Part 2

When a portion of the body not properly protected is exposed to intense or extreme cold, the tissues become affected. If the cold is sufficiently intense and the exposure is sufficiently prolonged, the part becomes frozen.

When the circulation of the blood is sluggish, as in the very young, the old and the sick, suffering from cold is likely to be more severe.

In the same way those parts of the body in which the circulation is least active, and which are least protected by clothing, as the ears, the hands and the feet, are most likely to be affected.

_Blisters May Form._--In mild frostbite there usually is merely tingling and slight pain. If the cold is more intense and the exposure more prolonged, blisters form with serum or blood inside of them.

If the freezing is still further prolonged, the entire part becomes gangrenous because of the congealing of the blood within. Then the tissues appear bluish, shrunken or wrinkled and are without sensation or the power of motion.

The best treatment for frostbite at first is friction with snow or cold water in a cold room, the changes to a warmer atmosphere being brought about gradually.

After the friction the feet or hands should be swathed in cotton-wool held in position by loose bandages. If there are blisters or any discolorations of the tissues, a physician should be seen promptly.

On the speed with which proper treatment is given may depend the saving or loss of a limb.

_Chilblains._--Chilblains, which also are associated with a sluggish circulation, usually produce burning heat with itching and redness, and are likely to follow prolonged exposure to cold combined with dampness.

They may be prevented by wearing warm, loose woolen stockings and warm shoes. The feet should be bathed in warm water daily, and after the bath should be rubbed briskly, quickly dried and dusted with a plain dusting powder.

WASH YOUR NECK WELL TO WARD OFF BOILS

Those frequent and unwelcome visitors--boils--always are due to skin infection. The greatest preventive is constant cleanliness of the skin, particularly of the back of the neck or other parts commonly affected.

In men the back of the neck is the part most commonly affected, usually because of the constant rubbing of the collar on the hair of the lower part of the back of the head.

_May Be Serious Signal._--Certain diseases, such as diabetes, seem to predispose the person to infection with boils, and the constant recurrence of boils should be the signal for a visit to the doctor.

The person who succumbs readily to skin infections lacks bodily resistance. This resistance of the skin is associated with the presence in the blood of substances that will overcome bacteria.

The constantly recurring warning to keep the body in the best physical state by proper diet, proper cleaning and prompt attention to infections in the ear, nose and throat is here of the greatest importance.

When a boil occurs the parts around it are usually shaved, since the infection spreads from one hair follicle to another. All sorts of antiseptics may be applied and fail to control the boil unless the tissues of the body wall it off and cause it to “come to a head.” Heat aids this process by bringing a good supply of blood to the part affected.

_Surgical Attention._--A boil should not be opened by some friend who happens to think himself a surgeon merely because he does not faint at the sight of blood. Improper opening or drainage of a boil may be exceedingly serious by spreading the infection to the body generally.

The surgeon will open the boil with proper precautions against extension of the infection and will see to it that the boil drains properly.

The germs that cause boils are small round organisms, commonly seen in clusters when stained and studied with a microscope. Some physicians build up the resistance of the chronic sufferer from boils by preparing a vaccine from the patient’s own bacteria.

PSORIASIS ONE OF THE MOST ANNOYING SKIN FAULTS

Of all of the diseases of the skin that affect the human body, one of the most annoying is called psoriasis. In this disease, the skin becomes inflamed and there develop round patches which are red at their base and which are covered by dry, white scales.

These patches slowly enlarge, never developing into blisters, but continuing to give off scales. The disease usually begins on the back of the arms and the front of the legs, just below the elbows and knees, and may involve also the scalp and the lower part of the back, but seldom appears on the face.

The disease continues for months and years, sometimes better, sometimes worse. The patient is seldom disturbed in general by the condition, except by its annoying appearance and the development of the scales.

A disease of this type has been treated by all of the methods known to medical science, and the fact that so many methods have been suggested is an indication that none has proved especially satisfactory. Any good specialist in diseases of the skin is able to clear up the lesions temporarily by the use of proper drugs, and usually recommends a change in the diet involving reduction of protein substances and of meat.

