRICE Money-back Guarantee Pain-soothing heat "at the snap of a switch" gives you quick relaxation and relief from soreness. The Battle Creek THERMOPHORE replaces messy old-style hot packs and wet towels with quick, convenient, moist-heat fomentations. USED BY FAMOUS SANITARIUMS . A professional appliance, yet safely, easily used at home. Satisfied users testify to the effectiveness of the THERMOPHORE when moist heat is desired. Included are a 27" x 13" electric unit (uses AC or DC current), two washable covers, a safety thermostat, a switch, and a 10, cord. Write Today for Literature THERMOPHORE Battle Creek Equipment Co. Dept. LH-79, Battle Creek, Michigan EMENEL'S FOOD YEAST TORUMEL with BALANCED AMINO ACIDS Delicious New Hi-Protein "fabulous for flavor' Easily digested protein equal to milk or meat. Excellent amounts of Phosphorous, iron, calcium, copper, manganese. Richer than all other yeasts in Folic Acid, Methionine, B-12. Only 1/10 aver. sodium. Combats anemia, fatigue, debility. Nutlike flavor. Dissolves instantly. 1 lb. can $1.50 THE EMENEL COMPANY LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA 23 the gotclen, This page is dedicated to all our Golden Age readers who are still young at heart. It is designed to improve and encourage active hobbies, good diet, and outdoor exercise. By OWEN S. PARRETT, M.D. WHAT IS YOUR AGE? fertilizer. It might be called the lazy that he was still alive, even playing man's method, but it worked with my golf ! Was this good luck? Or was it avocado orchard. The trees required because of careful planning? I asked eighty-one years old. "When did you less water and the little roots came up my patient what he thought. "I sat at retire?" I asked him. He laughed. into the mulch. With some added dinner with the doctor," he told me, barnyard manure the trees did won- "and I saw him pass up some sweet "Retired? I am not retired!" Then he told me how he had pur- derfully well. It seems that this and useless dessert because he felt it chased a plot of ground and was now method would lend itself especially to was not good for his health." To be physically and mentally acgrowing all kinds of fruits, vegeta- a person of older years who might not bles, and berries. He was experiment- want to wrestle with deep cultivating, tive at eighty-six isn't bad! Certainly ing with the organic method of gar- although a little power tool can han- it's worth a little self-discipline and dening and was apparently having a dle the necessary cultivation of a small great time with it. He certainly did not look eighty-one plot without too much years old, nor did he seem to have effort. After I had checked slowed down mentally. His eye still shone with a youthful gleam as he this man of eightytold me about the interesting things one years he told me that his number one he was doing and planning to do. Should a man as old as this man do hobby was keeping vigorous gardening? Yes, if he has himself in tiptop no history of heart difficulty and has shape. I urged him to good control over tobacco, coffee, and keep up his projects other hurtful indulgences. Of course, and activities as long his activities should be tempered with as possible, for they rest periods as necessary, but such might easily carry activities will tend to keep a person him well toward active and young beyond the usual age. ninety and beyond beThe organic method of gardening fore he would be tapthat this healthy man was using is a ping the sidewalk real saver of hard work. Not long ago with a cane. I purchased a ten-acre avocado orA patient I examchard. I was advised to keep down the ined this week chanced grass and weeds by using a weed to remark that he spray, and obediently spent hundreds liked golf and often of dollars for oil and labor. Then a played with a doctor, neighbor asked me why I did not for- whom I remembered get the grass and weeds till they were as the doctor who tall, then mow them down like hay gave me my examinaand pile them around the trees. tion in hygiene when I remembered a doctor friend whom I took the California I visited in the northern part of the State Board examinaState. What wonderful meals he tion forty-three years BYRON LOGAN served right out of his own garden! ago. I supposed he This doctor mowed his weeds and had passed away long Arthur C. Paulson used to help print LIFE AND HEALTH. Now, grass and piled them up for organic ago. Now I learned looking younger than his years, he enjoys golf in his retirement. MAN came to my office recently complaining of a minor ailment. I A was surprised when he said he was J. 24 LIFE & HEALTH to become acquainted with the beauties of the scenery, and to learn about the people themselves. This is perhaps one of the most potent of all arguments in favor of bicycle touring on vacation. This kind of vacation is much appreciated abroad. After all these arguments in favor of cycling, we come to the vital issue of the day, that this means of transportation and exercise must be made safe. It should not be reserved simply for children in parks but should become a routine measure to bring thousands of our people to their daily jobs safely from their homes five or ten miles away. Safe bicycle paths should be part of the new interstate highway system. They would make it possible for people to tour the country by bicycle, going from one town to another. My father told me that when he was a young man he and a few others rode their bicycles from Boston to Albany, from Albany to New York City, and back to Boston. This is hard to imagine today, but wouldn't we like to have the opportunity! Despite the relatively minor difficulties in getting this idea started and in planning and building the actual paths, I feel certain that the establishment of cycling as a routine in the daily life of Americans, young and old, can become one of the most vital steps in restoring health and vigor to us all in the important days ahead. * * * Let us bequeath to our children, who will be the citizens here tomorBicycling for Health row, more than the gadgets that surround us. The bicycle will not alone (Continued from page 19) do this, but it can become a symbol to go to concerts or sports events of the red-blooded vigor, personal insuch as ball games, as in the Old dependence, economy, and restoration World. Thus we can be more than of a sound mind in a sound body so passive participants in all these enter- much needed in our beloved country tainments. today. Many adults have told me that they are embarrassed to ride a bicycle because cycling is supposed to be a Do You Suffer With Your Back? child's game. This attitude, which is (Continued from page 14) current and which does deter many persons, must be overcome. It is quite are excellent. It is important to underunnecessary—witness the routine bi- stand the reasons for the exercises. To cycling in the course of a normal way carry out the routine without purpose of life in the Old World. will soon lead to lack of interest. ConIn travel it is the common experi- sider two boys playing catch with an ence that we get to places fastest by imaginary baseball, and have them go airplane but we see the least en route. through the motions of catching and The train, bus, and automobile come throwing the ball. How long will they next, and we are so engrossed by our keep it up? Neither will you continue method of transportation that we can very long exercises for better posture hardly enjoy the country through unless you can see the reasons for which we pass. Walking is the best such exercises. way of all, but often it is impractical So become acquainted with the facts if one wants to go any distance. outlined in this article and follow the Of all methods of transportation, routines suggested, and we are sure bicycling gives us the opportunity to it won't be long before 90 per cent of see the country through which we ride, your back troubles will be relieved. careful planning. Keen interests and good habits are the best recipe for meeting the problems of age. Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur said that old soldiers "fade away." But the general himself is probably as busy today as at any time in his life. When the fading time comes, as come it must, to go with one's boots on has its advantages. Athletes, it seems, seldom reach a ripe old age. Perhaps they take too much for granted! Being possessed of extraordinary strength and energy, they fool themselves into thinking they will always be healthy, only to wake up when it is too late to learn that, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." I have heard many a person say that during the second thirty years of life he had enjoyed better health than during the first. Careful living pays off. Getting old should be such a slow, gradual process that, except for tripping up ,a little easier and forgetting a little better—and it is a good thing to forget some things anyway—one scarcely notices that birthdays come more frequently than they used to. Some wag has remarked that a woman is as old as she looks and a man as old as he feels. The statement may not always be true, but good health will certainly aid good looks and in feeling young. And it will be appreciated more by the oldsters than by the youngsters. JULY, 1959 "I discovered how to relax. For the first time in years I found satisfying, healing relaxation—freedom from tensions that I had thought inescapable! Where? At Battle Creek, where for 93 years discriminating men and women from all over the globe have gone for a new lease on life—where proven principles of physical therapy, rest, and diet augment modern clinical services, all in an environment of quiet dignity and oldfashioned comfort." For full details write to Box 8 BATTLE CREEK HEALTH CENTER Battle Creek, Michigan Health Is Truly Wealth DRINK YOUR WAY TO A BETTER DIET with pure, clear, fresh juices made daily at home. You will drink all the needed vitamins, minerals and nutrients and you get: 25% MORE JUICE! with the All Stainless Steel K tr K SHREDDER JUICER Information at leading diet stores or write to: I DEPT. L-7 1 Knuth Engineering Company 2617 N. St. Louis,Chicago 47, III. 25 II I Wings of Health By VEDA SUE MARSH, R.N. THE BIG SECRET SILBERSTLIN, I,ROM NIONKMEYER "Mother's got a secret," Joan whispered to John, "and she won't tell us till Tommy's in bed." OTHER Munroe whispered to Joan, "When Tommy is in bed, M daddy.and I have a secret to tell you twins." "Oh," gasped Joan, for she enjoyed secrets so much. "But please, Mother, can't you tell me a little bit about it right now ?" "All I will say is, it's something that will happen next month." Joan ran out to look for John and tell him about the secret. She found him near the garage, and together the twins tried to guess what it could be. But they couldn't figure it out. Only one thing was sure. Mother wouldn't tell them until Tommy was in bed. "So," said Joan, "we'd better help with the dishes after supper and maybe mother can get him to bed sooner." It seemed to take hours and hours, but at last Tommy was in bed and the Little Jays were sitting at the table, eagerly awaiting the news. "We shall need two secretaries," 26 mother said mysteriously. "Joan, would you like to be secretary number one? And John, we will elect you to be secretary number two." Down off their chairs jumped Joan and John and what a scramble followed as they looked for paper and pencils! They made so much noise that Tommy woke up and called, "Mommy, come here. I want a drink." You should have seen how quiet the twins suddenly became when they heard that! Now they would have to wait even longer to know what the secret was, while mother was getting the water. At last they heard mother's footsteps coming down the stairs. The important moment had arrived. Mother began: "Daddy and I have been talking about taking a vacation trip this summer." "Oh, goody, goody. Where are we going?" said Joan. "Will it be • to a lake so we can swim?" asked John. "One at a time, please," said mother. "We have decided to go in the car all the way to San Francisco, California. Daddy has to go to some meetings there." "Will we see Aunt Sue?" said John. "I hope so," said mother. The twins could hardly keep still. What fun this would be! All the way to San Francisco in the car! "Will we camp out on the way?" Joan wanted to know. "Will we see the Pacific Ocean?" asked John. "I want to see the bears in Yellowstone Park"—from Joan. "I want to go through Arizona and see the Indians"—from John. Mother wouldn't answer any questions. She just looked mysterious again and said, "It is time for the secretaries to get to work. Joan, you may label one piece of paper EQUIPMENT FOR TRIP. John, label one piece SHOPPING LIST and another piece THINGS TO DO." Then the real planning began. The twins did not enjoy putting down the first item on the lists, but they realized it was necessary for anyone going on a camping trip. John wrote it on his paper : 1. Immunization for typhoid and smallpox. "We shall go to the doctor's office and start getting the shots tomorrow," mother explained. The second item went on Joan's list: 2. Tent, folding camp cots, mosquito netting, air mattresses. "Mommy, at the surplus store they have cots with a wooden pole for each corner," John interrupted, "and dark green netting ties to these poles. It would be wonderful for keeping out mosquitoes." "Sounds good," said mother, "write it down—poles and netting. We could look at them when we go to town tomorrow to get the typhoid shots. "Then this item," mother went on: "3. Lunch box." "Oh, Daddy," said John, "aren't you glad you bought that nice lunch box last summer? The ice compartment will keep our food fresh and cool, even on a desert." "We will need a flashlight," mother continued. "And let's take the DDT bomb. It will be good to use before we eat to keep flies and bugs away." The twins wrote quickly: 4. Flashlight with extra bulb and batteries. 