THE OUTDOOR LIFE VOL. II. FEBRUARY, 1905. NO. 1. The Open Air Treatment. Some Persons Seeking Health Foolishly Believe It Matters Not What They Do If They Remain Outdoors In A Health Resort. By F. M. POTTENGER, Ph. M., M. D. (Los Angeles, California.) One of the greatest blessings to the human race is fresh air, but alas it goes unappreciated. For years the architect's skill has been spent in perfecting and beautifying dwellings, office buildings and workshops, and while he has succeeded in making these pleasing to the eye, he has neglected that more important feature of adapting these structures to the requirements of the health of the inmates. Rooms are built, some with no windows, others with one, and still others, while supplied with several, have them arranged regardless of sunlight and ventilation. And even many windows are made stationary, some for the purpose of supposed beauty, others in order that they may fit more tightly and keep out cold air. It should be remembered that fresh air is an essential to good health, also the architect's skill should be turned to proper light ing and ventilating, as well as to beauty in appearance. It is very commonly believed that open air that is the freshest, purest air obtainable is essential to the cure of tuberculosis. This is true, but fresh air is also good for diseases generally. It is also good as а preventer of disease. Everybody should be taught that fresh air is essential to the maintenance of the best and most perfect condition of health. The way fresh air and sunlight are excluded from our homes, either through faulty construction or through shades and curtains, is an everlasting disgrace to a civilized people. This one factor is the cause of much ill health and stands responsible for men breaking down in the prime of life and for the pale, nervous wrecks of women which are so commonly seen. The pale, emaciated, scrawny, dyspeptic and catarrhal child, who falls an easy prey to disease, is also a product of this same factor. The universal cry "Give us fresh air" is ascending to heaven (unconsciously, to be sure) from, not only the hovel and tenement house, but from the homes of the well-to-do and the palaces of the rich. People of all classes and of all sections are hungering for fresh air, and yet they will not open their windows and bid it enter. Education is needed along this line, then, not only for the tuberculous, but for all. Let us teach that fresh air is not only a requisite to the cure of tuberculosis when once established, but also let us emphasize the fact that it is one of the greatest factors in keeping the strong well, thus preventing not only tuberculosis but other diseases also. It is the treatment of tuberculosis which has made "open air" so prominent a factor in the cure of disease. A few years ago, it was thought that there was a specific cli mate somewhere, be it in the Alps, the Riviera, Egypt, the Adirondacks, the Rocky Mountains, the great Southwest desert region, California or the Andes, which, if it could only be reached by those suffering from tuberculosis, would quickly and surely relieve them of their disease. But, alas! this idol has fallen. We now know that while tuberculosis can be cured in all of these localities, it will also develop in all of them. We also know that many cases will die in these favored spots, as well as in those less favored. True, these places with their reputed climates are spots justly sought by the tuberculous invalid, for, all 258886 things else being equal, he has the better chance of getting well, the more favorable the climate in which he lives. But how often can the conditions be equal in a strange new country, to those at home? This is the question to be answered. Thousands of invalids who seek distant health resorts would have far better chances of cure at home, because conditions of envir onment in the new place cannot be equal to those of home for them. Those who have not sufficient money to maintain themselves in comfort after reaching a favored climate by worry, lonesomeness, home sickness. poor quarters and bad food, will more than counterbalance the good that they would otherwise have been able to derive from the change. Such have better chances of cure at home. I do not mean to say by this that they are to be deprived of the opportunity and right to get well because of their pover ty. Far from it, but, I wish I could counsel with the thousands of poor people who spend their all for railroad tickets to carry them to distant reputed climates. If this money were taken to purchase eggs and milk, and the patients were given a rest from work and worry and put under intelligent treat ment at home, the basis of which should be the "open air," with careful guidance, I am sure that under such circumstances, their chances of recovery would be greater than any climate could offer. My experience in treating and observing tuberculous patients in Southern California prompts me to say a few words about the "open air" treatment. I shall preface my remarks by saying that I am a firm believer in it and a thorough advocate of it. There is a right and wrong way to do all things. The employment of the "open air" cure for tuberculosis is no exception. Many people have an idea that, if only they remain in the open air, they will be cured, no matter what follies and indiscretions they commit. Recently an invalid consulted me, who, at the advice of her friends, had gone to the mountains to live in the open air. Although running a daily temperature of from 102-104, she was climbing the mountains trying "to improve her appetitie and gain strength." She came home believing that there was no more virtue in the pure air of the moun tains