The health book

Preface

TT should be a part of everybody’s training to know wbat * to do in the common accidents and medical emergencies. Many a life has been saved through promptly applied, yet simple, treatment given by a layman. Many a life has been lost because fright and lack of knowledge prevented effective action at the critical time.

It is the purpose of this book to tell in simple language how to relieve pain and what to do to prevent or to cure some of the many ailments which are liable to invade every home. I shall hope to explain how to meet the simple acci¬ dents, the sudden emergencies of factory, farm, and house¬ hold, which are sometimes appalling if you don’t know what to do.

I shall be glad if I can lessen the terror of the family and promote the comfort of the afflicted. By giving advice as to how to proceed in case of trouble perhaps I may be able to add to human happiness. For many years I have been striv¬ ing to do this through my work as a medical teacher, as a health commissioner, as a health lecturer, and in my daily newspaper articles on health.

Much of the material in this book has appeared in my writings for the Newspaper Feature Service. It is by the courtesy of this organization that I am permitted to collect these articles and to present them in this more permanent form.

The book contains some of the things I have learned through years of medical practice. They are just the things other doctors have learned, hut have not had the inclination to record.

In Part One are included the emergencies you are liable to meet. These are listed alphabetically. In the box at the

VI

PEEFACE beginning of each subject you find what to do in the emer¬ gency. Then follows a more or less detailed account of the nature and treatment of the trouble.

Part Two is devoted to the common ailments. It is in¬ tended to give you such knowledge of each disease as a lay¬ man should have.

Part Three includes a lot of general information which every person, especially every parent, should possess. ,

At the close of the book is a carefully prepared index which should give you ready access to the material in the pages.

I recommend that you read the book from cover to cover. Then you will know what it contains and, in emergency, will know where to turn for advice. May I suggest in all mod¬ esty that scattered through the pages are bits of advice which, if followed, will add years to your life?

My last suggestion is this: Please do not think, because you have the book, that you can give up your doctor. You can’j; do this. You should have his personal advice. Let him be your guide, counselor, and friend. Perhaps by studying the book you can be helpful to him and in some ways lighten his burdens. But you will need the doctor and should call him when you have the slightest doubt of what your sick ones require.

PART I—EMERGENCIES Appendicitis

Asphyxia, or Strangulation .

Asthma.

Bites and Stings op Insects .

Bites of Dogs and Other Animals

Black Eye.

Bleeding, or Hemorrhage Boils and Carbuncles Breast Pang, or Angina Pectoris Broken Bones ....

Bronchitis, Acute Catarrhal Bruises and Bumps .

Burns .

Chills and Colds Choking ....

Colic in Children Convulsions in Children .

Cramps.

Croup .

Cuts and Tears .

Diarrhea ....

Dislocations

Drowning and Artificial Respiration Ear and Nose, Insects and Foreign Bodies Earache ....

Electrical Shock Eye, Foreign Body in the Fainting ....

Feet, Sore and Blistered Fever Blisters .

Filth Conditions

Fits.

Foreign Bodies in the Skin Fracture of the Skull .

Frost-bite, or Chilblains Gunshot Wounds Head, Pain in the Heartburn, or Hyperacidity n THE

PAGE vii

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CONTENTS viii

PAGE

Hiccough.101

Hoarseness, or Laryngitis.103

Indigestion, or Dyspepsia . 106

Intestinal Obstruction.109

Ivy Poison .Ill

Lockjaw, or Tetanus.113

Lumbago, or Backache.116

Lungs, Foreign Bodies in the.118

Menstruation, Difficult.120

Nosebleed.122

Paralysis, or Apoplexy.125

Pinkeye and Acute Conjunctivitis.128

Poisoning, Food or Ptomaine.133

Seasickness.136

Shock.139

Snake Bite .Ill

Sprains and Strains.146

Stunned, What to Do When.148

Sunburn.153

Sunstroke.155

Swallowing a Foreign Body.158

Toothache .... *.160

Vertigo, or Dizziness.163

Vomiting, Violent and Repeated.165

PART II—COMMON AILMENTS Adenoids.169

Arthritis, or Inflamed Joints.175

Baldness in Men.178

Biliousness.180

Blackheads, or Acne.182

Bright’s Disease and the Kidneys.185

Bronchitis and Bronchial Asthma.188

Bunions and Bursitis.191

Car Sickness.194

Catarrh, Nasal.196

Chicken-pox, or Varicella.199

Cold, Why We Should Not Neglect a Common .... 201

Colitis, Mucous.206

Corns and Callouses ..213

Coryza, Acute.215

CONTENTS ix

PAGK

Cough, Dry.217

Deafness.219

Epilepsy.234

Erysipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire.236

Flat-foot, or Pes Planus.239

Gangrene and Bed-sores.*246

Goiter.248

Gout.251

Granulated Eyelids, or Trachoma.253

Habit Spasms.255

Hardening of the Arteries, or Arteriosclerosis . . . 257

Hay Fever .260

Headaches, Causes and Kinds of.262

Hives and Other Skin Troubles Due to Food and Drug

Hypochondriasis, or “Imaginitis”.269

Influenza.271

Insomnia.273

Itching, or Pruritus.276

Jaundice.278

Leucorrhea, or Whites.280

Malaria.282

Mastoid Disease.284

Measles.286

Mumps.288

Nervous Breakdown, or Neurasthenia.291

Piles, or Hemorrhoids.297

Pleurisy and Empyema.301

Pneumonia.303

Rheumatism.305

Rheumatism in Children.307

Rickets, or Rhachitis.309

Ringworm, Barber’s Itch, and Favus.311

St. Vitus’s Dance, or Chorea.314

Salivation.316

Sciatica.321

Shingles, or Herpes Zoster.323

Sleep-walking, or Somnambulism.326

Snoring.328

Stammering and Other Speech Defects.330

Thyroid Gland and Myxedema.336

CONTENTS

PAGE

Toe-nail, Ingrowing.338

Tonsils, Enlarged.340

Tuberculosis.342

Tumors.345

Ulcer of the Stomach.351

Varicose Veins and Ruptured Blood-vessels .... 354

Warts and Moles.357

Whooping-cough.359

PART III—GENERAL ADVICE When to Call the Doctor.367

Care of the Sick at Home.375

Transporting the Helpless.378

Examining the Urine. 380

Prenatal Instruction. 382

Disinfection and Fumigation.391

Menopause, or Change of Life.398

Ductless Glands.401

Care of the Face.404

Care of Women's Hair.407