CHAPTER XLIX

HEALTH AND DISEASE You may have happened to glance at one of the text-books written for the use of medical students and of doctors, and found that you could hardly understand a word of it. And yet you have found, when you consulted a specialist, and he wanted to explain to you just what was wrong with some part of your body, that he could make it all quite clear to you. The six hundred articles on health and disease in the Britannica are written by specialists, most of them, indeed, by professors in the leading medical schools; and these contributors to the Britannica are also the authors of many of the best text-books that practising physicians and surgeons habitually use. But in the Britannica the specialists were writing for the general public; and for that reason they have taken care not to be too technical either in their point of view or in the language they use. [Sidenote: Right and Wrong Way to Read] In this present chapter of the Reader’s Guide, the subject of health and disease is treated just as the Guide treats any other department of knowledge. You may want to learn something about it because it is one of the most wonderful branches of science, just as you would take up the course of reading on astronomy. Or you may feel that you ought to know more than you do about your own body, about the way you should live in order to preserve your health, and about the causes of the diseases to which you are exposed. Some people will tell you that it is unwise to read about the subject at all. That is absurd. There are no doubt exceptional people, with unsound nerves, who will imagine they must take every patent medicine they see advertised, and who long to try every newly discovered serum that the newspapers tell them about. [Sidenote: The Danger of “Doctoring” Yourself] Again, you may be told that if you try to learn something about health and disease, you will be tempted to think you know as much as the doctor; and so neglect to go to him when you need his advice. But this objection, again, applies only to people who lack good sense. For example, if you read the article on DENTISTRY, by Dr. E. C. Kirk, dean of the Dental Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, it will help you to understand whatever your dentist may be doing for you. But it will certainly not give you the idea that you could fill your own teeth. When you find your watch has stopped, you wind it. Then, if it does not start, you take it to the watchmaker. If, instead of doing that, you tried to tinker with it yourself, you would soon be in trouble. On the other hand, it would be ridiculous to go to the watchmaker without first finding out whether the watch merely wanted winding, and a man ought to know enough about his watch to connect the fact that it has stopped with the probability that he has forgotten to wind it. The daily winding is his work, not the watchmaker’s. The chemical and mechanical work that is going on within you is as complicated as anything in a watch or anything that you could see in a laboratory or factory. It is your business (_and your most important business, for if you neglect it, you will not be able to do anything properly, for yourself or for anybody else_) to keep this machinery running, and to do that is not so simple as to wind a watch. Your body needs food and warmth. It very probably gets too much of both. Furthermore, the food is often unwholesome, and the warmed air is often bad air. But unless you are a millionaire invalid, you do not have a private doctor with you at all hours to watch the food put on your plate and to ventilate your room. [Sidenote: The Kind of Knowledge You Need] The average watch is better treated than the average human body, and when the average body goes wrong, through the average man’s thoughtlessness, he proceeds, without in the least knowing what is wrong, to take violent medicines, or to experiment with some fad about diet or underclothing or gymnastics, and to make matters very much worse. The knowledge he can gain from the Britannica will tend to keep him from being careless, and also from trying to doctor himself when he needs professional care. Whether you undertake a