PITFALLS OF YOUTH

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 141, 17 June 1922, Page 9

PITFALLS OF YOUTH

THE ROAD TO HEALTH

LECTURE TO SENIOR CADETS

"DISEASES OF ADOLESCENCE."

"The Diseases of Adolescence " formed ■the subject of another highly instructive lecture delivered to Senior Cadets at tho Community Club this week' under the National Defence League's educational scheme. The lecturer was Dr. Duncan Stout, -who was received by the cadets with hearty applause, and was accorded a most attentive and appreciative hearing. Lieutenant Wolfe presided.

Tho lecturer said they could have no proper idea of health and disease without Boma knowledge- of the structure of the body, and no person could bo considered educated who had not got a good working knowledge of his own body. He then dealt briefly with the digestive, respiratory, blood, nervous, excretory, muscular, ibone, and reproductive systems of the body, emphasising the importance of each and their special functions. He proceeded to give them some general ideas on the environment necessary for tho de-\-elopment of perfect ■physique, perfect health, and perfect thinking. WORKING TOWARDS A GOAL. "There can bo no doubt," ho said, "■about the important influence of heredity on the health and strength of the community. Our present generation has inherited the characteristics of its ancestors, and this natural law will always hold true. Must not this make us aJI take a pride in making our generation contribute more than any previous one to tho general strength of the race? If we do not have interest and hope in the future of our race and all races of mankind, then, indeed, we are in a had way. The past we revere; we must take to heart the maoiy lessons it can teach us for we are all sadly lacking in knowledge, but the present and the future are of much more importance. We have work to do and plenty of it to make the present the best in the history of the world, and to hand on our work to others. in such a state of perfection that the future will far aunpass anything that we have been able to do up till now. Make no mistake, the old world is steadily getting a better place to live in, and education and ideals of good living are more than worth while. That is why I wish to stress the importance of the surroundings or environment necessary for perfect health. HOW TO OBTAIN PERFECT PHYSIQUE. "To obtain perfect physique many things are necessary, but they can all be summed up readily into : (1) Sufficient nourishing food and drink; (2) sufficient sleep; (3) fresh, pure air; (1) sufficient exercise. The problem of perfect health is the same, and the same recipe will work, but under the heading of exercise we must understand that proper use of all our functions and faculties is required. As far as mental development is concerned, here again full vise of the mind is essential. We must study and we must think. You can, picture to vuursdf what your arm or your leg would be like if you did not use it for six months. The muscles would waste away, mid 'they would be of little use to you. VV oil, your mind behaves in the same way, inij' needs work and training to make it tJic powerful guide of your life that it should be.

■'[ have touched on the necessity for ni'iinal development, and I will now point to the causes of disease. These a;e the lack of the requirements of health. There are other factors, which will be dealt with later, but if it were possible to put everybody in the surroundings necessary for normal development, the greater part of disease would bo rapidly banished. If everybody had sufficient and appropriate nourishment, lived in fresh, pure air, and exercised all the functions of the body adequately, the community would be an infinitely healthier and sturdier one. We cannot expect .goojd physique in boys who do not eat sufficient plain and nourishing food, who do not eat regular meals and rest a little after the meals, and who fill up their stomachs between meals with ■indigestible sweets and other supposedly pleasant articles. There is nothing so appetising as plain, wholesome food, and there is no other diet that .will build up good physique.

"It is also impossible to grow up strong by breathing in stuffy and exhausted air, and without the beneficial effect of sunshine. We don't expect to grow strong without adequate use of our muscles. Slouching about and lying about while other boys are playing or walking, or otherwise exercising and developing their bodies, can only have one result—namely, the production of what you call a weed. I wish to warn you, however, against over exercise, though it is uncommon. You must always train up slowly to do anything, especially violent exertion, and if you attempt to do without that training you will inevitably overstrain your muscles and retard rather than accelerate their development.

"ILL-HEALTH WILL BE SAVED."

