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Show POINTS ON KEEPING VELL DR FREDERICK R. GREEN Editor of "HEALTH" (, 1926. Western Newspaper Union.) SWIMMING POOL SANITATION SAN-ITATION JAMES WHTICOMB RILEY sang of the "01' Swimmin' Hole" which our fathers and grandfathers used to enjoy. en-joy. When It is possible, there Is nothing that equals a natural, outdoor out-door pool, whether in river, lake or pond But this Is, in most localities, a thing of the past. Our streams have been polluted and, with the filling fill-ing up of the land and the clearing away of forests, the water supply has been so reduced that only those living near a great river or a large lake can hope to enjoy a nature-made swimming swim-ming place. Even in those lucky places where there are still natural swimming pools available, they can only be used during a part of the year. So there Is a growing tendency to build artificial swimming pools, either Indoor or out. Present-day concrete construction makes this comparatively easy. So that, today, practically all our colleges, many of our high schools and even some grammar schools are being pm.in.wfl with swimming pools, while cities and parks are building them with Increasing frequency. In a recent re-cent bulletin of the Iowa state department de-partment of health it Is stated that, In 1925 alone, over four hundred outdoor out-door swimming pools were built. Many suggestions might be made as to the construction and management of these pools. But one thing, most important, should always be insisted on. They must be clean. The possibility possi-bility of disease transmission in a pool in which hundreds and sometimes thousands of people bathe In a single dav is too great to take any chance. There are a number of diseases which may be transmitted from one person to another through common use of a swimimng pool. Naturally, any person with a plainly marked case of any infection should not be allowed in a public pool. Any person with a plain case of any skin disease should also be barred. But many persons may be apparently healthy and yet carry-on carry-on their body or in some of the body discharges germs which may produce disease In others. Not all germs which come from the body are harmful, harm-ful, in fact, many are harmless. But every bather before going into the pool should be required to take a warm bath and the water iu the pool should be frequently changed, filtered and, if necessary, subjected to purification by means of ultra-violet light, copper sulphate, sul-phate, calcium hypochlorite or chlorine. MAKING A FINGER FROM A TOE EVERYBODY knows that our present-day surgical methods make It possible to do things to the human body which would have been considered consid-ered miracles fifty years ago. Yet few realize the almost unlimited possibilities possi-bilities of the future. Ten years ago, Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller institute, in a public talk, said that the day might come when every city would have an anatomical cold storage warehouse, in which would be preserved, pre-served, in a condition of suspended an- imation, the arms, legs, toes and fingers of the healthy persons who have been killed by accident, just as j spare automobile parts are now kept in machine shops; and that a man or woman who had lost a hand or foot, i arm or leg by accident would go to I this warehouse, pick out a missing j part to suit them, and have it grafted in position. We have not yet reached the point where this is possible, but we're on our way. In a recent issue ot the Journal of the American Medical Association, As-sociation, a New York surgeon reported re-ported a case in which he mended a man's hand by grafting a little toe onto a middle finger, with perfect results. re-sults. The patient, a working man of thirty, while operating a bread-cutting machine, sliced olT a third of the middle finger of his right hand. As the cut -was clean and fresh, the surgeon sur-geon proposed grafting a toe on in place of the finger. The patient consented. con-sented. The man was put to sleep and a cut made through the tipper part of the right little toe, through the joint, leaving the toe attached to the foot by the skin and tendons of the under side of the toe. The edges of the cut finger were then freshened and the toe and finger brought together and sewed together. Adhesive plaster and bandages held the hand and foot so neither could be moved. At the end of two weeks, tlte edges of the finger and the toe had grown together. The under flap, which held the toe to the foot, was then cut, freeing the toe from the foot and liberating the hand. The two cut edges of the finger and toe were then sewed together. Healing took place without any Infection, In-fection, and t lie man now has a' perfect per-fect hand. The little toe Is of practically practi-cally no use and lis absence does not show. The mail now has u hand which looks perfect and the finders are all the same length, making il possible for him lo do any kind of work. Even more extensive repairs on (ho bodv are now possible. s y ,,,,,11,,',. of working out practical' methods. What tho future may hold, no one knows |