5. DDT bomb. "I have a secret," said daddy, "that even mommy does not know. Jack Wall said we might use their small trailer." LIFE & HEALTH • "Oh, Daddy !" gasped the Little with the powder make a saturated solution that may be many times stronger Jays. "It is not a house type of trailer, than the safest strength used medFOR MORE but the back can be raised to make a ically. FAMILY FUN, PLAY THESE Many cases of so-called athlete's kitchenette with gas stove and a place for supplies. And there is room in the foot are only collections of tissue fluid trailer for a tent, cots, bedding, and in open spaces under the skin. They are a result of nervous tension and suitcases." "Character is often determined by the Mother looked worried, so daddy should be classified as a type of neuroway leisure hours are spent." hurried on, "Jack says the trailer is dermatitis. The caffeine in tea, coffee, very small, so it is easy to pull along or cola drinks aggravates them. Eliminating the caffeine for several months behind the car. "But now," said daddy, "it's bed- often clears the condition without furtime for two children I know. So off ther therapy. I f-r PNVYN GAME If your infection resists ordinary you go. But remember, if we take a Bible trip like this, we shall need your treatment, your doctor may have to Truth help." make a culture of it and see which of It was hard for the twins to go to the four common fungi is causing the Game bed, but they did—and what do you problem. Then he can plan your treatment better. suppose they dreamed about? This little game, consisting of 101 nicely In the meantime the challenge of printed cards with accompanying instruction Health Precautions for Camping Trips athlete's foot remains to vex the abil- and answer book, promotes interest in Bible facts. Some of the questions test the memory; 1. Get immunized beforehand, es- ity of the physician and the skill of some provoke thought. Profitable for Sabbath the compounders of powders and oint- hours. pecially for typhoid and smallpox. PRICE, $1.25 2. Take containers with lids that ments. There it grows on the very will keep flies and insects away from surface of the skin in a position where Bible food. therapy ought to destroy it easily. Yet, 3. Have facilities for keeping food in spite of a myriad of "cures," it is, Geography cool. like the common cold, still with us, Game 4. Eat hot meals regularly. frustrating on occasion even the most astute clinician. 5. Pasteurize or boil all milk. A sea that lost its tongue, imported apes and 6. Be sure your water is pure, and peacocks, twenty worthless towns—could you * * * locate these references in the Bible? This keep cups clean. attractively printed card game affords suit7. Eat only wholesome food and Monday Morning Blues able Sabbath diversion in finding Bible place few sweets. names. PRICE, $1.00 (Continued from page 23) 8. Make sure the beds and cots are stands fully. The psalmist says, "In comfortable, with mosquito nets. .kPtithrei 6:4 9. Don't drive too long at one time. the day of my trouble I sought the Spelling Drive early in the morning and stop Lord" (Psalm 77:2). Talk over your early at night. Stop frequently for problem with God. Tell Him exactly Game rests. how you feel. Find a quiet spot and solve your mood with Him. He will 10. Be safe rather than sorry. A game for Junior youth to play with younger help you find joy again. brothers and sisters—these thirty sets of If you are to overcome the Monday * * * twin cards will provide instruction and entermorning blues, you must identify tainment for very young children by making Athlete's Foot yourself with your better hours. Claim them familiar with some common words joy, peace, serenity, as your rightful through association of the words with the (Continued from page 12) pictures that portray them. The first fifteen heritage. If some have wronged you, sets are for very young children, and the last nonirritating. Apply this in all folds think of those who have always loved fifteen sets are designed for a slightly older and creases of the toes after washing you. If some have mistreated you, re- group. PRICE, $.75 each evening. member that there are some who If this program does not free your would not hurt you for anything in the Where Family Life Ends, feet of athlete's foot, you should see world. If the day seems dark, rememJuvenile Delinquency Begins your doctor. Fatigue, vitamin defi- ber that the sun still shines behind ciency, anemia, and other medical the clouds. Monday morning blues can I problems tend to increase nervous become Monday morning jubilees. ORDER TODAY tension and produce nervous sweating, which is as helpful to the fungi as ir* * * Enclosed is $ . Please mail me the rigation is to alfalfa. game (s) checked below: Furthermore, not all rashes on the Young Giants ▪ Bible Truth Game D Bible Geography Game Boys and girls are taller and heavfeet are fungus infections. Some peoO Spelling Game ple are sensitive to dyes in the shoe ier today than they were a generation lining. Some are sensitive to the rub- ago. A Michigan study reported in NAME (PLEASE PRINT) ber cement used to stiffen the toes of Medical Science showed boys from ADDRESS _________ shoes. Some are sensitive to powders seven to 14 years of age in 1954 were that sift into their shoes at work an inch or more taller than those in (fertilizers, cement, chemicals). Many 1937-39. Girls revealed a similarly imClip out and mail coupon today to powders are non-irritating when dry pressive record. As for weight, boys Review & Herald Pub. Assn. but harmful in solution. This is why had added two to 14 pounds dependWashington 12, D.C. medicated powders are potentially dan- ing on their ages while girls showed gerous. A few drops of sweat mixed even greater gains in some instances. L Bible Games JULY. 1959 27 36 Dietitian/ Sajs If you have a question or problem regarding food or diet, address: The Dietitian, LIFE Cr By LUCILLE J. GOTHAM HEALTH, Washington 12, D.C. Enclose stamped, addressed envelope for reply. BEAT THE HEAT WITH PEARS Nobody—but nobody—wants to sit down to a meal of hot sticky food in the middle of July. So why prepare that kind? Right now the family want something cool, that slips down easily no matter what the temperature outside. Yet mother must be sure her family's diet is properly balanced. Salads are the answer. And since pears are coming back onto the market in July, we suggest you treat the family to several pear salads this month. Pears, incidentally, are a Western fruit. Almost 95 per cent of our canned pears come from the Pacific Coast, where the soil is rich and volcanic, the days are warm, and frost is rare at night. Special care must be taken to harvest pears at the right time, for they must not be allowed to ripen on the trees. If they were, they would be gritty and the flavor would be poor. Instead, pears are picked while green and hard. Fruit growers judge the proper time by the number of days that have elapsed since blossoming, and also by means of a scientific test that determines how many pounds of pressure are needed to force a small cylinder into the flesh of the pear. Once the pears are picked they are carefully sorted, wrapped, and boxed to be stored in a cool place until time for shipment to market._ When you buy them fresh, if they are still green, leave them in their paper wrappings and store at room temperatures until ripe. Then put them in the refrigerator—or eat them. Pears for canning are ripened under controlled conditions