Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-02-01 / 2. szám
FRATERNITY 9 YOUR BODY FIGHTS BACK The first recorded doctoring of man didn’t require a white-frocked physician. According to the Bible, when the time came for Adam to lose a rib and gain a mate, “the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam . . . and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh . . Of course, once the world became sufficiently populated, man was left largely to his own medical devices! Does that mean that modern, surgical anesthesia is the only kind available? Consider the woodsman who chopped into his own leg when his axe missed the tree. “They told me the doctor was on his way. But when the pain got too bad, I passed out.” Nature provided her own knockout drops! That’s the way the body works for us — protecting, defending, healing itself. Ever have food go “down the wrong pipe”? A valve in the esophagus closes, your windpipe contracts and you cough. Without this automatic, forced dislodging of the food, you woud suffocate. A windy day may call forth tears . . . even for the sunniest disposition. Why? The tiniest particle of foreign matter blown into the eye activates tearing. A cinder produces a minor flood . . . and the foreign body is washed out. A broken bone will knit itself together. Whether it knits properly or not may depend upon the services of a physician . . . but knit it will! Perspiration works like a sprinkler system installed in a building to fight fire. When the body is overheated, it releases a salty sweat that, evaporating on exposure to air, cools the body. Fever is a danger signal. A person might exhibit no earlier symptom of a dangerous illness. But when his fever alerts you, get the doctor! Sprinkling pepper on your stew might cause an attack of sneezing. Socially reprehensible, perhaps . . . but necessary for removing the alien substance from your nasal passages! A sneeze in time is a pulmonary treatment! When you cut your finger, the blood coming in contact with air will quickly clot. Self-healing, self-sealing wounds are an everyday miracle. Also remarkable is the blood’s built-in mechanism for dissolving clots, once they have served their purpose. But sometimes the body fails to do this — and clots that lodge in a vessel carrying blood to the lungs, heart or brain can be killers. Pulmonary artery embolism — coronary artery occlusion — cerebral thrombosis — have caused many deaths. Now, however, doctors have a highly effective new medicinal, called Thrombolysin”, to help the body dissolve internal clots. In developing this potent medical weapon, Merck Sharp & Dohme, a manufacturer of
