"Many of these 'feeble hearts' mean too little exercise, very often also, too much or improper food and drink. "The best remedies are cold sponging (according to the season); avoidance of coddling; plain, wholesome food; abstinence from tea, hot drinks and condiments; regular out-of-doors exercise and all similar true _tonic_ measures." Dr. Kellogg says:-- "Persons subject to attacks of _angina pectoris_ should carry with them a small bottle containing a sponge saturated with nitrite of amyl, and place it to the nose when necessary. "Sympathetic palpitation may be relieved by bending the head downward, allowing the arms to hang down. The effect of this measure is increased by holding the breath a few seconds while bending over. Another ready means of relief is to press strongly upon the large arteries on either side of the neck. "Palpitation of the heart is often mistaken for real organic disease of the organ. * * * * * A careful regulation of the diet is in most cases all that is necessary to effect a cure." Dr. Edmunds, of London, was asked during a medical discussion what he thought of the use of alcohol in heart disease. His answer is embodied in the following:-- "With regard to the use of brandy in cases of heart disease, he was convinced it was a mistake to use it in such cases. There were many forms of heart disease, but the most common kind arose from the heart being too fat. Excess of fat debilitated the heart and injured its working, just as a piece of wax attached to a tuning fork would impair its usefulness. In such cases he dieted his patients in order to reduce their weight. Every dose of brandy taken for heart disease increased the evil. The moment brandy was taken for heart disease, or any other chronic complaint of a similar kind, the disease was increased. If doctors recommended alcohol to their patients, he had been asked what abstainers should do. In such cases, as had been suggested, he thought the patients might ask what the alcohol was to do for them, and if the reply was not satisfactory, they should get another doctor." Dr. T. D. Crothers, of Hartford, Conn., has deduced some valuable facts from his experiments with the sphygmograph, upon the action of the heart. He has found by repeated experiments that while alcohol apparently increases the force and volume of the heart's action, the irregular tracings of the sphygmograph show that the real vital force is diminished, and hence its apparent stimulating power is deceptive. Dr. C. W. Chapman, of the National Hospital for Diseases of the Heart, wrote in the _Lancet_:-- "The very thing (alcohol) which they supposed had kept their heart going was responsible for many of its difficulties." Of cases of palpitation and irregularity caused by business anxieties or indigestion, he said:--