Life — June 28, 1928 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

rang the bell in the old townhall and at once the whole countryside was alert. The bell meant danger — usually FIRE! “Bang! Bang! Bang! goes the pain in your head—and it, also, is a warning of danger, perhaps grave danger, somewhere in your body. Can you imagine any villager being stupid enough to cut the bell-rope because the clanging of the bell annoyed him — thus silencing the alarm while the fire raged? When you take a pill, or powder, or wafer to stop a head- ache, you may deaden the nerves which are carrying an important message of danger to your brain— but the “fire” goes on. “(2uanc: Clang! Clang!™ Headaches are usually symptoms of unhealthy conditions, perhaps in some totally unsuspected part of the body. There is almost no physical ailment which does not at some stage manifest itself in headache. That pain, if heeded in time, may be counted a blessing. Fortunately the causes of the vast majority of headaches—indiges- tion, eye-strain, sinus and teeth infections and wrong posture— can be located promptly. But some of the obscure causes of headache can be found only by What Causes Headache? IEN your head pounds with pain your first thought should be, “What causes it?” not “What shall I take to relieve the pain?” That headache may come from any one of many causes. Among them are: ladigestion Fatigue Impure air Eye-strain Nose or sinus trouble Infected teeth Incorrect posture Infectious and contagious diseases Nervous disorders Emotional strain Disordered kidneys, gall-bladder Intestinal difficulties Foot trouble And many other abnormal conditions liver, patient, skilful search. The trouble may come from a cause so remote from the head as a bone out of place in the foot or a toxic condi- tion from a diseased gall-bladder. “The humblest and least distin- guished of all the organs of the body can order the lordly head to ache for it, and the head has no alternative but to obey.” It is risky to attempt to diagnose your own headache. You may guess wrong and waste precious time prescribing for an im agined ailment while the real fing trouble eo steadily worse, To still the voice of pain without finding its source is like cutting the bell-rope and ignoring the fire. Beware of headache remedies com- posed of habit-forming drugs which may injure the digestion, destroy red corpuscles of the blood, undermine the nervous syx tem, depress or over-excite the heart action, and at best may give only temporary relief. Give your doctor a chance to find the cause. While he is searching for the cause let him pre- scribe something to relieve the pain, if you must have relief. When another head- ache comes, take warning! A booklet giving helpful information about headache may be obtained free on request to Booklet Department, Metro- politan Life Insur- - ance Company, 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. Ask for Booklet No. 78-F. Haley Fiske, President. METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY~NEW YO! Biggest in the World, More Assets, More Policyholders, More Insurance in force, More new Insurance each yee comicbooks.com