Part 2 — 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.

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.

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 295work 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.

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.

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 296which 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.

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.

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 297(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.

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.

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.

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.

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 298section on Modern Progress reviews all that has been accomplished within recent years.

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

299Disinfectants

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

300Stomach

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