TALKS ON HEALTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3705, 14 December 1912, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH.

(Specially Written for “The Gisborne Times” by Medico.)

THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE

I have recently been attending the Court of Sessions as a medical witness, and I have not only had to give evidence myself, but have also bad to listen to many other trials while I was waiting. I have been struck by the large number of cases in which tne medical evidence plays the most important part. The prisoner was guilty, but was not sane at the time of the crime. In some of the cases dealing with dreadful crimes the history brought out by the various witnesses was that the prisoner bad been up to a certain date a sober, bardworkman man, air affectionate husband and father, and had always borne a good character. Then comes a period of stress and strain; an accident knocks him out of work, the rent gets behind, there is scarcely sufficient food to feed the family; gradually the man goes through the stages of increasing weakness, semistarvation, mental worry, acute mental distress, and finally insanity.

INSANITY AND CRIME. In the case in which I was giving evidence a man, previously happy and on affectionate terms with his wife, had jumped up in the night and stabbed her with a knife, and then tried to cut liis own throat. . In the case before mine a young mother, who had always been fond of her children, suddenly ono day poured poison down their throats. . It is horrible to read about, and still worse to hear in court. The medical evidence was, 1 repeat, very important in every case, and it is a meet important part of a doctor’s work to educate the public into understanding a little more clearly the causes’of insanity and the relation of insanity to crime.

RESPONSIBILITY OF RELATIVES. Tliß relatives and friends or an insane person must accept their responsibility. There is a very- natural reluctance on the part of any or all of us to put a relative in an asylum; the day is postponed, advice is neglected, valuable time is wasted, and, finally, the tragedy comes. The tragedy might -have been prevented if only the case had been taken proper care of two or three months earlier. The relatives are running a grave risk by refraining from getting proper medical opinions and acting on them at once, even if it seems hard to carry out. It is very sad when a man or a woman has to be put away, but is it not a thousand times more tragic to wait until the worts has happened? If doctors had their wav, scores of these ghastly crimes could be prevented.

ASK A DOCTOR’S ADVICE. The physical side of mental disease ! must not be overlooked. The brain I requires nourishing blood to keep it |in good working order. If the brain is exhausted and cannot lie revived by rich blood, all sorts of fancies arise in the brain. If, at the very onset of these fancies, the jNitient can be taken care of, fed up, protected from worry, in an institution where all the thinking is done for him and where there is no necessity to bother about the rent or anything else, it is almost certain that a euro can be brought about. No course should he neglected winch might obtain the patient food and rest. Above all, ask a doctor’s advice either at ma house or at a hospital, because he will very quickly understand the moaning of the fanciful ideas or delusions that the patient describes. Worry is the dominant cause of insanity and, naturally, our first desire is to protect the patient from worry. No one can escape worry altogether, but, broadly speaking, the steadier /the life, the greater care and economy exercised, the more particular a man is about his health, the less likely is he to fall a victim to worry.

SOME DANGER SIGNALS. It is important that you should recognise the very earliest onset of insanity. A few of the usual ideas or delusions may he mentioned as danger signals. First of all there are delusions of persecution. The man complains that everyone is againsthim; people in the street are talking against him as they walk along; the preacher especially singles him out to preach against him ; paragraphs in the paper are directed a-gaiiist his character; and in a hundred other ways the man shows that lie is the victim of delusions of persecution. Such a man, goaded beyond endurance by the treatment he fancies ho is receiving, commits some crime which horrifies society. He should liavo been under care. I

“THE VOICES TOLD ME.” Then thero are delusions about food; complaints are made that someone is secretly poisoning him. This mysterious poisoner follows him about and poisons his food at home and in

public eating-houses. Such a. delusion is a danger signal; if left alone the man will fix on some innocent person and do him or her some terrible harm. Then there are a very large number of cases in which the chief symptom is the hearing of voices. This is most dangerous, because they may tell the patient to commit some crime, and he dare not refuse. In answer to an inquiry about the commission of a crime, such a man will often answer, “The voices told me to do it.” Another type is the religious form of insanity, when nothing will induce the patient to believe otherwise than that there is no hope of salvation for her; morbid beliefs of unpardonable sin fill her mind, and the whole day is spent in lamentations. DELAY IS FATAL. For the sake of the patient, for your own sake, and for the prevention of crime, ask for medical, advice early in the case. Delay is fatal. The responsibility does not lie with the patient, who is not in a position to judge soundly; the responsibility rests with the relatives and friends. _ Jhe tragedies I heard described in tlic courts of justice might have been prevented; crime might be diminished and the world made sweeter if only the friends would understand the imperative necessity of placing early eases of mental disease under control. Improvements will follow. The prisoner whoso wounds I sewed up was weak and ill and thin and pale, when I was called to him; after four weeks institutional care lip was fatter and brighter and healthier in every way. His health had improved enormously, and whereas at first he was a wild, murdering lunatic, after treatment he was quiet and calm, rational and clear-headed. IF I can persuade you to fear the tragedy more than the act of placing the patient under care I shall have done a good deal to prevent crime, and this article will not have been written in vain.

