HEALTH NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 129, 2 June 1928, Page 17

HEALTH NOTES

CONQUEST OF DISEASE "EVERY MAN'S DUTY" (Contributed by the Department of " Health.) , Sir George Ne'wman (Chief Medical Officer, British Ministry of ■ Health), continues as follows- in his Hastings popular lecture: — Before leaving these maxims of body nurture there are three things I have to say about them which are not of loss importance because they can be said shortly. The first is this: All these six principles of nutrition must be followed if we would obtain true nur- . ture of the bod}'. • It is idle, and, indeed, harmful, to advocate any one or other of them at the expense of. the remainder. The loss of any one of them with' impair man's health and eventually imperil his life. Tho neglect of them is the occasion of disease. Yet, as! Thucydidcs,* the Greek historian, said, "So little pains will most men take in search for truth, so much more readily will they turn to what comes first." Secondly, eaelf of these principles must be. followed in moderation and not to tho extreme. The Greeks were wise in their admonition: "Know thyself, arid be moderate." In fact, the pathway to health of body and mind is life-long education, that the mind may rule the body and the body be, as Cicero said, "lit to obey the prescriptions of the mind." Thirdly, the practice of each of them must accord with the total normal functioning of the body, the end and object of which is health. The body has many I powers of protection, defence, and repair, but the laws of Nature are exacting and even severe on any assault upon, misuse, or abuse of, vital functions. In other words, tho body will stand considerable strain along the line of its own powers, but no disharmony with impunity. TWO SUBTLE DANGERS. In these days of public education in health, it is necessary to avoid two subtle dangers. On the one "hand we must beware of "stunts" and "panaceas"; Nature is too varied and the world too 'wide for ultimate truth to lie along that road. On the other 'hand, perverse or ignorant unwillingness to accept the established findings of science is likely to deprive us of valuable aids in the struggle for life I and the survival of the best. 'Ho is a wise man who finds out the faculties and powers of his own body and nurtures them rather than misdirecting or neglecting them. The spirit wo need to cultivate should spring from an effective and reasonable co-operation between the dictates of humanity, the rights of tho individual, and the established truths of science. It was Laertius, the Stoic, who said, long'ago: "Tho end is. to act in conformity with Nature, with tho Nature thai is within us and with the Nature of the universe. " Finally wo must ask ourselves the question: How 4an these essential conditions of Nurture be organised? The position is this. We have first to deal with the nature of man's body and its individual nurture in order to secure a resistant, effective, and reproductive body; then, in a civilised State, we1 liave to provide the opportunity for all men to ensure for themselves and their families this nurture. Some can do mucli 'without .communal'aid,' the majority cannot; in any event, no.man .can live unto himself. "Whether we like, it or not, we arc members one of another. As in nature., so. in society, solidarity, and interdependence arc inherent. Hence, in a civilised State it is the nature and nurture of the individual and the communal organisation., of opportunity which are the foundations,of national health. The organisation of .health, which is the organisation of life, is the primary, though not the supreme, business of . Government, ,'of. statecraft, whether central or local. PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. _ Now tlio purpose of preventive medicine may be expressed in simple' words. It is to improve the total environment of man's body, to develop and maintain his innate capacity, to avoid or reduce disharmony, and disease in its early stages (in order to escape or postpone its later and mortal results in the body),, to prolong and enlarge man's days, and to extend the frontiers of life. The community will adopt diverse means for the fulfilment of such policy; some methods will be voluntary or profcsional, others will bo undertaken by official administration, central or local. "Power," said John Stuart Mill, "may be localised, but knowledge, to be most useful, must be centralised." What are the main lines of this policy? (1) First, there must be created and maintained a sanitary environment, the external scaffolding of health; housing, water supply, drainage and refuse removal, sanitary work-places, sound roads, clean streets; and well-ordered towns. ' (2) Secondly, there must be systematic nurture beginning before birth — the protection of motherhood,' infant welfare, child hygiene, the care of the adolescent, a practical comprehensive, and liberal education, and a .wholesome food supply.' (3) Thirdly, there must be -a preventive organisation, by which the agencies of infection and disease are brought under control —the segregation of infectious persons, disinfection, quarantine, supervision of the channels and materials of infection,1 the reduction of mass infection, the production of immunity, the provision of antitoxins, the special and direct attack upon, all forms of epidemic disease. (4) Lastly, there must be public and private medical services (of which the medical man is, and always must bq, th'c,: exponent and practitioner) in order that correct diagnosis and sound treatment may'bo available for the whole 'community. ' ' CHIEF ASSET OF NATION. ■ There you have the great articles of tho modern practice.of preventive.medicine. They all belong to each other, and no local authority can afford'to neglect ai\y one of the four. They constitute the elements of the modern programme of preventive medicine, a programme introduced by the medical practitioners of the eighteenth century. "Germs of Disease" arc important, but wo must not go germ-mad. Sanitary ond medical experts have their place; but health is every man's duty. It must be every man's quest ere it can become a national conquest. The essential thing is the healthy and resistant body of man, and the maintenance of his harmonious functioning, in relation to Nature and his environment, and in relation to human society. Progress depends more upon personal, social, iuiil .moral evolution than tho advan'cc of sanitary science—moi'e upon wisdom than knowledge. The vastly improved health -of tho people in our generation has no doubt been partly due to llii! fuller application of me'di-i-ino and sanitation, but still more to the forces of education, sociology, and biology. If wo reflect upon these considerations wo shall discover that the preservation of human; life, the enlargement of its capacity, ,-tnd tho increase of its productivity, is not a mere doctor 's stunt, but, springs from deep human instincts and is established upon broad social and economic conditions. It is, in fact, social and medical in structure, though economic and moral in. inspiration. It is, I submit, the primary need, as it is the chief asset, jof a nation.