Earlier text: THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL EFFORTHas any one noticed how few hymns are quoted in these days? One minister has said that about the entire body of Christian truth with which his people were acquainted, was contained in the hymn book. The hymns they sang had fastened themselves on their minds. But there is a recent and large class of hymns which are scarcely ever quoted; indeed, they are hardly remembered; for there is little or nothing in them to remember or quote. Flighty jingles, vain repetitions, rattling choruses, and jumbled fugues may tickle the ear and please the crowd, but when one settles down to read them in cold, plain English, the interest felt in them vanishes, and they appear stale and stupid, flat and unprofitable. To quote a hymn, a man must remember it; and if a man is to remember a hymn, there must be something in it to remember. Very many of the pieces sung to-day are not remembered, and for that let us be thankful! Persons can sing them as long as they can follow the jingle of the tune; but as for thoughts and ideas, there are very few to be retained. And is it not true that ministers are forgetting how to read hymns? There are men whose reading of a hymn is as good as a sermon, and far better than some sermons. The earnest, heartfelt pathos which marks the reading of a hymn when divine truth mingles with solid thought and pure devotion, has often brought tears to the eyes of those that heard; but it was because there were tears in the hymn, and in the heart of the one that wrote it. If we can get rid of the light and frivolous rhymes which very few remember, and which nobody thinks of quoting, and get hold of those deep, solid, devout, and devotional hymns, which the Church of God have loved to sing for generations, we shall find that such hymns will strike down into the hearts of men, and write within them truth which is more precious than gold. And if these hymns can be set to decent tunes—tunes which breathe the pathos of Christian emotion and the reverence due to the Almighty—tunes which are fitly joined to hymns of praise and worship, hymns which angels might gladly sing, and to which the Saviour himself might bend to listen,—the service of song may then come to be what it should be—the worship of God rather than the amusement of men. There is nothing more shocking to a devout ear and a cultured taste than to hear a sacred hymn, like, “There is a fountain filled with blood,” set to the music of some jigging tune which reminds one of the thumbing of a banjo or the movements of a plantation dance. Such singing is not worship; it is profanation; and the thoughtless souls which delight in it need to be silent in the presence of the Lord, and pray for grace whereby they “may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear.” THE ONE SOURCE OF LIFE.
By W. B. Holden
All matter is divided into four kingdoms,—the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, and the spiritual. In Gen. 1: 11 the Lord speaks to the mineral kingdom, bidding it to bring forth the vegetable kingdom. After God had created the animal kingdom, and man, the highest type of the animal kingdom, He calls upon the vegetable kingdom to sustain the animal kingdom. Gen. 1: 29. In Col. 1: 13 the spiritual kingdom is mentioned. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” As the types of these four kingdoms we will use soil, wheat, man, and the Christian. If we were to analyze the chemical elements in a sack of wheat and those in a sack of soil, we should find that the sack of wheat contains no element which cannot be found in the sack of soil. But the sack of wheat has life, has power, and is capable of doing things which the sack of soil, of itself, cannot do. The difference between the sack of earth and the sack of wheat is a difference of life, and of life only. This life is a power that is imparted to the soil, and represents a divine impartation of life in each and every grain of wheat. No man yet has been able to make a single kernel of wheat out of the chemical elements. It is possible to construct out of chemical elements a chemical substance like the chemical substance of wheat, but no man has made or ever will make out of earth a kernel of wheat which will be capable of producing another kernel of wheat. The life, the real essential thing in the kernel of wheat, is divine life, and cannot be explained apart from that miraculous manifestation of life. A sack of wheat and a man contain the same chemical elements. There is nothing found in one which cannot be found in the other, generally speaking. But one has more power, and is capable of doing more than the other. Where does the man obtain this additional power? The answer is the same as in the preceding comparison. He gets it only by a divine impartation of life. Physiologists tell us how a man can bake his wheat into bread; how it is partly dissolved by the saliva of the mouth, partly dissolved by the stomach juices, and how finally the process is completed by the intestinal juices. They tell us how some of it is absorbed by the blood, and some of it by the lymphatics. They tell us in what forms food, after it has been used, is carried away from the body by the kidneys, the skin, and the lungs. But just where the bread becomes brain and bone and muscle—in other words, where it ceases to be a part of the