until they are tender and juicy. As soon as they turn yellow and yield to pressure they are rushed to the canneries. Pears with cottage cheese, grapes, and sour cream make a wonderful There are four main varieties. Bartletts ripen in the summer. They are shaped like a bell, are soft and yellow. They will be popular for the next two or three months. Bose pears can be identified by their long tapering neck. They come on the market in the fall. Comice pears are green-skinned, famous for size and quality. They become available in November. The Anjou also has a green skin. It is more round than other pears, and has a spicy flavor. It is on sale the longest—from October to April. Pears are good for meals all day long. Blend the canned juice with lemon or orange juice for a refreshing breakfast drink. Pour grapefruit juice over pear halves for a tangy, lively appetizer. For luncheon, combine pear halves or other fruits with cottage cheese. There are only about 70 calories to a pear. At dinner, serve combination your family is sure to rave over. So be prepared, have seconds ready! PACIFIC COAST CANNED PEAR SERVICE 28 LIFE & HEALTH pears with ice cream and frozen strawberries. Here are several pear recipes your family will like, including some we're sure you've never tried. Pear-Cottage-Cheese Salad (See picture) On salad greens place two canned Bartlett pear halves, cut side up. Add a mound of cottage cheese. Garnish the pears with a maraschino cherry for color contrast. Serve with mayonnaise on the greens or in a container nearby. For variety, add drained crushed pineapple to the cottage cheese. The mayonnaise may be thinned with pineapple juice and flavored with a couple drops of mint flavoring. Pear Delight Salad (See picture) 1 No. 2i can of pears pint sour cream pint cottage cheese Garden leaves 4 pieces of green pepper for stems Drain juice from can of pears. Combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Spread 4 pear halves with mixture. Top with other halves and secure with toothpicks. Refrigerate 15 minutes or longer. Remove toothpicks. Place on washed and polished garden leaves on individual salad plates (polish leaves with a clean soft cloth). Place a piece of green pepper in top of pear resembling stem. Serve grapes and additional cheese mixture alongside stuffed pear. Serves 4. Pear and Orange Jam 4 cups ground Bartlett pears 1 orange 1 21-ounce box powdered pectin 5 cups sugar cup chopped walnuts Peel and core about 21 pounds fully ripe pears. Grind pears and 1 whole orange, or chop very fine. Mix well. Measure 4 cups into a large saucepan. Measure sugar and set aside. Add nuts to sugar. Stir powdered fruit pectin into fruit in saucepan and mix well. Place over high heat and stir until mixture comes to a hard boil. At once, stir in sugar and nuts. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and ladle quickly into sterilized 1-pint jars. Seal according to manufacturer's directions. If foam appears on jam, skim it off with a silver spoon before sealing. Let jars cool from 25 to 30 minutes and if fruit has tendency to float, shake jars gently to distribute fruit. Pear Raspberry Jam 4 cups prepared fruit (about 2 pounds Bartlett pears and one 12-ounce box quick-frozen raspberries) cup lemon juice 1 tablespoon grated orange rind 6 cups sugar I bottle liquid fruit pectin JULY, k 7959 As the raspberries are thawing, peel, core, and grind about 2 pounds (5 or 6) fully ripe pears. Measure thawed raspberries and add enough ground pears to make 4 cups prepared fruit. Place kettle over high heat and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and at once stir in liquid fruit pectin. Ladle quickly into sterilized 1-pint jars and seal according to manufacturer's directions. Let cool for 25 to 30 minutes and if fruit has a tendency to float, gently shake the jar to distribute fruit. Makes about 8 jars jam. Summer Salad 2 ripe Bartlett pears 1 cantaloupe 8 Italian prunes 1 3-ounce package cream cheese Salad greens Wash, halve, and core pears, then cut pear halves into 4 sections. Wash and peel melon and cut 4 slices crosswise. Wash, halve, and pit prunes. Form cream cheese into 8 balls. Arrange cantaloupe slices on salad greens and top each slice with 4 pear wedges. Stuff the prunes with cheese balls and place between the pear wedges on the cantaloupe rounds. Garnish with mint leaves or water cress. Serves 4. * * * How to Keep Cool (Continued from page 16) If an air conditioner is not practical for your home, try an exhaust fan in the attic. With this type of fan you close all upstairs windows and open only a window or two in the room where there are people. The fan draws out the heat and the cool night air comes in the open windows and travels through the house. Sun. Fun in the sun is fine, but be careful. Sun can be dangerous. A sun tan doesn't ensure good health all the winter as is sometimes believed; but if you want a tan for looks, start out with ten-minute exposures and gradually build yourself up to longer ones. If you're fishing or swimming, remember that the ultraviolet rays are reflected back by the water to give you a double dose. There are many commercial lotions and creams you can use to reduce the dosage of sunburn and help you tan gradually. Some of these filter out light rays, others block the ultraviolet rays. Heatstroke and heat exhaustion. There is another good reason for being sensible during the summer—the danger of heatstroke, heat exhaustion, and heat cramps. All these are caused by overexposure to heat, but the symptoms and the treatment are different. The treatment for one disorder may be harmful to another, and since some (Turn to page 31) EAT PECANS FOR HEALTH FRESH TEXAS MACHINED SHELLED PECANS Packed-1# to 30# boxes HALVES—$1.15 per lb. PIECES—$1.10 per lb. PLUS POSTAGE On 51b. box always figure 61b. postage plus 10c insurance Prices subject to change without notice. D. McCREA & SON YANCEY, TEXAS Phone 2261 YOUR CALORIE INTAKE NET WEIGHT i LAOZ Sugarless SWEETENER SUGARLESS SWEETENER No Food Value One teaspoon of Sugarless Sweetener has the sweetening power of a full cup of sugar, but no calories. And here's wonderful news — Sugarless Sweetener can be used for baking or canning without ever leaving a bitter or metallic after-taste. Comes in handy shaker dispenser. Start reducing today with the help of Sugarless Sweetener. Sugarless Sweetener contains soluble saccharin, a non-nutritive artificial sweetener which should be used only by persons who must restrict their intake of ordinary sweets. Supplies no food value. Another product of the most respected name in health foods... THE BATTLE CREEK FOOD CO. BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN EMENEL'S TOWEL ALL NEW YEAST TABLETS "Delicious Protein Energy" Biologically tested and proven. Torumel contains 20% to 80% MORE nutrient value 'as compared to other food yeasts. NOT ordinary Brewers!' Torula yeast. Specially grown; contains extra elements. Now in handy tablet form for between meal pickup. Combats fatigue, anemia, debility. 