'.'There is ono point. I want to lay special stress on with regard to tjie cause of disease, and that is the proper eliminatiop of the substances not required by and harmful to the body. The action-of the kidneys is automatic, but unfortunately this is not the case with, regard to the bowels. The importance of the proper training of the actions of the bowels is not recognised by boys. The bowels should be opened every day shortly after breakfast, and that should be a golden rule throughout life. It is the most important part of the day's ■work, and no day's work can be perfect without the elimination of those waste ■products. You may rest assured that that single good habit will stand you in good stead later on in life, and that illhealth will be saved. Those wastes will be reabsorbed into your blood if you let them lie in your bowels unattended to, and will act as poison to the cells of your body.

"Disease is, as I have stated, on tha •whole a part of the machine out of order, generally through some error of the mechanic controlling the machine, and that mechanic is the brain of the individual concerned. He supplies the wrong fuel to his engine, doesn't clean cut the ashes, and otherwise bungles his •work. When t.ho body machine is out of order, certain minute living creatures we call microbes get a, chance to prey upon the body, and so give use to what •we call microbic diseases. . . These microbes are always with us. They live in the air. they live on our slcina, in our mouths and in our intestines, and many of them perform useful work in ihe digestion of nur food. Many, however, act as birds of prey, and try to destroy the cells of the body. The fight between the cells and the microbes is called disease if the microbes affect the body to a noticeable extent either locally or generally. The microbes may kill many cells in one place, and this collection of dead cells is called an abscess. They may roam round in the blood ;md so affect many parts of the body and produce what we cull local symptoms of "disease. For instance, the diphtheria microbe a/fects the throat particularly, and the body lights it there. TheJ-yphoid germ, vtries conclusions with. " " ty"tines, agd

the pneumonia germ with the lungs. Those responsible for infantile paralysis and tlio so-called sleeping sickness that have been prevalent lately, attack particularly the nervous tissues of the body, the brain, and Hie spinal cord. The examples of microbes that I have given you so far belong to the class that produce what we call acute infections or illnesses. DISEASES DIFFICULT TO FIGHT. "There are other microbes which produce chronic disease, diseases which take a long time to make their presence felt, and which the body finds it very difficult to fight. Pre-eminent among these microbes is the tubecille bacillus, which is responsible for consumption, severe ■ and crippling disease of the bones and j joints, of glands, and of the intestines. There is no part of the body which is proof against it, and often the whole body is affected at the same time, leading to the rapid death of the patient. Tuberculosis is the disease which has the majority of its victims amongst the youth of the community, and one of the greatest blessings that is bestowed upon the young New Zoalander is his comparative safety from this disease. In many of the large cities of the old land this disease plays havoc among the children, but in this favoured land children are much less affected. "I have told you a little about disease I and its causation. Now, just a few words i about its prevention. The essentials have been mentioned already. To prevent microbic diseases, everybody who is suffering temporarily from infectious disease must, as much as possible, prevent its spread by not mixing with other persons more than is absolutely necessary. The Government of the country recognise certain diseases as particularly infectious and compels isolation of the persons affected. Examples of such diseases are leprosy, diphtheria, scarlet fever. It is impossible to isolate everybody with every infection, ■as at times the majority of persons would be isolated, which is obviously impossible. We must, therefore, rely on the stamina of the- people to do most in the fight against disease. SLOGAN FOR NEW ZEALANDERS. "I will just say a Tew words with regard to the cure of disease. I have already told you how disease is really a fight between the body and some process tending to harm and destroy it. This process generally is of microbic origin. How to enable the body to win in the fight we must, above all things, preserve all its energy for this purpose. This means the assuring of as complete rest as1 possible, both to the whole body and epecially to the part diseased. The body must be well nourished and supplied- with pure air, and the elimination of the waste and harmful substances must be attended to. These are simple and important rules in treating disease known to all your mothers. Finally, the slogan of New Zealanders should be a clean and healthy life is the basis of all our fight against disease." (Applause.) In moving a hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer, Lieutenant Wolfe said they had been privileged to hear expert medical advice which their elders had not had the benefit of receiving, and he hoped they would tako it seriously to heart and profit by it. On behalf of the Cadets he also specially thanked the hostesses and their assistants who presided_ at the canteen every night and provided them with supper. The vote was carried by acclamation. The hostess for the evening was Mrs. J. C. Andersen.