;?*_-.
VOL. LV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., FEB. 3,1900.
NO. 5
%%V<tximt6 $tpi%vt*utut
How May Consumption and Typhoid   Favor be  Prevented.
1st Premium.—Few people know that the
dreaded disease "consumption" is more preventable ln all cases aud persons than any disease we are liable to. When quite young the
habit of always standing, walking and sitting
erect, should be formed; the weight of the
shoulders should fall behind the person, they
should also practice deep breathing, for if
the breast is constantly expanded they will be
safe from consumption. Never allow a cold
to run on, break lt in one night if possible.
This can be done ln most cases, by bathing
the feet ln hot water, taking a hot drink and
physic at bed time. Hot lemonade Is an excellent drink for colds. Never soak the system with liquor. D > not be a glutton; avoid
night exposure and keep the bowels free.
Persons who Inherit consumption should
avoid warm, moist atmosphere. Consumption can be cured when it first sets ln, by the
patient locating in a high dry atmosphere,
leading an orderly life, and eating moderately of good nutritious food, If he locates
ln a pine region all the better. Where there
ls a consumptive in the family, even If he be
very low, the family need havo no fears of
"catching" the disease, if the patient does
not expectorate on the fl.or, for consumption
ls not contagious and cannot be taken fn m
another, except by breathing a germ into the
lungs, and this ls often done by breathing the
dust ln sweeping a room where a consumptive
has expectorated on the floor. Typhoid fever
generally originates from drinking foul
water; therefore a person who drinks water
that has been boiled, ls in little danger of
taking the disease, as boiling the water kills
the germ. Oae should be careful about the
food they eat also; nothing but clean fresh
victuals should be taken Into the stomach; all
cooking utensils should be kept clean; no
vegetables Bhould decay around the house,
and cisterns, wells, etc., should ba kept clean
and the water pure. Water can be purified by
putting a little lime into it. Where there is a
case of typhoid fever ln the house, one should
be very careful not to eat or drink anything
that ls ln the sick room, and not eat or drink
from vessels the sick have used. The body
ehould be kept clean by bathing often; the
pores of the skin should b . kept ojen. The
sick room should be well ventilated and fumigated; a disinfectant used all over the house
ln the cellar, yard, drains, cesspools, etc, and
all the clothing, especially that which is used
ln the sick room should be washed ln a dls-
enfectant. No one need fear these dreaded
diseases it they follow the advice given by the
FakmxkV Wifb,
2d Premium —Al consumption ls a germ
disease, it can only be prevented by following
closely the laws of nature. Like all other germs
this one attacks the weak, N_>t only weak
persons, but weak spots in the lungs of strong
people. The spittle from a consumptive be
comes dried either upon the street or ln the
schools and churches. The movement of many
feat reduces lt to an impalpable powder, A
strong, robust person, who eats wholesome
food and breathes pure air in a well-vent Hated
bad chamber, can breath or inhale these floating germs with Impunity, Bittoan enfeebled
person, whose lungs have been weakened by
repeated colds, and whose circulation ls poor,
lt is dangerous. Any one who is narrow
chested and subject to bronchial troubles, may
avoid this dread disease by careful living and
breathing and proper exercise. Keep the head
cool, the feet warm, and when lt ls not necessary for some cause or other to He upon tha
side, He upon the back without a pillow.
Upon retiring and waking, Inhale a'number
of times, to the full capacity of the lungs.
Sleep in well ventilated rooms, walk briskly
in the open air, This will require deeper
breathing. Avoid crowded halls and dusty
streets. As typhoid is a filth disease, to keep
clean would seem to be all that is necessary to
avoid lt. By keeping clean ls meant, not only
the person, but the whole premises, lncludlug
the water supply. Many farm houses face the
south; the kitchen faces the north. In the
absence of drains, or any means to flash them,
if they did have them, the disposal of the
waste water has largely to do with the question
of health. No slops Bhould ever be thrown
out,the north doors or windows where the sun
never shines. Take it into the sunshine and
empty in one place today, another tomorrow.
By emptying it in different places each day,
the same ground may begone over every week.
Mother earth and the sun will take care of it.