250 Tabs $2.00 500 Tabs 3.50 THE EMENEL COMPANY LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA 29 Jim/maker dints When writing, please enclose stamped, addressed envelope for reply. Address: Home Editor, LIFE Cr HEALTH, Washington 12, D.C. July Surprises. June has always been a poetic month, perfect for weddings and good weather. But what's the matter with July? The strawberries are gone from the garden, but raspberries are ripening, and cherries are still on the trees. New potatoes are ready, string beans, Swiss chard, beets—there are any number of surprises awaiting us in July. You may even get a few tomatoes (in the North, that is—you get them much earlier down South). It seems so easy to prepare a meal when there are tomatoes in the garden. What is better than a tomato sandwich? Two of them, of course! Tomato Juice. If you are getting tomatoes in July, there is no better time than right now to start putting up some for next winter. I never can enough tomato juice, no matter how much I put up. For the finished juice to be colorful use ripe tomatoes that are firm and deep red. Wash them and remove any spots. Cut in small pieces and put in a large kettle. Cover, and let simmer for about ten minutes. Stir now and then to prevent sticking to the pan. Force the juice through a sieve, using a wooden spoon until only skins and seeds are left. Put the juice back into the kettle and reheat it until it almost boils, but do not let it boil. This preserves the vitamin C content. Now pour juice into sterilized jars, almost to top, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt to each quart. Have water boiling in your water canner. Screw on the lids and place the jars _ in the boiling water and process them for a quarter hour. Remove and tighten the lids. That's all there is to it. Lucile's Recipe. Here is a dish you can prepare in the summer, though I was first introduced to it last winter. 30 We were having dinner at John Keeler's near Port Allegany, Pennsylvania, and Lucile, John's wife, served a luscious casserole she calls Baked Corn and Peas (it is so yummy it should have a more poetic name). When I asked her for the recipe she said it would be rather difficult to give as she doesn't measure any of the ingredients, so you may have to experiment to get the results you desire. gOr <-,COVe By JANE MERCHANT Fear drives me to Thee, Lord, The fear of what I am, Of what I may become Without Thee, Lord. Let me come to Thee, Lord, For joy of what Thou art, For love of what Thou art, For Thee alone. Lucile says to use about one can of cream-style corn and one can of peas. Combine and salt to taste. Add a little sliced onion and about two teaspoons of McKay's Chicken Style seasoning (a vegetable product—get it at a health-food store). Beat two eggs into some milk—perhaps a pint—and pour over corn and peas. Bake until custard is set and the vegetables are slightly browned. It's delicious. Quick Hot Dish. For a quick hot dish on a day that's too hot to work in the kitchen, you might like this bean-andtomato soup. You use one can of baked beans and one can of tomato soup. Put the beans through a ricer, combine them with the tomato soup, add a dash of onion salt, heat, and then add some milk and butter to taste. A sprig of parsley lends color and vitamins. By CAROLINE EELLS KEELER Cleaning Pots. To make less cleaning while cooking, cook bubbly stews or other foods that spatter and sputter, in a large pot. Rinse baking dishes soon after you are through, and wash pots and pans as much as possible before serving dinner. Summer Daintiness. Perspiration is nature's method of evaporating moisture. It is your cooling system. When one perspires where evaporation cannot take place quickly, there is an unpleasant odor. Bathing often destroys this odor, but in hot weather one cannot always be sure, so it is safer to use a deodorant, an antiperspirant, talcum powders, or astringents. An antiperspirant closes the pores and thus stops perspiration. Be sure to follow the directions on the label. The underarm should be dry when an antiperspirant is applied. A deodorant banishes the odor. Sometimes deodorants contain antiperspirants which is another reason for reading the label. Underarm rash may develop when using an antiperspirant if directions are not followed, so follow them! You will enjoy using the astringents such as cologne and toilet water. There is a stick cologne deodorant. Talcum powder helps dry the excess moisture. Wash feet often. Keep them dry by dusting with talcum powder. Wear clean hosiery every day. Wash clothing often, especially lingerie. A daily bath and clean clothing are essential, especially in summertime. And what makes you feel pounds lighter and more refreshed than a good swim in the late afternoon of a hot July day? Then if you wish a cool drink, pass by the soda pop and fix yourself a glass of lemonade, limeade, or orange juice. LIFE & HEALTH How to Keep Cool (Continued front page 29) cases prove fatal, it is important to know the difference. In heatstroke (or sunstroke if it's caused by intense sun instead of extreme heat), the heat regulating centers of the brain are damaged. One out of each four victims dies, and those who live are usually sensitive to heat for the rest of their lives. You can recognize the symptoms of sunstroke easily. The victim develops headache and nausea and urinates frequently. He suddenly collapses and faints. His body temperature is high, sometimes up to 107° F. He stops sweating, his skin is hot and dry, his face is flushed. You should cool him off immediately by getting him into the shade, removing clothes, spraying with cold water, and placing cold compresses or ice bags on his head and body. Call a doctor at once. Heat exhaustion is different and involves the circulatory system. It too can be fatal. The victim feels dizziness, headache, and nausea as in heatstroke. He may fall unconscious. But his body is cold and clammy, and his face is pale and wet with perspiration. Get the victim into the shade as before, but cover him with a moderate amount of clothing to keep him fairly warm. Have him drink salt water repeatedly. (One teaspoon of salt in one glass of water.) Call a doctor immediately. Heat cramps may accompany heat exhaustion or they may come alone. The victim has painful cramps in the abdomen or limbs. He should be given salt water to drink. You will not have to suffer from these heat disorders if you act sensibly in hot weather. Schedule your day so you won't be exercising strenuously during the hottest part of the day, the early afternoon. Keep a cool head, follow the experts' advice about how to keep a cool body, and you should be able to enjoy the summer fun. * * * Home Treatments (Continued from page 16) 4. Shower cap to keep the hair dry. 5. One pound of starch or One pound of soda or One to two pounds of quick-cooking oatmeal. 6. Bath thermometer. Procedure 1. If using starch or soda, mix with cold water first and add to bath. If JULY, 1959 using oatmeal, either cook first, place in a thin muslin bag, and squeeze into the water ; or place the oatmeal in the bag and let very hot water run over it. 2. Fill the tub about two thirds full of water between 94°-97° F. The water should be deep enough so the body is covered, coming well up on the neck if possible. 