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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1963)
MLD10KD .MAIL TKltlUNt, MEDI'ORD, OREGON THURSDAY. DECEMBER S, 1963 ervice Stations Years Id This Mooth By JOHN CARROLL United Press International PITTSBURGH (UP1) - A highly polished Chalmers tour ing car rolled up to an inter section in this city's East Liber ty Section and its driver eased it to a stop in front of a strange looking building which bore a sign reading "Supreme Auto Oil." The date was Dec. 1, 1913 exactly 50 years ago. It was the day the world's first drive-in gasoline station went into operation. Business wasn't what you would call booming that first day. In fact, only 30 gallons of gasoline were sold. The next day, 32 gallons were pumped and by the first Saturday the r FIRST SERVICE STATION - In Pittsburgh, Pa., three men in a highly polished Chalmers touring car wait for services at Supreme Auto Oil, probably the world's first drive-in gasoline station. (UPI) The Medical Roundup By FT output had jumped to 350 gal Ions. Word spread quickly that something new had come to the infant world of the horseless carriage. The station's operator (Gulf Oil) was offering two grades of gasoline to its customers. One grade sold for 25 cents a gal lon; the other for 27. There were no state or federal taxes. At the time, there were only about 10,000 car owners in the Pittsburgh district. But this in novationa gas station caught the fancy of the driver. Prior to the appearance of this first station, gasoline for auto mobiles and trucks had been sold at livery stables and ga rages. The practice was to hand pump fuel into cans of either one gallon or five gallon capa city. The cans were provided by the motorist. He, in turn, would pour the gasoline into his car's tank by filtering it through a chamois or some other heavy cloth "for purity's sake." Not long after its inception. the world's first drive-in station began to offer other services. There came free crankcase serv ice, the filling of radiators and the pumping of air into tires. Flats were fixed and accesso ries were available. The gasoline station, in effect. became a service station. Attendants worked eight-hour shifts and the station was open around the clock. There were other "firsts." Among them were the opening of public restrooms in the sta tion, a no-lipping policy that carries over to today and the offering of free road maps. The latter was the brain child of a Pittsburgh advertising man, William B. Akin. He was a mo toring enthusiast who admitted he constantly got lost whenever he drove beyond city limits. While having his car serv- MONEY DOWN ON CREDIT AT WARDS - JUST SAY "CHARGE IT!" Emeritus Consultant In Mfdlcln. Mayo Clinic Emeritus Professor of Medicine Mayo Clinic Hegister and Tribune Syndicate. 1963). Herniated Intervertebral Discs Recently, Drs. Paul C. Bucy and H. T. Oberhill of Northwest ern University, wrote a paper on herniated (or ruptured) lum bar (lower back) intervertebral discs. As they say, often the patient is disabled not only with backache but with sciatica (pain going down a sciatic nerve on the back o' a thigh). Herniation of a lumbar disc is thought to be responsible for nine in 10 attacks of sciatica. What happens is that . a disc breaks open at the back, and some of the material in it leaks out into the space in the spinal column. There it presses on some of the nerves which come out of the lower end of the spinal cord and join to form the sciatic nerve. The osteo arthritis (changes in the ver tebras), of the lumbar spine, which is so commonly seen in the X-ray films taken of the backs of people, is seldom re sponsible for the sciatic pain. Curiously, a ruptured lumbar disc is found more often in the sedentary housewife than in the laborer, who spends his days bending over shoveling or lift ing heavy wcignts. UDviousiy, herniation of a disc would seem not to be due to hard physical labor, but rather to some in born defect in the spine. Repeated Bouts of Pain Many of the patients tell of repeated bouts of severe pain and weakness in their lower back. Some tell of getting tem porary relief from cither manip ulations of the back, or mas sage, or just rest and heat. Some persons with diseased discs are much the worse for a so-called "manipulation" of their spine. Persons with a bad back gen erally find it hard to get up in the morning; it is hard to stand un and walk. They may be un able to sit squarely on their buttocks; also, they may feel a iab of pain whenever they much nr sneeze, or strain at stool, lift something, or bendi over, cougnmg ana sneering can send a wave of pressure down the fluid in the spinal canal. Because lying down, especial ly on a hard surface, may re lieve the pain, some