action of other
waste-removing organs, may be the cause of hoarseness. In addition to
the treatment recommended above, we must in this case stimulate the
skin: this is best done by rubbing with Cayenne "Tea" (_see_) all over
the body at bedtime. Let this be done for four or five nights, and the
throat treatment be given in the morning, when a cure may be looked
for. _See_ Underwear.

Hooping Cough.--_See_ Whooping Cough.

Hope and Healing.--The mind has always an influence on the body. Life
rises and falls under the influences of ideas, so as to prove that
these are a matter of life and death to man. To give an invalid _hope_
is, then, to help mightily in healing the disease, whereas to tell
patients that they are incurable is the sure way to make them so. But
there is, on the other hand, little good in falsehood and false hope:
this has often been found to fail and leave the patient in complete
despair. No one can tell the immense power for healing which is exerted
when one who truly hopes for the patient looks brightly into his eyes,
and speaks with a genuine ring of hope of the possibility of cure. So
many cases found incurable by the usual treatment have yielded to that
recommended in these papers, that in almost all cases we may see some
ground for hope, if not of cure, at least of great alleviation. To give
this impression to a patient is to half win the battle.

There are many who speak most carelessly, even wickedly, to those in
trouble. They think it a duty to dash their hopes and predict gloomy
things. Such should never enter a sick-room, and should, indeed, change
entirely their manner of speech. To go about the world sowing doubt and
gloom in men's hearts is a sorry occupation, and one that will have to
be accounted for to Him who is emphatically the "God of hope."

Look, then, in treatment for every least sign of improvement.
Discourage all doubts and encourage all hopes, and you will make what
would be a really hopeless case, if the patient were left to despair,
one that can be comparatively easily cured. "A word to the wise is
enough."

Hot Flushings.--_See_ Flushings.

Hot-water Bags.--The flat rubber bags of various shapes, to be had from
all rubber shops, make excellent substitutes for poultice or
fomentation; but care must be taken to have two or more ply of _moist_
flannel between the bag and the skin of the patient. This ensures a
supply of moist heat, which is in almost every case t