In a recent consideration by the leading specialists in diseases of the skin of Great Britain, it was pointed out that the best results today are secured by local treatment, with attention to the general hygiene of the body, and that the value of the various special forms of treatment mentioned in medical literature have not yet been established.

A person who suffers with this disease will do well to select a specialist in diseases of the skin and to follow the general routine laid down.

The chronic character of the disease and its apparent incurability cause persons affected to travel from one specialist to another, and to consult all sorts of fads and quackery in their search for relief. Until some specific curative method is discovered, they will in this way merely waste funds which might better be conserved for useful treatment.

“CAULIFLOWER EARS”

Among the first of the beauty operations to attract public attention was the correction of what the pugilists call a cauliflower or “tin” ear. This term is applied to the result of a powerful force sharply administered to the appendages on the sides of the prizefighter’s visage. Immediately thereafter the blood vessels beneath the skin burst and the blood pours out into the membranes which cover the cartilage or gristle of the ear. The blood distends the tissues of the ear to the extent of the blood pressure and until the blood coagulates. The swelling thus formed may gradually be absorbed and the ear return to its normal state, but in many instances tissue forms out of the mass and when this contracts the ear is distorted into the cauliflower shape. Dr. Samuel Iglaur has pointed out that it is the left ear that is usually of the cauliflower variety, since this ear receives most of the wallops from the right fist of the opponent. Cauliflower ears are also seen frequently in wrestlers, and before the development of headgear were not unusual in football players.

After the pugilist develops affluence and is ready to retire to the stage or the screen he is usually ready to submit himself to remodeling and decorative surgical art. If he develops this vanity previous to his retirement, the revamped ear is likely to become a special target for the opposition the moment he steps into the ring.

FLOPPING EAR NEEDS CAREFUL OPERATION

Next to the cauliflower ear, no other deformity of this particular organ is so frequently the subject of correction as the outstanding ear. This is usually a congenital development and one which is likely to give much distress, particularly to a girl who is otherwise handsome. Many persons have thought that outstanding ears could be corrected merely by sewing the ear to the skin back of it. However, in practice it has been found that the skin will stretch promptly and the ear sag into a new and perhaps more undesirable position. The operation is, therefore, most intricate, involving actual transplantation of part of the cartilage of the ear to the bony covering of the skull behind the ear.

Such decorative surgery is comparatively recent in medicine. Perhaps the first operation for correction of outstanding ears was devised in 1861. Nowadays, with the increasing prosperity, publicity and vanity, such operations have become fairly frequent.

The reliable cosmetic and plastic surgeon is usually associated with a hospital that has been classified by the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons as a reputable institution. His work is done under the best surgical conditions, with the assistance of well trained nurses and with all of the cleanliness that is absolutely necessary if surgery of any type is to be successful.

It has been said that the persons who seek cosmetic surgery are likely to be dissatisfied with any result short of perfection, and that they submit to operation after operation, falling more and more into the net of the unprincipled surgeon, if they happen to have begun their quest for beauty with an advertising quack.

The great campaign of education about quackery carried on for many years has resulted in the development of new methods of advertising by the unprincipled surgical impresario. He is far too shrewd to indulge himself in purchased advertising space in newspapers or periodicals. He, therefore, secures a publicity agent who is as likely as not to be a reporter on some local newspaper, willing to eke out a narrow income by playing both ends against the middle. This enterprising journalist takes payment from the beauty surgeon for securing space for him in the daily press, and submits to his newspaper news items regarding weird operations performed by the beauty surgeon on actors, pugilists and other notorious persons. The result is to bring a flood of less notable but equally simple kitchen mechanics, stenographers, elderly housewives and other shallow-minded searchers for beauty into the net.

RUBBER “REDUCERS” ARE FOES OF COMFORT BUT NOT OF FAT

In the craze for reduction which agitated most of the women of the United States during the past few years, many of them undertook all sorts of exercises, diets and the use of all kinds of apparatus to remove what they considered superfluous weight.

