HORRORS OF SILENCE

Evening Star, Issue 20862, 4 August 1931, Page 5

HORRORS OF SILENCE

EX-SOLDIER'S ENDURANCE Ernest George .Blair - , of -Melbourne, is alive to-day because of what is probably the most amazing silence in the world. For eighteen months he lay in hospital without speaking a word. From war disabilities Air .Blair developed tuberculosis of the throat.. Alter treatment at Caulfield Hospital Mr Blair was sent to At‘hood Sanatorium, where many ex-soldiers are now spending the last of their days. His wife was told there was little hope for his recovery. But there was one small chance. He was told to give up smoking and not talk for eighteen months—and ho did it. The days and nights of enforced silence were horrors. At times Air Blair could have screamed, for, before this, lie was a confirmed smoker. His vocal cords were diseased, but today he has a clean hill of health. “ The silence was horrible. 1 couldn’t sleep, but 1 stuck it,” said Air Blair the other day. “ j. used to write that 1 was going to live, and my mates around me who were dying used to call me the optimist.”

Air Blair admitted that sometimes he would have to leave the ward, so great was the temptation to argue with the other patients. 'The doctors who treated Air Blair say that lie must have nerves of steel. Others in the .sanatorium who wen 1 ordered complete silence broke down under the strain and died.