DANGERS OF SUNLIGHT.

Evening Star, Issue 18048, 16 August 1922, Page 2

DANGERS OF SUNLIGHT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—This letter is intended to warn parents of the risk they run by letting their children -run about in the strong sunlight without suitable covering for their heads. The sun’s rays are beneficial to all life under proper conditions, but they can also be very dangerous to life under other conditions. We all know that if hair was allowed to grow as Nature intended the neck of the white man or woman would always be protected from the direct rays of the sain; but as fashion decrees that men and boys must have short hair, and that women should do up their hair, the only protection we can have from the direct rays of the sun is hata and sunshades. Now, the action of tho sun’s rays is that shining through the white sldn and blood the light is converted into violet rays, and these playing on tho nerves of the spine at the back of tho neck cause in many cases partial paralysis of some of the main nerves. Tins, I think, is tiro true cause of--in-fantile paralysis. I have come to this conclusion from observations made by mo at Auckland, whore tho disease was - very bad a few years ago, and I would strongly advise parents to see that their children wear hats -which protect the back of the neck; by women sunshades -should bo used. The dark-skinned races do not suffer from infantile paralysis. Why? Because tho dark skin converts the color of the sun’s rays on the nerves, and that is one reason why a white man does not thrive in tho tropics.—l am, etc., . Safety. August 14.