complete course of medical reading or not, it is certainly worth your while to read the first group of articles mentioned in this chapter—those which have to do with the healthy routine of life. [Sidenote: Eating and Drinking] You will find the best introduction to the subject of diet in general in a section (Vol. 26, p. 799) of the article THERAPEUTICS, by Sir Lauder Brunton. He is one of the most famous consulting physicians in the world, and he gives you advice which your own doctor will certainly confirm when he tells you that the way to avoid indigestion is to masticate your food well and sip half a pint of hot water four times a day—when you go to bed, when you get up, and again about an hour before luncheon and dinner, instead of drinking anything with any meal except your breakfast. If you try that treatment for a week, you will be glad that you looked at this chapter of the Guide. NUTRITION (Vol. 19, p. 920), by Prof. Noel Paton and Dr. Cathcart, describes the process of nourishment and shows how important it is to chew the food thoroughly, not only in order to break it up, but also in order to combine with it a sufficient supply of the chemical juices which come from the glands in the mouth. DIETETICS (Vol. 8, p. 214) shows what use your body makes of each kind of food that you eat. This article, by the late Dr. Atwater of the United States Department of Agriculture, who conducted the famous government investigation of diet, and R. D. Milner, also of the Department, contains tables showing the amount of nourishment required by persons who are doing light or heavy muscular work, as well as by those who lead a sedentary life. It will interest you to see (p. 218) how the food of an American business man compares with that of an American working in a lumber camp. The article DIETARY (Vol. 8, p. 212), describing the food given to prisoners, soldiers and sailors in various parts of the world, contains some striking information as to the possibilities of the simple life. In Sweden prisoners get only two meals a day, and those consisting chiefly of porridge or gruel; and the “punishment diet” in English prisons is one pound of bread a day, and nothing else but water. The article WATER SUPPLY (Vol. 28, p. 387), by G. F. Deacon, deals with the storage and distribution of water, and shows how it should be filtered for drinking. SEWERAGE (Vol. 24, p. 735) describes the sanitary systems which prevent the pollution of streams and wells. MINERAL WATERS (Vol. 18, p. 517) describes the great variety of springs from which the table-waters in general use are obtained. Their medicinal values are also indicated, and in the table which classifies thirty of the most important American springs it is curious to see that nearly all of them lie in the Appalachian Mountain chain. [Sidenote: Hurtful Foods] VEGETARIANISM (Vol. 27, p. 967), by Dr. Josiah Oldfield, describes the various systems of diet which reject flesh, the most extreme of which exclude everything but nuts, fruit and cereals, all to be eaten raw. COOKERY (Vol. 7, p. 74) shows how the digestibility of food is influenced by methods of cooking, and unhesitatingly condemns the general practice of baking meat. ADULTERATION (Vol. 1, p. 218), by Dr. Otto Hehner, describes the dangers to health which arise from the use of preservatives as well as substitutes. For the use of boracic acid, which has been proved to be slightly unwholesome, but not really dangerous, there is at any rate the excuse that it keeps food from spoiling, but the article has nothing but blame for the “coppering” of vegetables. “Many years ago some artful, if stupid, cook found that green vegetables like peas or spinach, when cooked in a copper pan, by preference a dirty one, showed a far more brilliant colour than the same vegetable cooked in earthenware or iron. The manufacturer who puts up substances like peas in pots or tins for sale produces the same effect which the cook obtained by the wilful addition of a substance known to be injurious to health, namely, sulphate of copper.” FOOD PRESERVATION (Vol. 10, p. 612) also shows the risks of using carelessly canned goods. TEMPERANCE (Vol. 26, p. 578), by Dr. Arthur Shadwell, tells