vegetable kingdom and becomes a part of the animal kingdom—no one has ever been able to explain, except by using the term “a chemico-vital change,” which means nothing else than a direct addition of divine life to the wheat. No man has ever yet been able or ever will be able to take food substances and build up a man out of these. The real essential man is a miraculous manifestation of divine power. The sinner and the Christian weigh the same; they both have the same muscles, the same bones, the same anatomical and physical characteristics; but one can do what the other cannot do. One can overcome where the other is overcome. The only difference between these two is again a divine impartation of life. Christ said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10: 10. Soil plus the life of God equals wheat. Wheat plus the life of God equals man. Man plus the life of God equals a Christian. In order to obtain wheat from soil, wheat must be placed in certain relations to soil; that is, it must be planted, given water and sunlight. But the giving of the life is none the less miraculous, none the less real, and none the less divine. In order that man should be nourished from bread, a certain condition between the two must be present; that is, the bread must be eaten. Bread placed upon the skin would not nourish nor sustain life. But the real miracle in transforming wheat into man is none the less wonderful. In order for a Christian to be made out of a sinner, certain conditions must be fulfilled,—the sinner must be willing, and must repent. In each of these cases there is a direct translating power from above. It is a lifting force, and not a pushing force. Soil of itself cannot become wheat. Wheat of itself cannot become man. Man of himself cannot become a Christian. Wheat must lift up earth into the vegetable kingdom. Man must lift up wheat into the animal kingdom. Christ must lift up man into the spiritual kingdom. This is diametrically opposed to the theory of evolution. Thus we have ever before our eyes, in the wheat fields and in the physiology of our own bodies, countless evidences that evolution is false as applied to life and morality. Conversion and the new birth are as reasonable, as scientific, as explainable, as the existence of a kernel of wheat, or the digestion and appropriation of a breakfast. No one doubts the fact that a kernel of wheat put into the ground will grow and produce others. No one doubts that our food gives us strength and power. But many seem to doubt the power of the new birth, because, they say, it is supernatural,—they cannot see the reason for it. “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Rom. 1: 20. God is a reasonable being. He made man a reasonable creature. He asks us to believe nothing without giving us abundant evidences of its truth. How few of us have seen in the flower, in the blade of grass, in all vegetation about us, the evidence that there is power from the same source of life to “translate us into the kingdom of His dear Son”! How many meals have we eaten and failed to see in the appropriation of the food the same power manifested which might be ours to lead a better life? How many times have we failed to see “the invisible things of Him” because we did not clearly see, or perhaps did not recognize at all, “the things that are made.” We read about the giving of the manna, and call it a wonderful manifestation of divine life,—a miracle,—and do not recognize that the same miracle is repeated for us daily. God worked no more marvelously in the widow’s barrel of meal in the days of Elijah than He works now in your barrel of meal. The wine at the marriage feast of Cana had no more divinity in it than the wine in the grapes which we eat to-day. We have become so accustomed to looking at the exceptions that we forget the great multitudes of God’s daily miracles. We look upon the healing of Hezekiah’s boil as remarkable, but every boil which has been healed before or since is just as distinctly a divine healing. In the miracles of Christ we recognize a wonderful divine power. This Christ, who is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever,” is working just as wonderfully in healing all our diseases. The Christian character is a product of growth and development. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” “Ye must be born again.” “Grow in grace.” The Christian character requires a lifetime for its perfection. It is not the product of a few moments’ flight of feeling. The thief on the cross perfected the Christian character in a very short time. It was an emergency case, like the turning of the water into wine at Cana. It requires a lifetime for us to do as much. The growth and development of an even Christian experience has just as much power in it as there was in the conversion of Paul, or in that of the thief on the cross. “As the Father hath life in himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5: 26. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17: 28. “With thee is the fountain of life.” Ps. 36: 9. There is no better way to honor and serve our Heavenly Father than to recognize Him working in the life of the vegetable kingdom in all its various manifestations, in the wonderful phenomena of our physical lives, and thus have a tangible, logical basis for the reason of the hope that is within us. HOW THE TEMPLE WAS RESCUED.
