Health Advice for Our Missionaries by S. H. CARNAHAN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 25, 1907

Health Advice for Our Missionaries

By S. H. CARNAHAN

S. H. CARNAHAN

Many of our missionaries go from a temperate to a tropical climate; and a few words of caution from publications on tropical countries may be of inestimable value to some of them.

These all invariably advise against the free use of spirituous liquors. This precaution, however, is unnecessary for Seventh-day Adventist missionaries.

From a book on Hayti we quote: “If one receives the sting of a wasp, or a shock from a fall or a wound, or ‘catches a cold,’ a slight fever may result. But the ordinary fevers are not by any means regarded as serious or in any way dangerous.” “Among the natives, the worst type is the pernicious, the dreaded yellow fever, which is now considered infectious, but not contagious. The alkaline treatment has met with marked success.”

“Tetanus, a muscular disease, seems much more common here than in colder countries. Persons sometimes bring on lock-jaw from the merest abrasions by so slight an indiscretion as bathing while the abrasions last. The precaution for a person having any flesh wound, however slight, is to keep from bathing, and from all avoidable dampness.”

The following valuable hints translated from a work of Dr. David J. Guzman, on Salvador, will be helpful:—

“When the European lands on our shores, he soon feels the moist heat which prevails, particularly in the wet season. His strength begins gradually to fail, and his appetite soon languishes; his habitual energy declines. He will observe that the native, notwithstanding that he is acclimatized, knows how to resist the heat and escape fatigue, by moderating his work and performing it in the cool hours of the morning and evening.

“He should avoid the immoderate use of fruits, which, although to him new and delicious, will disarrange the gastrointestinal functions, and produce grave disorders in them. A necessary precaution for the immigrant to take is to provide against sudden changes of temperature. Frequently, before a rainfall, an oppressive moist heat is felt, causing a profuse perspiration. While in this condition a fresh breeze frequently springs up, which, unless precaution is taken against a sudden chill, may occasion grave disorders of the organs of respiration and digestion, producing dysentery and inflammatory affections of the chest, especially if the immigrant is stout and full-blooded. Light flannel clothing constantly worn will provide against chills. Although at first they may appear to be uncomfortably warm, use will soon make them preferable to cotton and linen, which have the disadvantage of cooling the wearer too quickly, thus producing conditions deleterious to health.

“The skin should be kept in good condition, as perspiration, which is active in hot climates, should be unobstructed. For this purpose, sea or river baths, combining exercise with cleanliness, are very salutary. Care should be taken to avoid sleeping in low and damp places. The air, laden with miasma arising from decomposing vegetables and animal matter, occupies by its specific gravity the lower strata of the atmosphere. It is from this cause that houses in low and damp locations are attacked by fevers of all kinds and types, which at times occasion ravages among newly arrived people. If situated in the country, houses should be located on the high grounds, and as far distant as possible from swamps and marshes. Clothing should be loose, so as to admit free circulation of air and perspiration, and unencumbered movement, and should not be dark in color, as dark colors absorb the heat, and lighter ones best resist the solar radiation.

“In hot climates like ours, digestion is weak and slow. Animal foods, and fats in particular, which are heat-producing, are injurious to the inhabitants,

as much from the difficulty of their digestion as from the additional labor imposed on the liver, which has to secrete a greater quantity of bile to dissolve the excess of fatty matter introduced. This extra work will in time produce the various forms of inflammation to which this organ is liable in tropical countries.

“It may also be logically inferred that the colonist, on arrival in a tropical country such as ours, ought not to radically change the habits acquired at home. It will be sufficient to introduce some slight modifications which will not violently and suddenly change his former methods of life.” He also advises properly proportioned foods, free from excess of spices and condiments.

Further, the Bulletin, No. 58 (Salvador) of the Bureau of the American Republics, itself says:—

“In the majority of cases where foreigners suffer from the change of climate, the cause can be traced to their own imprudence and careless habits of life. With only ordinary attention to hygienic laws, and particularly to temperance in eating and drinking, there is no reason why any person of good constitution should not enjoy as good health in Salvador as in any other part of the world.”

How thankful we as a people should be for those principles direct from the Spirit of God in the Testimonies, and epitomized for more ready reference, in the little book, “Healthful Living”! Should not we believe and live these?