Medicine: Tips for Terrestrials

Alligators, hippopotami and petrels all have muscle valves which close their nostrils when they enter water. Seals and polar bears can also pull in their ears. But man is “a terrestrial being,” with no “musculature for closing the nostrils, and keeping water from the nasal cavities and their appurtenances.” Thus wrote Dr. Hermon Marshall Taylor of Jacksonville, Fla. in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week, agitating against humans participating in that No. 1 Florida pastime: swimming. Contrary to popular belief, he said, not contaminated water but plain swimming, even in pure pools, is responsible for the boils, middle ear inflammations, mastoid infections and sinusitis that afflict thousands of swimmers every summer. Water “macerates” delicate skin, washes away protective mucous in the nose, opens up “avenues of infection” for staphylococci and other virulent bacteria. To prevent serious infections, Dr. Taylor offered the following aquatic tips for terrestrials:

>Never dive feet foremost. “The rush of water into the nasal cavities may readily cause acute infections of the sinuses, the middle ear and the mastoid in swimmers of all ages.”

> “For the valve by which the aquatic animal closes the ear, man may substitute rubber stoppers or plugs of oiled wool or cotton. . . . This precautionary measure also lessens the occurrence of the various forms of otomycosis [fungus disease] that are frequently observed during the swimming season.”

> When swimming, always exhale through the nose, inhale through the mouth to “maintain a positive air pressure in the nasal cavities,” protect the sinuses, nose and throat from the entrance of water.