By M. C. Wilcox
God designed that man's body should be the dwelling-place of His Spirit. The body, the flesh, of every man is rightfully the temple of God. In the holiness of primitive man God was incarnate. He dwelt in the flesh. He was manifest in the highest form that earth knew, in earth's highest creature, man. This indwelling of God in the flesh was the one essential thing. That lost, all was lost. And when man permitted Satan to enter, he by that very thing bade God depart. Sin cannot reign where the presence of the Infinite is cherished; but infinite Love will not stay where the enemy of all good is admitted on equal terms. When man yielded to the temptations of the deceiver, sin became incarnate, or enfleshed. Satan, through sin, took the place which belonged to God. The mind submitted to sin became carnal; and the will yielded to sin became enslaved. This was the battle Satan won in the stronghold of this world. Winning it, he became “god of this world,” “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” The world must be won back in the very field where it was lost, in the temple of God in man. God must come again into the flesh to reign. Holiness must become incarnate. It was here that our Lord Jesus Christ won His victory. He took upon himself our nature, was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh,” was partaker of flesh64and blood even as the children of men, was in all points tempted like as we are, and in sinful flesh He won and held every moment of His life the glorious victory. He was “God manifest in the flesh.” He rescued the body of the flesh, the temple of God, from the power of sin. The hope of every child of earth lies in this victory, and in no other. He must, in the strength of Christ's presence, in “the power of an endless life,” which Christ alone can give, win and hold the same victory. He can do this —by accepting Jesus Christ. “And as many as received Him, to them gave He power [right, authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. This is the privilege of every soul, to receive the Son of the living God, to let Him reign in the flesh of each as He did in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. O soul, accept Him, hold Him, by living faith! Be yourself the incarnation of our blessed Lord, not the incarnation of sin. Let Christ dwell in you, the hope of glory. M. C. WILCOX. From Conference officials and those who are not Conference officials we have received words of encouragement with reference to the Forward Movement, some of which are printed below. We are glad to have the people speak to the people concerning this work for the people. “I feel a deep interest in this movement, and shall be glad to do anything in my power to contribute to its success.” “We feel that this is a good work, a forward movement in the right direction, and we pledge our co-operation in behalf of this work.” “I will do what I can for its advancement.” “I shall be very glad to co-operate in any way in my power.” “I am in hearty accord with this plan, and will place a circular letter before the people as soon as the plan is developed. Anything that I can do to advance the work in this Conference, I will gladly do.” “I am much pleased that a movement of this kind has taken form, and trust that the blessings of the Lord will be with it in every particular. I am sure it will have the support of a large majority of Seventh-day Adventists.” “I wish to assure you that I am in hearty accord with the principles outlined, and will do all that I can to encourage our people to take hold of the thing earnestly.” “I may assure you that our interests are with you in this work, and we will endeavor to do all we can to make it a success.” “I feel an interest in this movement, and will do what I can to make it effectual.” “I am heartily in agreement with the plan outlined, and am ready to contribute anything within my ability to assist the enterprise.” “I shall be glad to be of any assistance possible in the Forward Movement.” “I appreciate the call, and will do what I can to help make the plan a success.” “It makes our hearts rejoice to see such a movement started from the center of the denomination. It is just such a work as we have been praying and longing to see started in this State. The needs here are very great, and we will gladly do all we can to help the good work along.” “I will promise you my hearty co-operation in carrying forward this good work.” “I hail with gladness every measure from the Lord that will hasten the coming of the day of the Lord. It was through the work of health reform twenty-seven years ago that I was led into the further light of this Advent message. I wish to assure you that I have no antagonism to the principles of health, as far as I understand them. Correct principles of divine truth originated with God, and He alone can direct in correct methods of the application of these principles in practical life. As far as I am able to discern, I will be very glad indeed to join in the movement to forward the real work of this message.” TRUE HAPPINESS.