the story of the reforms that have been effected since the 18th century days when London bars used to put up signs inviting customers to get “drunk for one penny” or “dead drunk for twopence;” and LIQUOR LAWS (Vol. 16, p. 759) describes temperance legislation in all parts of the world, with a most interesting section on prohibition in the United States. DRUNKENNESS (Vol. 8, p. 601) deals specifically with the effects of excess on the health. ALIMENTARY CANAL (Vol. 1, p. 663), by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, describes all the organs of the body that deal with food. DIGESTIVE ORGANS (Vol. 8, p. 262), by Dr. Andrew Gillespie, shows how indigestion arises, and DYSPEPSIA (Vol. 8, p. 786) describes the symptoms caused by habitual indigestion. METABOLIC DISEASES (Vol. 18, p. 195), by Dr. Noel Paton, covers all the maladies arising from defective nutrition. CORPULENCE (Vol. 7, p. 192) tells about the reduction of superfluous fat, while FASTING (Vol. 10, p. 193) and HUNGER AND THIRST (Vol. 13, p. 931) discuss the intentional or accidental cutting down of the usual food supply. FAMINE (Vol. 10, p. 166) gives a most interesting account of the disasters with which crop failures still threaten Asiatic countries. The feeding of young children is, of course, a distinct subject, and is treated in great detail in the article INFANCY (Vol. 14, p. 513), by Dr. Harriet Hennessy. [Sidenote: Sleep and the Want of it] SLEEP (Vol. 25, p. 238), by Prof. McKendrick, is an elaborate study of the curious changes in the action of the brain and other organs which take place during slumber. INSOMNIA (Vol. 14, p. 644) is a practical article on the causes and treatment of sleeplessness. Between absolutely lying awake and obtaining a really good night’s rest there are many intermediate stages, and the article DREAM (Vol. 8, p. 558) contains a great deal of curious information about disturbed sleep. SOMNAMBULISM (Vol. 25, p. 393) shows that when dreams are vivid enough to produce sleepwalking there must be nervous trouble calling for immediate treatment. NARCOTICS (Vol. 19, p. 239) describes the dangers of the drugs to produce sleep; and in HYPNOTISM (Vol. 14, p. 201) and SUGGESTION (Vol. 26, p. 48) there is a full account of the treatment frequently used for sleeplessness and other nervous disorders. [Sidenote: The Right Kind of Air] The effect of climates upon health is the subject of a special section (Vol. 6, p. 526) of the article CLIMATE. VENTILATION (Vol. 27, p. 1008) shows how to secure fresh air in the house without draughts. DUST (Vol. 8, p. 713), by Dr. Aitken, the inventor of the ingenious machine for counting the particles of dust floating in the atmosphere, gives a very full account of the impurities in the air. HEATING (Vol. 13, p. 160) contains descriptions and diagrams of the best methods of warming houses, and there is at the end of the article an account of the system of steam heating employed at Lockport, N. Y., where buildings anywhere within three miles of the central plant are heated at a very moderate cost. [Sidenote: General Hygiene] BATHS (Vol. 3, p. 514), and HYDROPATHY (Vol. 14, p. 165), and BALNEOTHERAPEUTICS (Vol. 3, p. 284) describe all the bathing treatments in which water, steam and hot air are employed. Electric baths are described in ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS (Vol. 9, p. 249), and AEROTHERAPEUTICS deals with compressed air baths. MASSAGE (Vol. 17, p. 863), by Dr. Arthur Shadwell, describes all the systems of rubbing. GYMNASTICS (Vol. 12, p. 752) gives an account of the Swedish and other systems of hygienic exercise; and out-door exercises of every kind are described in the articles mentioned in the chapter of _Readings in Connection with Recreations and Vacations_. Two other articles which relate to general hygiene are DISINFECTANTS (Vol. 8, p. 312) and ANTISEPTICS (Vol. 2, p. 146). The proper care of the hair is indicated in the article BALDNESS (Vol. 3, p. 243), where prescriptions for lotions are given. [Sidenote: Various Diseases] The articles already named cover very fully the application of medical science to the ordinary routine of life, and will help you to regulate