of the patients will sleep with boards under their mattress, or they may even sleep on the floor. Some will feel better sitting erect on a straight, firm chair. Many a one discovers some par ticular position in wnicn nc , feels better. I Drs. Bucv and Oberhill say that so far as they can see, the I giving of antibiotics, vitamins and "muscle relaxing drugs" j seldom helps. Ultra-sound treat- j ment often fails to help, and it ; can be a dangerous thing to use I over the spinal cord. I "Back - supports" and belts usually do not give relief. Trac tion (a steady pull on the legs) may help a bit, but Drs. Bucy and Oberhill do not think much of it as a form of treatment. It may help because with it the patient gets rest in bed. Seme patients walk with a limp, favoring the leg in which there is pain. A man may walk listed over to ona side, or stooped ovar forward. Rarely he will come into the doctor's office in a wheel-chair. On sit ting down, the man may be so uncomfortable that he keeps shifting his position. After a bit he may ask if he may stand UDviousiy, sucn people are in witn certain tests, such as lifting the leg and thigh straight up while the person lies on his back, an orthopedist can show that some of the muscles of the back are tense. Also, there may be abnormalities in the tendon- reflexes of the affected leg (a jerk when the tendon is hit with a little hammer). Typical is an absence of the "Achilles (heel) tendon reflex. Because of weakness of the muscle on the front of the leg, the person may be unable to lift up his foot from the ground when his heel is on the floor. There may be some shrinkage or loss of tone in the muscle on the back of the af fected leg. Usually, there is no great loss of sensation in the skin of the leg. Narrowing of Space Sometimes the X-ray film shows a definite narrowing of the space between two verte bras. The writers very rarely use myelography (an X-ray study of the space within the spinal column after it is in jected with air or a drug). Treatment can be conserva tive or surgical. Drs. Bucy and Oberhill feel that conservative (medical) measures can give re lief of pain and disability in about 65 per cent of the cases. Some persons, however, are in such bad shape when they come to the doctor that the only thing he can do is to operate quickly. It helps a fat man with a bad back to lose weight, and it helps NO iced one day in the spring of i having maps printed that would uiH at tne world s lirst gas sta- show the main roads that exist tion, he conceived the idea of I ed in his area. The next morning. Akin stepped into the general office of the oil company with his map idea. He got an okay and maps were mailed to all motorists in the district. The same oil firm now gives away about 10 million road maps annually. Kreisman Attends National Meeting ASHLAND - Dr. Arthur Kreisman, chairman of the humanities division at Southern Oregon College, took part in a special meeting of college de partment chairmen at the Na tional Convention of the Nation al Council of Teachers of Eng lish, recently in San Francisco. The discussion meeting which was limited to 20 participants by invitation, was concerned with the influx of college stu dents and the serious shortage of qualified professional per sonnel. Others accompanying Dr. Kriesman to the conference from the Southern Oregon Col lege English department were Dr. Donald Moore, Mrs. Mary thea Grebner, and Charles Ry-berg. BE LRiNGER him if he will avoid much exer tion. Some surgeons believe in fus ing two or three vertebras, with the help of a bony splint, while others feel that this is all wrong, not indicated, and not likely to help. As they say, why fuse, when all that is wrong is that parts of a ruptured inter vertebral disc are pressing on nerve roots? This sounds very reasonable. In 95 per cent of their operations, all Drs. Bucy and Oberhill do is to remove the disc material which has worked its way back into the canal. When this is what was causing the pain and all is re moved, the patient should be well. In the few cases in which the patient does not get well, a particle of disc may have been overlooked, or there may have been a mistake in diagnosis. Pre-Christmas savings event! ' J SALE ENDS MONDAY DEC 9th BOYS' GIFT BUY BRENT JR. WARM I Uf ACM 'ftl UEAD FLANNEL ROBES 266 A practical gift ... at a money-saving price ! Handsomely tailored robes of Sanforized cotton flannel have double-shawl collar, 2 pockets, self fabric belt. Choose from rich plaids and prints with solid color trim. Cut full for freedom and com fort. 4 to 10. Hurry in I Mo, shrink. I I jh m j . - J-- mm pi t i ll tsllasf. fm Is arthritis incurable? What about the home remedies you hear about? 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