By John Harvey Kellogg
To be one with God, to be in absolute harmony with the power that works for good in all the universe, to be in accord with all the principles that govern our relations to the things and beings about us,—this is happiness. Sin and sorrow, death and disease, come through disobedience. Health, happiness, peace, and joy are the result of obedience. We suffer because we are at war with God; in other words, we are rebelling against divine order. Our suffering is not a punishment, an arbitrary infliction, it is simply a reaping of seed of our own sowing. Sorrow and pain are the warning sentinels by which God leads us back into the path of rectitude and wisdom. “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” A will surrendered to God in the fullest sense will obey God’s laws in all their relations to human life. Such a life must be a life divinely led, a divinely happy life, a healthy and joyous life. Knowing that God dwells within us, that we cannot for an instant escape from Him, ought we not to live as in His presence? In His presence is fullness of joy. LITTLE PETITIONERS.
By Eleanor Ingraham
Eleanor Ingraham, in American Mother. How few mothers realize the importance of intelligently answering a child's questions! It is a matter of surprise and regret to those who are interested in children and their mental and moral welfare, that very many of them learn so little of what is best worth knowing of the world around them from their mothers, and so much that is not worth knowing from other sources. How many mothers—loving mothers—feel that childish questions and comment are “stuff and nonsense,” unworthy of any one's attention; fit only to be silenced with, “Do keep still, and don't bother me,” or a piece of cake, and a dismissal to play in the yard or street. How often the writer has heard the conversation of older persons (frequently more vapid than child's talk ever is) interrupted by incessant questions on subjects of universal interest, not one of which was answered intelligently or even civilly by the mother. If it be permission to do something that is craved, how frequently the response is an impatient “No,” without regard to the reasonableness of the request, simply because “no” dismisses the case, when “yes” might imply a moment's attention and thought. If it be a request for aid with school work, forgetfulness or ignorance of the subject often impels her to say, “The teacher ought to tell you, and not expect me to know;” a sad admission of her own deficiency, and a most unfortunate thwarting of the teacher's highest purpose. If, as most often occurs, it is a matter of general knowledge that has aroused the child's curiosity, it is positively astonishing to note the utter disregard for truth and reason that many parents display. Partly through ignorance and partly through indifference, the most misleading and outlandish answers are given—because, forsooth! the questioner is “only a child,”—only the most sacred charge that Heaven could have bestowed upon you,—only the most dependent of all beings, yearning for your sympathy, thirsting for the knowledge that you seem to him to have possessed from the beginning, and looking up to you with a fullness of trust and faith more sublime than he is yet able to conceive for Divinity itself. “Mama, what are the stars made of?” “No; God just put them up there for us to look at. Don't annoy me.” And thus the door to the most beautiful realm of God's great fairyland is slammed in the little one's face. “Papa, what makes the locomotive go?” “Why, the engine inside does it.” “What makes the engine do it?” “Steam, I told you. The man in there fixes it, and he'll turn it on you and burn you if you don't keep still.” In a very few words the scientific principle could have been clearly and simply given, and a train of thought and observation started that would have been infinitely more beneficial than the hopeless silence and discontent that follow such senseless threats. If the child be timid or dull, he will gradually withdraw from the field of constant defeat, and wonder on idly for years at the mysteries around him, failing often, when later opportunities for enlightenment come, to take advantage of them. If, on the other hand, he be bold and inquisitive, it will not be long before he will discover the errors and deceptions of which he has been made the victim, and the lessening of his respect for his elders will be far greater than they realize. To give your child grounds for believing that “mama doesn't know anything,” or worse, that “she does not tell the truth,” is to thrust a gulf between yourself and him that years of toil and sacrifice cannot bridge. Note the difference in the schoolroom between the child who has nothing but his text-book to depend upon for the preparation of his lesson, and the one who has a fund of general information at his command, gleaned in part, no doubt, from wisely directed supplementary reading, but more largely from intelligent conversation at home. This knowledge serves not merely as an addition to his recitation, but, in its acquisition, as a stimulus to his mental powers, which are thus the better trained for receiving and comprehending new ideas along any line. The former child, even when naturally industrious and thorough, misses point after point of the incidental allusions, and often fails in his conception of the