wisely your habits in regard to eating, sleeping and to the general care of your body. It may be the case that you wish, for your own sake, or for the sake of some member of your family, to carry your reading further in respect to some one disease or some one part of the body. In the list of articles at the end of this chapter you will find more than two hundred, each of which deals with one disease, such as rheumatism, catarrh, malaria or neuralgia. In the case of a very simple trouble you will find directions for treatment, as for example in the article CORN, where you are advised to use a solution of salicylic acid in collodion, or, for a soft corn, to paint it with spirits of camphor. Where the trouble is anything more serious, you should of course consult a doctor, but you will understand what he tells you all the better, and worry less, if you have read an article, which describes the usual course of the disease. [Sidenote: Parts of the Body] Again, you may have a special reason for wishing to learn all you can about some one part of the body: the eye, the ear, or the heart. There are fifty articles, in the list below, each dealing with some one organ or part of the body. The illustrations in these articles will help you to understand the exact position of any trouble which you have read about in the article on a disease affecting that particular part. Another set of articles divides the body into groups of organs, one dealing with the NERVOUS SYSTEM, another with the MUSCULAR SYSTEM, another with the RESPIRATORY SYSTEM, and so on. Then you have the five general articles: ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, THERAPEUTICS and SURGERY, which outline all medical science. The article MEDICINE gives a complete history of medical science, and its section on _Modern Progress_ reviews all that has been accomplished within recent years. [Sidenote: More Advanced Study] Beginning with the six articles just mentioned, and then taking the more detailed articles in the groups into which their subjects divide them, it is quite possible to follow in the Britannica a complete course of reading on medicine and surgery, and you may desire to do that, just as someone else likes to read about geology or astronomy. But do not forget that no amount of reading can give you more than a theoretical knowledge. When your doctor discovers what is the nature of your illness (which is much the most difficult part of his work), and when he gives you the treatment you need, his eye is comparing what it sees in your case, and his hand is comparing what it touches in your case, with the thousands of observations that he has made in the wards and in the operating theatre of the hospital. Without going through the course that he has gone through in the dissecting room, and studying the living body as he has studied it, you can never know what he knows. But you will be a more understanding patient, and a better nurse, if occasion brings nursing for you to do, if you have learned something of medical science from the Britannica. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ARTICLES IN THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA RELATING TO MEDICAL SCIENCE Abattoir Abdomen Abortion Abscess Abscission Acne Aconite Acromegaly Actinomycosis (Streptotrichosis) Acupressure Acupuncture Adam’s Apple Addison’s Disease Adenoids Adulteration Aerotherapeutics Ague Ala Albuminuria Alienist Alimentary Canal Amaurosis Ambulance Anaemia Anaesthesia and Anaesthetics Anatomy Aneurysm, or Aneurism Angina Pectoris Animal Heat Ankle Ankylosis, or Anchylosis Ankylostomiasis Anodyne Antiseptics Aphasia Aphemia Apnoea Aponeurosis Apophysis Apoplexy Apothecary Appendicitis Apyrexia Araroba Powder Arm Arnica Arteries Arthritis Articulation Arytenoid Asafetida Ascites Asphyxia Asthma Athetosis Atrophy Auscultation Autopsy Bacteriology Baldness Balneotherapeutics Balsam Baths Bedsore Belladonna Beriberi Bhang Bibirine Bilharziosis Blackwater Fever Bladder Bladder and Prostate Diseases Blindness Blister Blood Blood-letting Boil Bone Bow-leg Brain Breast Bright’s Disease Bronchiectasis Bronchitis Bronchotomy Bunion Burns and Scalds Caesarean Section Caisson