3. Stir the bath well. If using oatmeal, squeeze the bag until the water becomes milky and soft. 4. Assist the patient into the tub, using one of the bath towels, folded, under the head as he lies in the tub. The washcloth may be used to bathe any parts that are not under the water. (Do not rub or scratch, for this will make the itching worse). 5. The bath is usually given for twenty to thirty minutes. It may be given for a longer time if needed. 6. When the patient is taken out of the tub, dry by patting the skin gently with a towel. Do not rub. 7. Empty the residue from the bag of oatmeal into the garbage or into the toilet drain. Wash the bag thoroughly so it will be ready for the next time. You Need WHY BUY ONLY A JUICER when you can get EVERYTHING IN ONE! It's A LIQUEFIER '5 All attachments Rt on one KITCHEN MACHINES IN I basic motor ROBOT VITAMATIC It's A The Combination with SALAD V, hp. Vitamatic Motor MAKER NO GEARS. Jost exclusive VITAMATIC. Durable. STAINLESS throughout. Out every singlepurpose appliance it replaces. Complete FIVE-PIECE Combination for the PRICE OF ONE GOOD JUICER One Year Guarantee Trade in your old Juicers, Blenders Write today! NATURAL FOODS INC. Robot Div. LH-7 Olmsted Falls. Ohio Precautions 1. Use the correct temperature for the bath. A bath too cold is uncomfortable for a patient with a skin irritation, and a bath too hot will increase itching. 2. Assist the patient in and out of the tub if necessary. Watch for falling as the danger of slipping may be increased by the substances used in the water. 3. Some skin conditions are made worse by water, so it is best to consult your physician before treating a severe skin condition. I'd Walk A Mile For A Can Of Lange's TERKETTES NU-VITA FOODS Portland 14. Ore. HOUSE OF NUTRITION "The House of a Million Vitamins" San Diego 1, California 1125 Sixth Avenue Ask about our 20% discount plan. Indications Skin rash with burning and itching. Free Catalog on Request * * * Frigid Stomach Stops Hemorrhage Patients suffering from bleeding peptic ulcers and requiring massive blood transfusions can be helped by a new technic devised by Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen of the University of Minnesota's Department of Surgery. The patient swallows a balloon through which a frigid (23° F.) solution of alcohol and water is circulated. The cold reduces blood flow and the secretion of gastric juices. The stomach fluids become less acid, and are no longer able to digest the stomach wall around the ulcer. Bleeding stops. The freezing technic has been used in ten patients. An average of twenty-five hours was required to stop the bleeding. Every Penny you put in a Life and Health subscription is money invested in better health. Please ❑ renew. ❑ enter my subscription to Life and Health today. 1 year. $3.50. Name Address Mail to: ANITA Washington 12, D.C. 31 Mr. Morse's son was sick, but the druggist refused to sell him the medicine Mr. Morse demanded. Why the Druggist Said, "No!" By ERNESTINE MORRIS SCHINDLER, R.N. S THE clock struck nine, the door of the drugstore flew open and an A anxious father rushed in. "I'm J. H. These are common occurrences in drugstores and doctor's offices. Many people fail to realize the power of the Morse," he announced. "I need 300,- miracle drugs or the length of time it 000 units of penicillin right away. My takes to prepare them for human conboy, John, has a temperature of sumption. 104°F., and the doctor gave him peniUsing antibiotics may be thought cillin the last time he was sick." of as employing one germ to destroy Wearily the druggist refused. another. That is to say, the human "Sorry, Mr. Morse. I can't sell you body becomes ill from germs that enpenicillin without a doctor's prescrip- ter it, and the doctor prescribes ortion. It would not be wise. You might ganisms in medicine form that fight endanger your child's health by giv- and overcome the disease germs. ing him such powerful medicine withThis is not as simple as it sounds, out supervision." because before an antibiotic can be This experience is a familiar one in given to a patient, the organism must any drugstore. Since the dramatic be discovered, grown in a test tube, entrance of the antibiotics, many peo- purified, tried out on all kinds of disple fail to realize that these potent ease organisms, experimented with on foes of disease cannot be sold without laboratory mice, rats, or guinea pigs, a prescription. manufactured, and finally proved to Practicing physicians are con- be of value against human illness. stantly confronted with problems This may take years. similar to the following. Penicillin is a good example, for it "Doctor," pleaded a worried was the first antibiotic to be employed mother, "can't you give my Joe that successfully. Discovered in 1929 by new drug called neomycin? He has Dr. Alexander Fleming of London, had tuberculosis for so long, and you England, it promised much in drasaid that the other drugs you had matic cures for stubborn illnesses. used didn't help." Hesitantly, she Commercial production was finally produced a clipping from her purse. achieved under supervision of the "It says here, 'neomycin is effective War Production Board in the United against some strains of tuberculosis States after the beginning of the secthat have resisted streptomycin.' " ond world war. Not until 1944 was "Mrs. Braxton," the doctor pa- general distribution accomplished— tiently explained, "I'm trying medi- fifteen years after the discovery. cine that is safe to give to your boy. Why can't an antibiotic be sold Neomycin has been tried out success- over the drug counter? Take the case fully on mice, but as yet it has not of John Morse, whose father tried to been purified for human use. True, it buy penicillin at the drugstore without is a hope, but until research scientists a prescription. Mr. Morse knew only know more of its properties as well as three things about his son. John had a its effect on people, I cannot and temperature of 104°F. He had taken would not use it. Be patient, Mrs. penicillin before when he was ill. He Braxton. Your boy is improving." had recovered. 