Health and Nature.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18920, 8 February 1927, Page 8

Health and Nature.

The great Medical Conference held in Dunedin, with members drawn from many parts of the Empire, has brought before the public the great advance made in medical and surgical practice during the paat fifty years. It has been often said that of the progress in surgery there is no doubt, but that the progress in medicine is not so apparent. We question if the advance in what is termed " preventive " medicine is not as great as in the practice in surgery. There are many diseases that even thirty years ago were considered incurable that are now being controlled by medical skill. Public health has improved, and the death rate even in the large cities has greatly decreased. Medical science is not now confined to the treatment of those who are flick. How we live, the food we eat, the drink we consume, the houses we live in, the air we breathe, our clothing, our amusements, all eome under the cognisance of the medical expert The doctor is no longer a mere dispenser of drugs to sick people, the need of sunlight, of pure air, of good water, of proper food, of healthy dwellings, of open spaces in our towns, of efficient drainage, of cleanliness—all these things come under the cousidera,tion and surveillance of the doctor. We hare bow also the science of town plan.

ning, so that the interference of the Government in the laying out of cities . and even in conirci!i::g :!:>.' size of cities : has become of great Importance. Inj deed, the Lni'aence of the sun and of i light is now being recognised as a ! medical question. In London there has been founded a Sur.iidr. League, which I publishes a joutnr.l r.nd has a large ! and yul-..Li:V!a! C-rd'ov.-lng. In aJI cotuij rvicg the eiiocl of the suii'i rays is I : ;ei;ig .:i;.-::s-.;d. Wiv. h:>.s not heard n!' j the I'inseu lif-rht' The aims of the j .Sunlight .'.eague are i:\av.y, and in- ' elude .it'r.s:;'-;-: e:h..-rs: The rvtnnling of i sunshine in :he tirrets and alleys of ! smoky .-:iit.-: ;.s veil a.? at health reI .-oris, iijing Means :•'' indicate the thetnieii .'.f.iviiy .;f Le sun's rays lather '.]:.".:) it.; heat; 'ho removal of ' riekciy ci.ikiicn ;Vjm large towns to j y-".v.v. >ii:i in ■.:.' i: places; the systema- j :ie use '.>.' «i"j:*.vh-? as -\ i>revetitive and ! theiT.!"j , :'.i" :.■■:.-uif ■.:; rickets and ! other <li- -.v.- •-•::.-! i ."•-■ tuberculosis, j etc.; :l.v :.:;''_•;:.:•!:• <>i' smoke and soot ; and the multiplication :■■: open spaces' in eitii-s. i In many of Knope " •■ui and ! "light" Ircalnieut .A' diseases is now followed. The success of "helio- " therapy" by Dr. Rollier has been well stated by that eminent London doctor, C. W. Saleeby. Dr. Rollier's workhas been translated and the second edition is now published by the " Oxford " Medical Publications.'' Rollier began his clinic at Leysin in 1903 in the Alpes Vaudoises with five patients. In 1921 there were 1000 patients and \he cures have been many. The Sunlight League, however, dors not aim only—nor mainly—at showing how the sick may be cured; its aim is to promote and conserve health. In New Zealand many diseases rife in larger European cities do not afflict us. Rickets is unknown, and even tubercular diseases are not numerous as compared with their incidence in European cities. We also have made provision for the treatment of tuberculosis, and wc hava efficient hospitals and able doctors. Further our country is one of the healthiest in the world, and our death rate perhaps the lowest. As population increases, and our towns become larger, we must take increasing care of our public health. Human beings require pure air and sunshine. In one or more of our large towns complaints have been made of the smoke and dust, and it has been said that the smoke from trains and steamers has changed the appearance of North Wellington. What was deemed to bo the best residential area in the capital can no longer receive that encomium. In several of our cities there is a congestion of buildings, with narrow streets and a want of open spaces. The Sunlight League interests itself also in open-air schools. Dr. Saleeby has described Dr. Rollier's school in his book " Sunlight and Health." He says: "No noses were running; I heard no " cough, despite much very active exer"tion, and it was the happiest school "I have ever seen in my life." We have in a small way attempted open-air schools, but we are behind older lands. In France the open-air schools are held even in the winter with snow on the ground. New Zealand is peculiarly suitable for suoh schools, and we certainly ought not to allow other countries in which the climatic conditions are severe and difficult to progress so far beyond us as some of them are doing.