Disease Cajaput Oil Calabar Bean Cancer, or Carcinoma Cantharides Capsicum Carbuncle Cartilage Castor Oil Catalepsy Catarrh Caul Chicken-pox Chilblains Chirurgeon Cholera Chamomile, or Camomile Flowers Climacteric Cleft Palate and Hare-Lip Clinic Club-foot Cod-Liver Oil Coelom and Serous Membranes Colic Colon Coma Connective Tissues Constipation Convulsions Corn Corpulence or Obesity Cramp Cremation Cretinism Croton Oil Croup Cubebs Cupping Delirium Dengue Dentistry Diabetes Diaphoretics Diaphragm Diarrhoea Dietary Dietetics Digestive Organs Digitalis Dilatation Dill Diphtheria Dipsomania Disinfectants Diuretics Dropsy Drowning and Life Saving Drug Drunkenness Ductless Glands Dysentery Dyspepsia Ear Eczema Elaterium Elbow Electrotherapeutics Elephantiasis Emetics Emphysema Enteritis Epilepsy Epistaxis Epithelial, Endothelial and Glandular Tissues Equilibrium Ergot, or Spurred Rye Erysipelas Eucalyptus Euphorbium Excretion Eye Face Fauces Favus Fever Fibrin Filariasis Finger Fistula Food Foot Frostbite Fumigation Galangal Galbanum Gall Gamboge Gangrene Gastric Ulcer Gastritis Gelsemium Ginseng Goitre Gout Guaco, Huaco, or Guao Guaiacum Guarana Guinea-Worm Gynaecology Haematocele Haemophilia Haemorrhage Haemorrhoids Hammer-toe Hand Hashish Hay Fever, or Summer Catarrh Head Heart Heel Hernia Herpes Hip Homoeopathy Hospital Humane Society, Royal Hunger and Thirst Hydrocele Hydrocephalus Hydropathy Hydrophobia, or Rabies Hygiene Hypertrophy Hypnotism Hypochondriasis Hysteria Icthyosis or Xeroderma Imbecile Infancy Influenza Insanity Insomnia Intestinal Obstruction Intestine Intoxication Ipecacuanha Jaborandi Jalap Jaundice Jaw Joints Kámalá Kala-Azar Kidney Diseases Kino Knee Kousso Laryngitis Laudanum Lead Poisoning Leg Leontiasis Ossea Leprosy Lethargy Lichen Ligament Lip Liver Lobe Locomotor Ataxia Lumbago Lung Lupus Lymph Lymphatic System Malaria Malta Fever Mammary Gland Massage Matrix Measles Medicine Medical Education Medical Jurisprudence Ménière’s Disease Meningitis Metabolic Diseases Midwife Mineral Waters Morphine Mortification Mouth and Salivary Glands Mumps Muscle and Nerve Muscular System Myelitis Myxoedema Naevus Narcotics Navel Necrosis Nepenthes Nerve Nervous System Nettlerash, or Urticaria Neuralgia Neurasthenia Neuritis Neuropathology Nose Nosology Nostalgia Nursing Nutrition Nux Vomica Obstetrics Oesophagus Officinal Olfactory System Ophthalmology Opium Ovariotomy Pain Palate Pancreas Paralysis or Palsy Paranoia Parasitic Diseases Pathology Pediculosis Pellagra Pelvis Pemphigus Pepsin Peritonitis Perspiration Phagocytosis Pharmacology Pharmacopoeia Pharmacy Pharyngitis Pharynx Phlebitis Phrenology Phthisis Physiology Picrotoxin Pinto Pityriasis Versicolor Placenta Plague Pleurisy or Pleuritis Pneumonia Podophyllin Poison Polypus Poultice Prognosis Pruritus Psoriasis Psorospermiasis Ptomaine Poisoning Puberty Public Health, Law of Puerperal Fever Purpura Pulse Quarantine Quassia Quinine Quinsy Raynaud’s Disease Relapsing Fever Reproductive System Respiratory System Rhamnus Purshiana Rhatany, or Krameria Root Rheumatism Rheumatoid Arthritis Rhubarb Rickets Ringworm St. Vitus’ Dance, or Chorea Salep Salicin, Salicinum Sanatorium Sandalwood Sandarach Santonin Sarsaparilla Scabies, or Itch Scalp Scarlet Fever Sciatica Scrofula, or Struma Scurvy Sea-Sickness Seborrhoea Senega Senna Sepsis Sewerage Shock or Collapse Shoulder Sinew Skeleton Skin and Exoskeleton Skin Diseases Skull Slaughter-house Sleep Sleeping-sickness Smallpox Sneezing Somnambulism Spinal Cord Spleen Sprue Squill Stammering or Stuttering Starvation Stethoscope Stomach Stramonium Strychnine Sumbul, or Sumbal Sunstroke Supra-renal Extract Surgery Surgical Instruments Sweating-sickness Sweetbread Sympathetic System Syncope Taraxacum Teeth Temperance Tetanus Therapeutics Thorax Throat Thyroid Tongue Tonsillitis Toxicology Tracheotomy Trachoma Trichinosis Tuberculosis Tumour Typhoid Fever Typhus Fever Ulcer Upas Urinary System Vaccination Valerian Varicose Veins Vascular System Vegetarianism Veins Venereal Diseases Viburnum Vivisection Voice Wart Water-supply Whitlow Whooping-Cough Windpipe Wound Wrist Wry-neck X-Ray Treatment Yaws Yellow Fever Zymotic Diseases