32 Mr. Morse did not realize that John's temperature could be caused by an entirely different organism against which penicillin would not be effective. He did not know that a course of dosage should be prescribed according to his son's symptoms, diagnosis, body weight, age, past medical history, and general condition. He did not know that John could develop a sensitivity to penicillin or that he might react badly to it, since he had had it so recently. Mr. Morse did not realize that a concentration of penicillin must be maintained within the blood stream to be effective. He did not know that sometimes antibiotics are deliberately withheld in simple illnesses so they may be used to combat more serious conditions. Small wonder that the law says, "Penicillin must not be dispensed without a prescription from a licensed physician." Newspapers, magazines, radio, have frequently proclaimed the discovery of new drugs—streptomycin, aureomycin, tyrothricin, and gramicidin to mention a few—and credited the medicines with powers to work all sorts of wonders. Recently neomycin was reported to show promise of being able to destroy the tuberculosis bacilli, which have heretofore resisted streptomycin. The article failed to point out that months, even years, may be required to prepare this drug for safe administration to patients. Such dramatic items often cause a stricken person to build up false hope. Sometimes cancer patients seek to secure some medication that has been advertised with the testimonial, "I de." Delay of feated cancer with proper treatment may mean death in these cases. Frequently, although a medication is useful it may exist only in a foreign country, or the cost of production may be so high that it is prohibitive to the general public. Remember too, that no amount of antibiotics can replace the natural body defenses against disease. Bed rest, plenty of fluids, a light diet, and supporting measures are still the anchor in the treatment of illness. Doctors know that without building up the body's natural defenses, a disease cannot be cured. Antibiotics, in most cases, merely hold the bacteria in abeyance till the body can build up its own resistance. In any case of illness always consult your physician and rely upon his clinical judgment in treating your illness. Do not be swept away by announcements regarding new miracle drugs. Ask your doctor, who will have the latest information on proved and scientifically accepted antibiotics. LIFE & HEALTH CAT SCRATCH FEVER By EDWARD R. BLOOMQUIST, M.D. OUNG Jerry Wilson was as healthy as any other ten-year-old Y boy, and like other fellows his age, he was prone to the usual diseases that plague a growing youngster. His mother was, therefore, not too concerned to discover him complaining of fatigue and lack of appetite one evening after a hard day's play. Taking his temperature, she found him running a slight fever—a little less than two degrees—and so, after due consideration, she gave him an aspirin and tucked him in bed. Things the following morning weren't much better, and as the day progressed Mrs. Wilson began to be concerned about her son's lack of interest in his usual activities. Cornering her husband as he sat engrossed in his evening paper, she described the situation, finally ending with the question, "Should we call Dr. Alexander? Somehow, Jerry doesn't act really ill, but on the other hand he doesn't feel well either." JULY, 1959 "Fiddlesticks," retorted her husband. "I've never yet seen Jerry when he was really ill that he didn't make it obvious to all concerned. Let's go in and talk to him and see just what it is that is getting him down." Jerry greeted his parents' questions with a general disinterest. No, he didn't want to eat. "There is one thing that's new though," he commented. "I've got a big red spot on my hand and there's a lump under my arm. I just noticed them this afternoon." Further study of the situation ended with Mr. Wilson reaching for the telephone, and within a short time Dr. Alexander, the family physician, was seated at Jerry's bedside. After a careful examination the doctor sat back and began to discuss the problem with the family. No one seemed to be able to add anything to the history, so the doctor wisely dropped the subject and started talking to Jerry about his schoolwork, his buddies, and other of the myriad things that make up the daily routine of a small boy. "How's the pet situation, Jerry?" the doctor asked. "Did your dad ever get you the dog you were pestering him for the last time I was here?" "Naw," retorted Jerry, "the only thing we have around this place is our old mouser, Blackie. And just between you and me, Doctor, we're not on the best of terms at the moment. I had a fight with him a couple of weeks ago and believe me I got the worst of the deal. Actually, it wasn't Blackie's fault. He just didn't want to let us boys use him for the bandit in our game of cops and robbers. He let out an awful yowl, scratched my hand, and made off to the woods." "How long ago did you say that happened?" Dr. Alexander inquired. "Oh, about two weeks, I guess, maybe a little longer. Why do you ask?" "Where did he scratch you, Jerry?" "Oh, on my hand, I guess. Come to think about it, he nicked me just about the place where this sore is now. It couldn't be the same thing though, because the scratch disap- peared a long time ago. This sore is something new." Finishing his chat with the young patient, the doctor walked into the living room with the parents. "Well, Doctor, what's the verdict?" queried Mr. Wilson. "I can't be sure yet, Tom," replied the physician. "Frankly though, I think there is some relation between the disagreement your son had with the family cat some weeks ago and the problem he has now. I want to do a special test on Jerry. It's quite possible he has a disease that is just beginning to be recognized in this country. It's a virus disorder that is frequently acquired by coming in contact with the claws of a cat or otherwise being intimately exposed to the animal when it is acting as a carrier of the disease. For lack of a better term, the disease is presently known as cat scratch fever. We'll do a skin test on Jerry in the morning as soon as I can find a laboratory that has the material in stock. The test is not widely available as yet, but when it can be done it gives a definite diagnosis." "What's involved in the skin test, Doctor?" Mrs. Wilson interjected with a worried frown. "It's so simple that you've nothing to worry about, Irene. The laboratory makes a special solution of material that is injected just under the skin. This drop of solution will give a positive reaction, that is, a red spot, if the patient has the disease. As soon as we get this reaction, we know what we are dealing with." The following day the doctor administered the test and within twenty-four hours the Wilsons were informed that Jerry had a heretofore relatively undiagnosed condition known as cat scratch fever. The doctor reassured the Wilsons that the disease would soon run its course, and gave them a prescription for one of the newer antibiotics to help hasten the boy's recovery. Historically, this disease seems to be as old as the ancient civilizations. Some doctors feel that it is the same as the one described in older writings as Bubons Climatiques. The ancients seemed to feel that weather was involved and quite possibly never linked the disease to association with animals. The disease was disregarded in present-day civilization, however, until in 1930, Dr. Robert Debre, a French physician, noted that patients who had been scratched by cats showed certain similar symptoms. Concurrently with Dr. Debre's investigation, an American physician, 33 .11 for Additional Information concerning items or products advertised in LIFE AND HEALTH, use this check list and return it to us. Please send all orders for products direct to the advertiser whose name and address appears with the ad. ON PAGE BATTLE CREEK EQUIPMENT CO. ❑ Thermophore 23 BATTLE CREEK FOOD CO. ❑ Sugarless Sweetener 29 BATTLE CREEK HEALTH CENTER ❑ Hospital Facilities 25 EMENEL