lso be warned against the use of
drinks containing medicine for the relief of pain--particularly those
that are advertised as remedies for headache. Practically without
exception, all such drinks contain coal-tar preparations that greatly
depress the heart, and have in a number of instances been followed by
death. Drugs of this character should be taken with the utmost
circumspection, and only on the prescription of a competent physician.

_Tobacco._--Tobacco, of all nerve sedatives, is the most universally
used. In moderation it could not be said that it is followed by any
apparent ill effects in the majority of people, but if used in excess
oftentimes sets up serious disturbances. It is peculiarly injurious to
boys, and should never be indulged in until manhood is reached. Some
persons seem to possess a natural immunity to the ill effects of
nicotine, and appear to be able throughout their lives to chew or smoke
tobacco in any amount without harmful results; such instances are,
however, rare--its excessive use being usually followed by symptoms that
may be of a serious nature. Of the two methods of use perhaps smoking is
less open to objection, though it is unquestionably true that chewing is
not so apt to cause disturbances of the heart. Smoking affects the
stomach, but not to the extent that chewing does.

CHAPTER III

SANITATION IN AND ABOUT THE HOUSE

The bearing of intelligently located houses of proper construction on
health is not so generally understood, even by physicians, as the facts
warrant, and, of course, is even less well recognized by the non-medical
public. It is true that some attention has been given to the matter of
_location_, but even in this connection there prevails a woful ignorance
among all classes as to just how the diseases are transmitted that are
most influenced in this way. As a result of recent advances in medicine
it has been clearly shown that at least some of the diseases that are
most influenced by locality may be easily avoided, and as a consequence
we find that the views of the modern sanitarians have necessarily
undergone a certain amount of change in this direction. On the other hand
recognition of the necessity of hygienic _construction_ has not been
sufficiently accentuated,--since it is possible by proper attention to
the details of building to do away entirely with at least two of the
diseases that have heretofore been the principal drawbacks to life in all
trop