HEALTH AND EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 19843, 17 April 1928, Page 5

HEALTH AND EDUCATION

MODERN DEGENERATION FUTURE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN A The future health of school children was tho subject of an interesting lecture by the well-known surgeon, Mr J. Renfrew White, in the Knox Hall last evening. Mr White dealt with the various phases and aspects of the health of tho human race through the ages, and his remarks were followed with u great deal of interest by the large number present. His address was strikingly illustrated by lantern slides. Mr L. F. Do Berry, the headmaster of the Normal School, occupied the chair, and in introducing Mr White to those present, said that the address was one of a series of lectures for parents and children which would bn given at various intervals. These had been arranged for the purpose of bringing before those interested the very vital matters concerning child welfare, which was a question of tremendous importance in the world to-day. In opening, Mr White gave a statistical review of cases that had entered the Dunedin Hospital during the last few months. I’ooplo living in King street near the public hospital would have a different viewpoint, from others living elsewhere. Every day they saw a. constant si ream of patients in all stages of health being admitted into (he institution. Some went in, hut did not come out that entrance. An analysis of the last 1.000 cases that entered (he hospital was as follows:—Removal of unhealthy tonsils, 133: accidents. 119: diseases of women. Oil: tuberculosis, 50; appendicitis, -II: cancer. 40; degeneration of heart, arteries', and kidneys, 40; mental disorders, 28; goitre. 18. The total number of cases admitted to public hospitals in New Zealand during 1925 was 61.691 (-If in every 100) : the total number of operations in public hospitals was 26.063. The chief causes of death in New Zealand in order of frequency wore:— Diseases of heart, arteries, and kidno vs, (tan cor. Old age. Accidents Tuberculosis. Why should there be so much disease in New Zealand? If anyone had been abroad tho first thing lie would impress upon the people of the dominion was that they were living in the best country in the world. There was nothing truer than that the human bodies were machines to servo tlie mind. They had to be fed with a. very definite kind of fuel. If the body was abused or used wrongly it would not work at its real efficiency. Air White went on to refer to the living conditions of man through the ages, and their bearing upon his physical condition. It had been half a million years since the first human being lived on the earth. Man had not changed very much since then. The human machine stitl required the same amount of fuel in essentials, and still required to be used in the same way. In 1891 a Dutch scientist found a remarkable specimen while excavating on the shores of a river in Java in "search of the missing link between apes and chimpanzees on one hand and plan on the other. Mr White then illustrated man in the various stages of evolution Iruin that time. He did not know what diseases that Java man suffered from. He had no clothes and no habitation, and lived on a natural vegetarian diet. “ At the present day we have sensitised our bodies to an extraordinary degree,” said Mr While. Man was too sensitive and spoilt his body, wanting pleasure, food, and ornaments, and_ going to the other extremes in comparison wiTh the living conditions_ of primitive man. All modem conditions and the manner in which people lived made for disease, discomfort, and disability. Air White was accorded a hearty vote of (hanks for his address.