COMPANY ❑ Torumel 23, 29 GENERAL FOODS CORPORATION ❑ Postum 3 HOUSE OF NUTRITION ❑ Nutritional Products 31 KNUTH ENGINEERING COMPANY ❑ Shredder-Juicer 25 EUGENE LELAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ❑ Hospital Facilities 23 D. MC CREA & SON ❑ Shelled Pecans 29 NATURAL FOODS, INC. ❑ Robot Vitamatic 31 NU-VITA FOODS ❑ Terkettes 31 PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSN ❑ Book 21 REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN. ❑ Books 4, 36 ❑ Bible Games 27 WASHINGTON SANITARIUM AND HOSPITAL ❑ Hospital Facilities 35 WORTHINGTON FOODS, INC. ❑ Vegetarian Foods 2 LIFE AND HEALTH, Dept. LH-79 Washington 12, D.C. Please send me free information regarding the items checked above. NAME (PLEASE PRINT) ADDRESS CITY STATE 34 Dr. Lee Foshay of Cincinnati, noticed a similar concurrence of symptoms in his patients, and in 1932 he began an intensive study of the problem. The close association with cats was so significant that Dr. Debre in Paris named the disease cat scratch disease, while Dr. Foshay, working independently in America, called it cat fever. Since that time, however, the disease has been shown to be carried also by rabbits, porcupines, and other animals. As a result it is now referred to in medical circles as Benign Inoculation Lymphoreticulosis. This professional mouthful is best interpreted by saying that the disease is one that does not cause death (benign). It is usually contracted as a result of the virus entering the skin or mucous membranes through a scratch or prick made by some sharp object (inoculation). Finally, it makes itself known by causing an infection that spreads throughout the lymph system in the body (lymphoreticulosis). The knowledge that the disease exists is especially important to children and younger people, because the majority of cases occur in persons under the age of thirty, and the larger percentage of these patients are under the age of ten. The disease may not present its symptoms until ten to thirty days after exposure, and in many instances no one remembers an altercation with a cat. As a result, the diagnosis is not thought of during the time that tests are being done to determine the cause of the patient's problem. A fact of even greater importance in the recognition of this disease, is that it is a great mimicker of more serious illnesses. Rabbit fever, infectious mononucleosis, Hodgkins disease, tuberculosis of the glands, and certain tumors (both benign and malignant), all possess symptoms that are easily confused with cat scratch fever. It is, therefore, of great assistance to the family physician if parents can accurately recall any history of exposure to cats in hard-to-diagnose cases involving any or all of the symptoms of chills, weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, or nausea. This is particularly true if there is evidence of a skin infection accompanied by enlarged glands in the neck, groin, or under the arm. Treatment of the disease is primarily symptomatic, although the physician may feel it advisable to prescribe some of the newer antibiotics. Since the disease is more or less self-limiting, the principal interest is to keep the patient comfortable. Sometimes treatment becomes a problem, for the disease may spread through a whole family. It is interesting to note that of 160 cases described recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Drs. W. B. Daniels and F. G. MacMurray, there were twelve household epidemics that centered around the family cat. While the dis- 8vening grayer By JESSIE WILMORE MURTON Thank You, Jesus, for my bread, Thank You for my milk and bed; Thank You for the roof and pane That keep me safe from snow and rain; Thank You for blue skies above, For daddy, mother, and their love; Thank You for the angel bright Who guards and keeps me through the night. Teach me, Jesus, to be true And kind and loving, just like You. Amen. covery of this disease should by no means exclude the presence of this pet from the family circle, it is, however, a good idea to be aware that the animal is capable of transmitting illness. The rediscovery of what is probably a disease of antiquity pointedly demonstrates the fact that as the medical profession develops newer and better methods of diagnosis, it increases its ability to detect and subsequently treat what otherwise might remain undiagnosable mysteries. The recognition of this illness also gives dramatic evidence of the constant battle being waged between medicine and the forces of disease. This fight is slowly and surely turning in the favor of those whose duty and privilege it is to guard your health and the health of the nation. LIFE 6 HEALTH 9<eep Nen am( Stay (MG Cleanliness is recognized today as an important function in preventing disease and infection. Around the world, special attention to sanitation has resulted in reduced sickness and death. Cleaning is a constant chore, but in the modern hospital it is more than scrubbing floors, washing walls and windows. Many items used daily in the hospital must be washed and then sterilized. The Today's medical services, with the tremendous advances made possible through research, offer a vital, satisfying career. autoclave, shown above, is used to sterilize the clean surgical clothing, dressings, and equipment. This is one way in which chances of infection are eliminated. The principles of sanitation should be understood by all of us and applied to our daily lives. Diseases caused by poor sanitation are still too common. WASHINGTON Sanitarium and Hospital "Where Your Health Is Our Concern" Takoma Park Washington 12. D.C. Choice 1~ W1111441 m her yoke and flames d 5rcH 1 4 "MY 1414"' ak cried chick andnk5nd''''' '::7 L " '' It owl< m.a Aix po$bed oneThe crowd 11°" :7 1::::64: ' 101. notnr! My baby! My Oha,..". n �;• • d-our.b. canmnot .A .You '''' 'gto 'dini7her . e'" he •1,1.1 she hdd newer kms,.n she had Wee and dashed the flarnin,; She knew hns:,rttj ho' jun where to go. Dashing Ihrouch rumJ mm ke her 1044A Ik,r cow THE AUTHOR UVENILE READERS By ARTHUR S. MAXWELL Arthur S. Maxwell is known and loved by children everywhere. His stories are admirably suited to help parents solve child problems and to help children solve their own problems. Their great worth is recognized and acclaimed by thoughtful teachers and parents in all Englishspeaking countries of the world. Each volume contains fifty or more true-to-life stories. Many full-page illustrations, some in four colors, greatly increase the charm and value of these books. Large, clear type, durable bindings, and colorful jackets add further appeal to these unique volumes for the boys and girls of today who will be the men and women of tomorrow. HIGH POINTS IN CHARACTER EDUCATION Care of Health Correcting Bad Habits Courage Courtesy Diligence Forgiveness Gratitude Helpfulness Honesty Kindness Obedience Patience Mail us a card and we will send you full particulars concerning this series of stories that thousands of boys and girls have been waiting for—no obligation, of course. REVIEW and HERALD PUBLISHIRG assn., Washington 12, D.C.
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