objective truth which the teacher is striving to impress. His ambition may be just as high, his power of concentration just as great, his method of preparation just as painstaking, as that of his more fortunate classmates, and there is sometimes a pathos in his surprise and perplexity at being so notably outdone, so emphatically impressed with a consciousness of inferiority, by this lucky comrade. If his mother could only know! Do not encourage children to be selfish and rude in their demands, importuning your guests, and perpetually monopolizing your attention regardless of your duties to yourself and to others, but give them to understand that their questions will be heeded, and at the proper time rationally answered. If you do not know a given thing, acknowledge the fact frankly, but tell them as much as you can, and help them to find out the rest. In this era of widely diffused learning, cheap and good periodicals, and free libraries, one need not go far to secure information on almost any subject, and it will richly repay you to make the effort to supplement your own knowledge for the children's sake. A prominent woman once told me that the one dread of her young motherhood had been that her children might outgrow her ability to teach them—that perhaps some day they would ask her something that she could not tell them anything about. The thought was so humiliating that she resolved never to let slip an opportunity for improving herself and enlightening them. She became their comrade, and by living in their world, and taking them into hers, she lost no whit of their respect or obedience. On the contrary, their babyhood's faith that “mother knew everything and was just right,” was strengthened with the years, and they were ever ready to champion her cause and to defer to her judgment. In the entire Bible there is no more encouraging command, no more beautiful promise, than “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The mother is the child's first deity, and surely it is she who must respond not only to the needs of the body, but to the yearnings of the little heart, and the myriad questionings of the aspiring young mind. PROVIDENCE AND POTATOES.
By H. L. Hastings
It is a blessed thing to trust in the good providence of God, but those who trust the most implicitly, also work the most faithfully. God giveth the increase; but Paul must not leave off planting nor Apollos watering on that account; they can do all this, and then have plenty left to trust in God for. The man who trusts in God to do what the Lord has told him to do himself, will find that there is some misunderstanding about matters somewhere. Faith and works should ever go together, and he who does his best is quite as trustful as he who is less faithful over the few things committed to him. It is related that the celebrated Welsh preacher, Christmas Evans, was once discussing the potato question with his thrifty, diligent wife, and perhaps in a playful, but still in a characteristic way, said to her: “Catherine, you never mind the potatoes; put your trust in Providence, and all will be well.” “I tell you what we’ll do, Christmas,” replied Catherine; “you go and sit down on the top of Moelly Gest, waiting for Providence, and I’ll go and hoe the potatoes; and we shall see to which of us Providence will come first!” Providence has a wonderful amount of interest in diligent, willing-hearted workers. Now Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, Elisha, Daniel, Paul, Peter, Matthew, James, John, and others55whom the Lord chose, honored, and blessed, were very busy, active men, and were, in most instances, called to the work of God when busily engaged in secular pursuits,—keeping sheep, thrashing wheat, plowing the fields, guiding the State, receiving taxes, catching fish, mending nets, and such like active and useful occupations. From the midst of these labors, they were called to deliver nations, lead armies, utter prophecies, and save men. The Lord of the vineyard, it is true, employed men who were standing idle in the market-place, but they were not idling there,—they came seeking work, but no man had hired them, and they took the first work that was offered, and did not stop to higgle about the wages. The Lord seems to have a great liking for busy men. We should have to look long before we could find an elegant “gentleman of leisure” on the staff of the Captain of our salvation. Paul, to be sure, was an educated man, but he was also a tent-maker, and he was full of restless energy, persecuting the saints even to strange cities, when the Lord called him to his work. Pray much, but work with all your might. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” THE BETTER VIEW.
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
If we talk of the good the world contains,
And try our best to add to it,
The evil will die of neglect by and by—
'Tis the very best way to undo it. We preach too much, and we dwell too long
On sin and sorrow and trouble;
We help them to live by the thoughts we give,
Their spite and might to redouble. For the earth is fair, and the people are kind,
If once you look for their kindness;
When the world seems sad and denizens bad,
It's only your own soul's blindness. And I say if we search for the good and pure,
And give no thought to the evil,
Our labors are worth far more to the earth
Than when we are chasing the devil.
— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. SALT AS A CAUSE OF CANCER.
Dr. James Braithwaite, of England, is authority for the following statements regarding the free use of salt as a cause of cancer. These statements are condensed from an article by Dr. Braithwaite, published in the London Lancet of Dec. 7, 1901:— “1. That excess of salt in the diet is one of four factors which originate the disease. This is the essential factor, but it is inoperative without at least one, and probably two, of the others. Excess of salt may arise from individual taste, or from much salt meat, or from too much ordinary meat, which of course involves much salt. The other factors are these:— “2. An overnourished condition of body from more food, and especially more meat, than is required. This condition is rarely met with among outdoor manual workers. “3. An impure condition of body, owing to non-use and non-oxidation of the food which has been taken. The amount may have been moderate or even small. The cells of the body in this condition are loaded with effete material. It obtains in old age in persons who lead indolent, easy, and indoor lives; and locally in organs the active functions of which have ceased. “4. A fourth factor is some irritant or stimulant, such as friction from the stem of a pipe, or irritation from some micro-organism of which no one is actually specific, or ovarian stimulation in the case of the breast. Of these the first must always be present, and probably in some form the fourth, and also in all either the second or the third, but not both of them. These factors being in existence, the disease may be started in, perhaps, epithelial cell, or in a mass of cells which grow individually larger, and change the nature of their protoplasm; for a cancer cell will not stain with congo red, while an epithelial cell takes the stain deeply. The cell becomes a different being, with often more than one nucleus. It is itself the parasite, living and growing at the expense of the tissue around it, and contributing nothing to the common good.” “Nothing can be clearer about cancer than the fact that its incidence is connected with diet; and if our various pieces of knowledge bearing upon diet are compared, it will be found that the only constantly present thing is salt. It does not matter what the rest of the food may be, salt must be present, and in excess, considering the patient's occupation and mode of life. If salt is absent, cancer is absent. Savages, so far as is known, are exempt from cancer, and they get no salt. All domestic animals except the pig are subject to cancer, and salt is given to sheep, to cows, and to horses, but never to pigs. . . .” “Sailors may live for weeks on salt junk and breathe a salt-laden atmosphere, but it does them no great harm because conditions 2 and 3 are absent; that is, they work hard in the open air. Their mortality from cancer is, however, very high; namely, 44.5 per 100,000, contrasting with that of miners (14.5) and iron workers (12.2). The mortality from cancer in London is extremely high in the whole of the district west of a line drawn from Newington Green through London Bridge to Sydenham. This embraces the parts inhabited by the wealthy, who take much meat, and of course, with it a corresponding amount of salt.” Can eczema be cured? If so, what is the remedy? ANSWER.—This skin disease indicates a general lowering of the vital resistance, poisons in the blood, improper food, and poor elimination of waste matter from the body. When these conditions are removed, eczema, in the majority of cases, will disappear. Certain forms of eczema in old age are difficult to cure. Eat pure, wholesome food, avoid meats and much fat, make a practice of drinking water freely between meals and at bedtime, keep the bowels active, avoid irritating garments, be out of doors as much as possible in the sunshine, bathe the skin frequently, and apply friction to the parts not affected; avoid rubbing the diseased areas. To the diseased part apply hot and cold water daily, in the form of a hot and cold pour, using a dipper; or apply hot and cold compresses in alternation, twenty minutes at a treatment. If the eczema is quite general, a full bath at 95° for thirty minutes at night is very effective. After bathing apply an ointment containing the following: salicylic acid, twenty grains; ichthyol, sixty grains; oxide of zinc, sixty grains; vaseline, one ounce. This may be applied at bedtime or during the day. 7.—TREATMENT OF DIARRHEA.