than in that of the city. Another suf fering from acute tuberculosis came to Californ' to get the open air. She was dragged around sight-seeing from one town to another, thinking that all that was necessary was to walk the streets and breathe the fresh air. Such examples could be multi plied by the thousands, every one of which is a crime against "open air" treatment. Fresh air is a good thing, but it must be employed intelligently. Tuberculous individuals must remember that they are ill and that they cannot do what well people can. They need most careful guidance, and this especially when they begin to feel well. It must also be remembered that open air is not all that these people need. They must have good food. There are many symptoms arising in each individual case that can and should be relieved and there are many scientific measures which are of value and help to bring about a cure in this disease. The erection of Sanatoria, whether by private or public philanthropy, whether for the poor or those in comfortable circumstances, is to be encouraged, for every one of these institutions, if properly conducted, is an educationai center, whence spread the true ideas of the worth of open air and the manner in which it should be employed. Let us advocate the open air life, with all earnestness, but let it be an open-air life guided by intelligence. A. D. 2000. Give me a spoon of oleo, ma, For John will be hungry and tired, ma, Just turn it on half an ohm, Value of Birds. -Exchange. If the army of birds were destroyed, it has been estimated that in the course of nine years the world could not be inhabited by man in spite of all the sprays and poisons that could be manufactured for the destruction of insects. All crops, all fruits, every thing which supports human life, would in a comparatively short time be destroyed by slugs and insects. Alcohol and Tuberculosis. At a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Dr. W. H. Wiley, of Washington, the U. S. Government food expert, who for some months has been carrying on very valuable experiments in the effect of food preservatives upon the human body, advanced the view that alcohol was a valuable food in pulmonary tuberculosis. Coming from such a high authority on the subject of food-stuffs, this view should receive careful attention. It is the purpose of this article to set before the readers of the Journal of The Outdoor Life an impartial review of the whole subject of the use of alcohol in health and in pulmonary disease. The importance of the subject is further seen when viewed from another standpoint. Some months ago the chemist of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts published in one of the cir culars of the Board an analysis of a large number of patent medicines. Many readers will no doubt recall that at that time The Outdoor Life published the list, showing that some "bitters" and "tonics," and the number is not small, contained as much as 20 to 50 per cent. of pure alcohol. Whiskey contains no more alcohol than some of these "tonics," and wine and beer contain much less. following list, republished in part, will give some idea of the amount of alcohol in the various preparations. In some cases the analysis was made several years ago and in others more recently: The Per Cent. 44 10 50 42.6 41.6 40 to 50 39 to 47 35.7 28.59 28.2 26.2 15 to 25 20 61 15 to 20 10 to 18 The question that has been discussed so long and by many so bitterly and so intemperately, whether or not alcohol is a food or a poison, seems to be slowly nearing solution. Small doses of alcohol can be oxydized and used as a food, though eight times as expensive as ordinary food. Large doses cannot be made use of in this way and act as a poison. The effect of alcohol upon the nervous system is well known but the explanation is not so clear. It seems probable, however, that alcohol lessens the activities of the brain by acting most strongly, and therefore in the smallest quantities, on the most recently acquired faculties; by annihilating those qualities that have been built up through education and experience, the power of self-control and the sense of responsibility. Alcohol does not seem to increase the rate of the heart nor the force of its beats. It dilates the blood vessels of the skin. Alcohol in small quantities accelerates digestion in the stomach and promotes the various processes by which the raw foods are prepared to enter the circulation. But the effect on digestion undoubtedly varies in different individuals. Again, alcohol reduces the temperature of the body by allowing greater radiation of heat from the larger amount of blood in the vessels in the skin. Thus in healthy men the skin is chilled. "Arctic observers as a rule prohibt alcohol among the men and the men themselves have become conscious that alcohol is dangerous when there is great external cold," says Brunton. "In some of the woods the lumber trade is carried on by lumberers who live in camps away from civilization. The men work hard in the winter but in the spring when they get to a large town expend all of their winter earnings in getting drunk. On one occasion a man conveyed a cask of whiskey into one of their camps, and the first thing they did was to take an axe and knock a hole in the cask, so that the whole of the whiskey ran out. The reason of this was they did not dare to have the whiskey there, for if it were there they felt quite sure they would drink it, and if they drank it they were likely to die. "A party of engineers were surveying in Sierra Nevada according to Dr. Milner Fothergill, and they camped at a great height above the sea level where it was very cold and they were miserable. Some of the men |