If you have no well never dig one, unless you
go very deep, then close it up. A much
cheaper way is to dig two cisterns, side by
tide, or a large one with a partition. Use
only winter water. Use one for a filter. Draw
the water with a chain pump; this aerates the
water and keeps it sweet and healthy. This
makes the best of water for drinking and
cooking. Another advantage over digging a
well, you know just what a cistern will cost
If you have a well, have the water tested. If
found pure, tne lt; If not, the fault may be
remedied by cleaning lt out. If still Impure,
it receives surface drainage, and should either
be drilled deeper and closed up, or abandoned, and a cistern dug. No one need
have typhoid if he uses precautions indicated
above. L. A. S.
3d Premium —Bafore we can understand
how to prevent disease, we must know s .me.
thing of the origin of disease and their
causes. Scientific investigations have revealed many new things to us on the subject
of microbes and bacteria, and these little little foes of ours have been so thoroughly stud-
died, and various experiments have proved
many things tbat are needful for us to know
that we may successfully combat our deadly
foes. Typhoid fever is caused by the poison'
ous germs of decayed organic matter entering tbe system. A few years since a case
of typhoid fever developed ln our family.
The physician (..quired for a bottle of water
from our well, which from an analysis proved
to be badly boluted with decayed matter, and
very dangerous to use. We were saved from
farther developments of the disease ia our
family by finding the cause as soon as one
was attacked. The lesson did not pass unheeded and since then our drinking water receives careful attention. A prominent physician told me that impure drinking water
was the principle cause of typhoid fever, and
milk came next as a source of transmitting the
germs of this disease. He said it was not
contracted by inhalation or absorbents, but
that lt was conveyed to the system with food
and drink. Since milk la a second agency
for transmitting germs we are warned of tbe
necessity for supplying cows with good pure
drinking water. How often they drink from
some pond where the water ls green with
stagnation! We ne.d not be surprised If the
milk causes various forms of sickness. Children are especially liable to bowel trouble
through the summer months, and I wonder if
much of this trouble could not be traced to
these green, filthy ponds where the milk cow
drinks. The causes of consumption are numerous and may be classed under two heads,
hereditary and local. Hereditary tendencies
are sometimes very hard to overcome, and an
enfeebled constitution falls an easy prey to disease. The number of deaths from consumption ln our own State during the past year, as
shown by the report of the secretary of the
state board of health, reported in the Fakmkk
of December 9,1890, proves to us that  lt  is
alarming and demands great consideration.
Oood wholesome food, especially adapted to
enrich the blood together with pleasant employment, that demands sufficient exercise to
send tbe blood rushing through the body, is
good. Oood sanitation ln and around our
homes, attention to hygiene, with temperance
virtue, honesty and uprightness will bring us
good health, happiness and contentment.
Rockville. M. B. A.
KIVIBW.
No doubt the rapid strides ln the science of
medicine, la'the cause of Its discoveries being
so little understood. We have not made it our
business to keep up. In fact we have bad all
we could do to keep up with the Improved
methods of agriculture. It therefore seems
odd that so many obscure causes Bhould have
been worked out. In fact the wonderful powers of the microscope have opened up to the
student a new world of living forms. To the
untrained, these low forms of life and their
doings are a sealed book, because lt is utterly
impossible to know them with the unassisted
senses. Last winter at Purdue while peering
Into this microscopic land and studying the
inhabitants of a drop of water, I saw an animal swim across with much activity and itdld
lt ln a peculiar way. It drew up close to or in
its little self a sort of corkscrew, and shot lt
out 'ito the water quickly. This propellor
was much like that of our great ships, only lt
d id not revolve. Whether the ' 'bug' 'had baen
to war and stole some one's patent I cannot
say. I mentioned lt to a Btudent and he said,
"0 yes, those little rain water animalcules are
well known." Then he gave me a name many
times longer than his majesty the "bug."
The thought I wish to Impress is, that careful
students are just as much at home in this field
as far as they have worked it out, as we are in
handling our domestic animals.
If I am rightly Informed, several of our
writers and very many of the public hold an
erroneous opinion as to the hereditary nature
of consumption, Tbe microbas of consumption are not found lu the foetus, This is
true even when the mother is wasted with true
consumption. Bat lt should be remembered
that the tender child may recalve less vitality
on that account, and may succumb to the In
vaslon of the fatal germ soon after birth. Also
that ln nursing its mother and living so intimately witb her lt may obtain tha disease. It
is however a great discovery that the babe if
taken away from tbe dangerous surr.Hidings,
may escape entirely,
One other fact of great importance that has
been fully established is that the microbe that
universally causes consumption does not escape from wet surfaces. It ls therefore not
breathed out Into the room, The moist surface of the air passages stop lt. But it may
be thrown out in specks of moisture cj.cted
by coughing. And lt may, as one writer says,
be scattered about in sputa and left to dry,
and then bestirred up ln dry dust and breathed
into any one's system.