What is the treatment for diarrhea of several months' standing in one who is fifty-seven years old, and otherwise in good health? ANS.—In such cases rest is very necessary. Keep off the feet for several days. Take a very hot enema two or three times a day; apply fomentations to the abdomen fifteen minutes three times a day, each time following with a towel wrung out of water at 55°, placed on the abdomen for thirty minutes, and covered with a dry flannel. Eat toasted bread or zwieback, or toasted wafers, eating slowly and chewing thoroughly. Avoid fruits, but one or two glasses of blackberry juice a day probably will be a benefit. What is the treatment for catarrh of the nose and throat? I have a dropping into the throat, inflammation and burning. ANS.—Catarrh is a local malady, but it indicates a general lowering of the vitality, with poor circulation. Catarrh attacks the parts that possess the least resistance. Hence the treatment must be such as to build up the general health, as well as to give attention to local measures. A change of climate will frequently effect a perfect cure. Of all measures nothing is more effective than the morning plunge or cold-friction bath, followed with vigorous rubbing. This electrifies the entire system, improves the circulation, and relieves the congestion of the mucous membrane of the nose and throat. It should be taken every morning. Also take equal parts of borax, salt, and bicarbonate of soda; mix well, and put one teaspoonful in a cup of water, and use three times a day as a gargle and as a nasal wash. It may also be used in an atomizer. Follow this with a spray of camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus, twenty drops each, in four ounces of albolene. This may also be used in a nebulizer. A vaporizer containing menthol and eucalyptus, if used several times a day, is very helpful. Keep the feet warm, and avoid overdressing. 9, 10.—INHALER PRESCRIPTION—TREATMENT OF HARD COUGH.
Please give (1) a prescription for the inhaler, and (2) the treatment for a hard cough with bronchial irritation. ANS.—1. Equal parts of camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus, with a few drops of the oil of cinnamon. 2. The cough will probably be relieved by inhaling the vapors of a pint of boiling water, in which has been placed a teaspoonful of the compound tincture of benzoin, or a teaspoonful of the oil of tar. For the bronchial tubes the nebulizer is of much greater service than the inhaler. Fomentations to the chest and between the shoulders frequently relieve a cough and the irritation. Also sip freely of hot water. 11, 12, 13.—PEANUT BUTTER AND RHEUMATISM — USE OF MAPLE SUGAR — SUBSTITUTE FOR CANE SUGAR.
1. Will peanut butter made from roasted peanuts cause rheumatism? 2. Is maple sugar wholesome? 3. What can we use to take the place of cane sugar? ANS.—1. Peanuts are highly nitrogenous, and any nitrogenous food, if used excessively, has a tendency to increase uric acid in the blood and tissues, and predisposes to rheumatism. Roasted peanut butter, if used at all, should be used with great moderation. When used in excess, it is a common cause of indigestion. Peanut butter made from boiled peanuts is much more wholesome. Those who eat peanut butter ad libitum, as they would sauce, are sure to suffer from indigestion sooner or later. 2. Maple sugar possesses all the properties of cane sugar. For household purposes it is not so serviceable as cane sugar. Cane sugar, when used in moderation and not combined with milk, does practically no harm in a healthy stomach. 3. Malt honey. This is made from grains, and is a delicious sweet, free from many of the disadvantages attributed to cane sugar. DON'T MAKE THE WRINKLES DEEPER.
Is father's eyesight growing dim,
His form a little lower?
Is mother's hair a little gray,
Her step a little slower?
Is life's hill growing hard to climb?
Make not their pathway steeper,
Smooth out the furrows on their brows—
Oh, do not make them deeper! There's nothing makes a face so young
As joy, youth's fairest token;
And nothing makes a face grow old
Like hearts that have been broken.
Much have thy parents borne for thee;
Be now their tender keeper,
And let them lean upon thy love—
Don't make the wrinkles deeper.
— Selected. “ALWAYS use your best voice at home; if you must speak sharply, let it be in public. A kind voice is as a lark’s song to both heart and home.” THE PHYSICIAN BY THE FIRESIDE.
By Frederick M. Rossiter
CONDUCTED BY FREDERICK M. ROSSITER, M.D. All questions intended for this department should be addressed to Dr. F. M. Rossiter, 294 Van Buren St., Battle Creek, Mich.