Among the most widely advertised articles were corsets and brassières, made of pure gum rubber, which were supposed to be worn next to the skin. It was perhaps the notion of those who promoted these devices that they would squeeze the flesh into a more solid form, perhaps causing the body to eliminate the superfluous matter from inside.

There is not, of course, the slightest scientific reason to believe that such apparatus could do anything of the kind. The chief effect of wearing rubber garments next to the skin is that they prevent perspiration from evaporating. Since the perspiration is rubbed into the skin, it is likely to produce irritation.

Some persons have severe irritation of the skin from contact with the rubber itself. The rubber garment does not increase the sweat, but simply causes it to remain on the surface. Certainly it does not cleanse the skin, but rather tends to make it accumulate deposits of waste products.

The sweat regulates the temperature of the body by evaporation from the surface. It also keeps the skin soft by keeping it moist and well lubricated. Rubber garments prevent evaporation of the sweat, which produces laceration of the skin.

Certainly they cannot in any way aid the lubrication of the skin, since retention of salts and other substances is likely to make it drier and to cover it with crusts.

BE CAREFUL IN USE OF LAXATIVE GUMS

It is safe to say that more proprietary medicines of a laxative character are sold in this country than in any other.

The vogue of chewing gum is also particularly an American institution. It is not surprising therefore that a manufacturer has begun the sale and distribution of chewing gum into which is incorporated a quantity of a well known laxative drug.

_Caution in Usage._--While chewing gums thus medicated may be safe as laxatives, there are excellent reasons why this drug should not be sold indiscriminately. Samples were distributed in the streets of some cities, until boards of health prevented such distribution because the samples fell into the hands of children and there were serious results.

Besides, some persons are especially sensitive, and react with severe inflammation of the skin when they take even a small dose of this remedy.

The second use to which chewing gum has been put has been to incorporate drugs alleged to have special properties for reducing obesity.

_Thyroid Extract._--Anti-fat chewing gums contain thyroid extract, which is dangerous; drugs that irritate the stomach and disturb the appetite, which are also dangerous, and drugs which have no power whatever, which is foolish. The United States government has recently issued fraud orders against several chewing gums of this character.

The person who uses the gum is told that in addition to taking the remedy she should walk five miles a day, go through certain exercises, and cut down the diet. These practices will bring about a reduction in weight just as well without chewing the gum.

OVEREATING HARMFUL AFTER MIDDLE LIFE

Most of the illnesses that afflict the man beyond middle age are due to the fact that he does not realize his intestinal limitations.

The most pernicious misdemeanor after middle life is overeating. The person who works out-of-doors is, of course, able to dispose of more and heavier food than does the brain-worker.

The brain-worker who tries to eat meat three times a day will find himself, in most instances, in better condition if he eats meat only once each day, but in this condition quantity of food is more important than its nature.

_Cooked Foods._--The human being gradually has been adapting himself to more and more refined and thoroughly cooked foods. Nevertheless, it is not desirable for him suddenly to change to foods that are coarse and indigestible.

These perhaps will aid elimination, but at the same time they will irritate the delicate lining of the intestines and permit the more easy entrance of bacteria into the body.

Too much starch, protein or fat is harmful because it will not be digested fully and will encourage the growth of bacteria in the intestines. As one becomes older his tolerance for sugars becomes less, and if he eats too much sweet or starchy foods, he is likely to develop disorders of sugar elimination.

_Insurance Records._--All health authorities are agreed that the greatest danger for the man beyond middle age is overeating. The records of great insurance companies show that the life expectancy of the man slightly underweight at this age is greater by far than that of the man who is overweight.

As the old farmer expressed the matter, pigs would live longer if they did not make hogs of themselves.

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Transcriber’s note

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.

Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:

Page 3: “Hademan-Julius Company” “Haldeman-Julius Company” Page 3: “UNITED STATES OF AMER” “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” Page 19: “with dangerous possibities” “with dangerous possibilities” Page 32: “proteins or fats is” “protein or fat is” Page 32: “sweets or starchy foods” “sweet or starchy foods”