It ls not true that one must be weak and unhealthy to become the victim of this disease.
It ls true that all things equal, a robust person
will ward off disease better than a weakly one.
But you may let a bunch of healthy hogs eat
one dead of cholera and it may kill the whole
pile ln two weeks. There ls, however, a power
of resistance peculiar to different individuals.
This ls true in all diseases. Bat lt is independent of the element of health. Now let us see
what we have got. No one starts ln life with
consumption. No one will ever have it unless exposed to the germs. If good care Is
taken, no one need be exposed to these germs
even ln thickly settled districts. Do we not
see ln these discoveries the vulnerable point
in dealing with this most fatal germ of
disease.
Some one Bays, "how can the nurse avoid
the germ?"   Lat the patient hold a wet cloth
before the mouth when coughing, and always
spit into water. Lat this be dlsenfected before it dries, If he be well enough to be out
doors so much the better for him.
But he should always have with him a moist
little pocket box in which to spit and let it be
cleaned when reaching home. If theee conditions are carried out he may spend the remnant of his days with his family, without feeling that he is endangering the lives of those
he loves best, The conditions named are not
very arduous, as the patient ls able to do these
light services himself, during moet of his Illness. And they are not impracticable, for the
poor like a trip to the mountains.
As one writer rays, a consumptive should
never spit ln church or any place of public
meeting.
Typhoid fever.—If everybody were Intelligent enough to keep human excrement out of
wells there would be hardly any typhoid fever.
This is a simple remedy. A family may be
neat about the house and their persons, but if
they take arsenic lt will kill the neatest man
living. So lt ls often that by some careless
planning or neglect the outbuildings are so
situated as to infect the drinking water of the
family, or of their cow, acd then die like rats.
In the country, if the closet can be situated so
that all flood water runs away from the dwelling, lt is a great protection. A vault ta a
most dangerous t.-log. In digging a cistern
I noticed that the hard clay was cracked as
deep as I duz and that surface water had
passed along that crack from decaying vegetation until it was stained. These cracks may
be found most any where; may have been
caused by earthquakes, or what not, they are
there.
Oae reason that cess poo's are dangerous is
that nature's way of disinfecting is by sunlight and the myriads of microbes that swarm
ln the top six Inches of soil. The minute you
put filth ln a deep bole with a house to shade
lt you get away from both natural disinfectants. Buckets ln a closet are a sort of a nuisance, since it ls a frequent j ib to empty them.
But a good way is, if possible, to locate the
closet jast over a little hole, and then raise the
dirt say six Inches under lt. Have a wide
plank behind it, that ls easily removed, and
occasionally remove the contents with a
shovel. Spread it on top of the ground ln
some out of the way berry patch, and It will
soon be destroyed by natural agencies and
disappear.
Two of the worse and most fatal curses of
our civilization are thus well defined and the
remedy offered. There will be a time when
sociery will appreciate these facts so well that
it will be a crima to spit on the sidewalk or in
any public place. And when all closets will
be sub j _ct to public Inspection and so watched
that no careless or ignorant person will be allowed to endanger the lives of Innocent
people.
Motto:—"All life Is linked and kin."
No. 205, Feb. 10th—What shredders are most
dangerous? What can be done to make them
safe?
No, 206, Feb. 17lh—Do you break land ln
the fall or spring? How deep? Name a good
plow. What about the jointer. How do you
know when too wet to plow?
No 207, Feb 24th—The farmer's bird friends.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents will
be given to lst, 2d and 3d beet articles each
week,   Let copy be as practical as possible*
and forwarded 10 days before publication to
Oarmel, Ind. E. H. Collihs.
Noul« Co , Jan. 27.—The wheat in the
southeastern part of this county looks well;
some rather small; some ls hurt with the fly;
stock looks well, but not plenty; is in good
demand and at good prices. Q, S. B.