Health.-Disease can be prevented by the individual doing everything in his power to keep in the best physical condition. Disease is a common enemy of all of us, waiting to destroy, but nature is in league with us if we obey her laws. With a normal body and pureblood should the invader arrived, the fight is on our side. But once the body is weakened by heredity as a result of our parent's or forefather's neglect of the body, through the abuse of alcohol, tobacco or immoral living, lack of exercise, over eating and loss of sleep, overworked or lack of work or improper food, then will the soil be fertile for the planting of the germs of disease. When exposed and once planted the flight will be in their favor, as the rundown body will not have sufficient vitality to overcome the invader and sickness and death will result.
Its an interesting perspective that the author offers up about the abuse of alcohol and its impact on babies. This is something that is well documented today with fetal alcohol syndrome, but somewhat remarkable that they made the link 100 years ago.
Its remarkable, but it might also point to the direction of science and how unsubstantiated beliefs of 100 years ago, pushed the logical research in one direction or another. Hypothesis followed by experiment to result in a proven rule or dismissal or refinement of the hypothesis. But it requires that first notion and direction to research. Similar things can be seen in the evolution of other areas of science from airplanes to vacuum cleaners and Ladybug steam cleaners.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- Great Value and Beauty of the Plate
Great Value and Beauty of the Plate.–We can understand much of this wonderful process. We have looked into the stomach, watched its peculiar actions and traced its various steps, from which the scientist is capable, in his laboratory of knives, mortars, baths, chemicals and filters, of imitating many of the operations of digestion; but just at the moment he thinks himself most successful, he is compelled to pause. At the threshold of that “one step more,” which Fontenelle required, “and he would surprise nature herself,” he stops, and very wisely, without concealment of his designs, admires, then wonders, and finally worships with all the reverence of his soul.
After reading that diatribe, I have to honestly say I have no idea what the author is talking about. The other seems beyond some strange sort of rant about science, scientists in the digestive system. Unfortunately he’s ranting on a bunch of nonsense almost sound like he’s talking about Frankenstein’s monster. One things for sure I’m glad that I didn’t take a class instructed by this writer. If this book is that hard to understand from sheer gibberish, I can just imagine what’ll lecture would be like.
I don’t think this has so much to do with the difference in the decades of the century even. This seems to be more of an issue of an author suffering from the ability to provide a clear thought and written format. It’s almost like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher lecture on real estate over the telephone in a Peanuts cartoon.
WAh wah wah wah , wu wah . . . .
This entry seems to reaffirm my belief that this author got paid by the word and not by the concept of thought.
- The Spinal Column
The Spinal Column. — The spinal column, the lumbar portion of which is here seeing, consists of twenty-four bones, the which are placed pads of cartilage. Such is the elasticity of these cushions of cartilage, that, though they become condensed to the day, making a shorter in the evening then in the morning, they resume their normal thickness while you’re lying in bed at night. The perfection in the architecture of the spine surpasses belief; its various uses seem a bundle of contradictions.
This section starts to sound more like the book we are familiar with. There are several excessive uses of the coma and once again we start to encounter the authors love of the human body in a way that is less than scientific. I suppose a hundred years ago there may have been a little bit more passion for science than there is today, or maybe my own perception in this regards as biased. I seem to recall an anthropology professor back in college that was possibly as passionate about his topic is the author is about this topic.
- Why is it that Disease Spreads?
Why is it that disease spreads?-It has been found by scientists that certain definitive living bodies (germs) are the cause of certain diseases, such as tuberculosis, smallpox, typhoid fever, diphtheria, etc.; and other diseases must be caused by other undiscovered bodies, which will some day be known. These minute living bodies are active and give off poisonous material which destroys the tissues, organs, etc. of the body. When a person is ill, these germs are being continually thrown off in the waste materials of the body, in the spittle, bowel movements, sweat, saliva, urine, et cetera. If these products of disease are allowed to remain in a vessel, the carpets, floor, soil, etc., they dry and in the form of dust are blown about in here at the house, street or country road. If they come in contact with clothing or household furniture, they can be carried. Should a nurse or attendant upon a case be careless about disinfecting the hands are closing during or after the management of a contagious disease, he or she can become a common carrier by touching food, dishes, clothing, etc., used by other members of the family.
Water is a common carrier of disease, particularly typhoid fever, cholera, etc. Therefore to prevent the spread of disease every farmer, dairy man, occupant of a dwelling, factory, citizens of villages, cities and states, should see that they have a clean water supply free from germs and not contaminated by dirty water or refuse from a toilet, a pen, stable, etc.., which might contain germs carry from a patient or animal suffering from any of the contagious disease is. One case of typhoid fever along the edge of a mountain stream, carelessly managed, thus permitting bowel movements to be thrown into or washed into the stream by rain, pelting snow, etc., could cause an epidemic in every village which received its water supply from that stream or the reverence which it empty.
Milk can be a common carrier of disease, such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, etc. Most states however, have protected the supply of milk by the enactment of laws covering the inspection of cattle, the erection of well lighted, clean and ventilated dairies, boiling and sterilization of all utensils used in its handling, even the wearing of sterile grounds by the milkers and attendants, cleansing of the cows utters before and after milking incurring and brushing the cattle and covering them with light blanket. Milk should be kept it even temperatures after being placed in sterile can prevent the formation of germs which will develop even in transit to the consumer in the country or by train or in the milk bottles prior to delivery. Railroads are compelled in some states, and should be in all states, to furnish refrigerator cans with highs and the dealers in the city should particularly during the warm weather, have a refrigerator or eyes in the delivery wagons to maintain an even temperature for all milk delivered.
There are some interesting concepts within the section some of these actually seem somewhat practical and you can get a sense of the evolution of thought and care that was starting to go into the maintenance of water supplies and especially the concept of moving milk producing milk and transmitting or delivering it logistically across long distances as people lived more in cities and away from the country away from the source of the actual cattle delivering the milk.
Its also somewhat surprising that as early as one hundred years ago they were concerned with milkers wearing sterile clothing. I have a mental image in my head of kids going out to milk the cow each morning for milk and parents that had little regard for the sterility of children’s clothes as long as they did not spoil their Sunday clothes.