GOOD SHAMPOO AY ASH. Do you want a good prescription for a shampoo wash? Take an eight ounce bottle and put into it two ounces of soft soap, four teaspoonfuls of ammonia, two ounces of rectified spirit, and then fill up the bottle with au de Cologne. If you are paying for it yourself fill the bottle up with ordinary water, it will do just as well, but if your husband is paying, then use the perfume, as it is pleasanter. AVhen you want to use it, put two tablespoonfuls to one pint of warm water and shampoo the head. A good shampoo is often a cure for scurf, and when an excess of scurf is removed the hair is healthier. keep this by you and shampoo your hair once a week if it needs it.

A AYORD OF AYARNING. AVhsn you came out of a hot room into the cold air, always breathe through the nose; the air is warmed as it passes through the nasal cavity, and does not chill the throat or lungs. But if you take a deep breath through the mouth, the cold air goes straight down into the bronchial tubes and gives a chill. This is good advice for grown-ups, and children should be taught it ov their mothers. At the back of the throat a jig the tonsils, and they, too, may become inflamed by cold ai- adovng the go l ins to attack them.

“LUNGS” FOP YOUR TOAVN. Take an interest in your town. Do your own little share in reducing the death rate and keeping up a high standard of health. And, amongst other things, agitate for plenty of open spaces. AA T hen a large block of slums is pulled down, and anyone suggests that the space might be kept clear and laid out tastefully as a garden, with flower-beds and a bandstand do all you can tc give support to the suggestion. Towns need open spaces; it may be possible to prevent the building of dwellings which will be overcrowded with humanity in its slummiest form. Open spaces for fresh air, open spaces for children to play in; open spaces for giving the town “lungs.” Every citizen can help, and you must never lose an opportunity of winning open spaces for public use.

WHAT CAUSES “A STROKE.” Apoplexy means a sudden seizure caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. As we grow older our blood vessels begin to get- stiff and chalky, until, instead of being like indiarubber they are more like pipestems. When they are in this condition they are not so well suited to bear the pressure of the blood inside the vessels. If any of you have seen an artery spurt you will know under what high pressure the blood works. The brain is so soft, that it affords no support to the blood vessels running though it, and so it is in the brain that ive most often find the vessels bursting. Old age is the commonest cause of apoplexy, but the decay of the walls of the arteries is hastened by drink, above all things, and the process is helped by gout and a hard life. There are old men of forty and young men of sixty. The worship of Mars, Bacchus. Vulcan, and Venus will surely lead to a stroke, sooner or later, and probably sooner.

The new loan of £1,500,000 issued in London on behalf of the Now South Wales Government is in the form of ten years’ debentures, and the rate of interest is 4 per cent. As the price was fixed at £§9, and as flotation charges (including underwriting) are approximately 3J per cent., the net proceeds will lie only about £1,436,230. The loan is obviously an expensive one.

Tho first agricultural show in England was hold by the Bath and West of England Society in 1797. The judges, after examining the animais shown, decided that three sheep—New Leieestors —were entitled to a- priz > plate of ten guineas. In these days, when there is sueli a stir as regard “pampering” amt' “pedigree. ’’ it is interesting to note that at the first show held in England a cow was- rejected because she had been fed on meal for three weeks previous, and some North Devon cattle were disqualify because no pedigree could he produced. In 1798 the Sussex Agricultural Society held its first- show, and the prize schedule could well h-> adopted at this time of day. Twenty guineas were offered for the best 3-year-old bull, and if the winning hull | remained in the possession of the then | owner for a year ho had to serve for £1 Is each 20 cows belonging to memi hers of the society. The same rule applied to second-prize winners, only tho service fee was out down to 10s 6d. Ton guineas were offered for the best 3-year-old heifer, and she had to have a living calf, and bo in milk at the time of the show.