TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 20958, 24 November 1931, Page 18

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

[Published by Arrangement with the United Temperance Reform Council.] At the International Congress qa Tuberculosis, which met in Paris in 1905, tho following resolution was passed:—“That in view of the close connection ■ between alcoholism and tuberculosis, this congress strongly emphasises the importance of combining the fight against tuberculosis with the fight against alcoholism.” TUBERCULOSIS AND ALCOHOL. (By New, Zealand Department of ' Health.) Many years ago toir William _ Osier drew tho parallel between infection in tuberculosis and tho parable of the Sower, as illustrating, in an effective way, the importance_ of the nature of tho ground upon which the seed falls. “Some seeds fell by the wayside, and tho fowls of the air cams and deyoured them up.” . These are the bacilli scattered broadcast outside the_ body, an immense majority of which die. “ Some fell upon stony places.” These are bacilli that find lodgment' in many of us, perhaps with the production of a small focus, but nothing comes of it; they wither , away because they have no root. “Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.” This represents the cases of tuberculosis, latent or active, in which the seed finds the soil_ suitable and grows, but the conditions are not favourable, as the thorns, representing tho protecting force of tho body, got tho better in tho struggle. “ But others fell on good ground and sprang up and bore fruit a hundredfold.” Of this fourth group belong the 649 who died from this disease and hundreds of others . who did not die, but whose health was greatly damaged, in 1930, in New Zealand—tho soil, unsuitable, tho protecting forces feeble. Now, what makes a good _ soil for tuberculosis? Surely it is an infant or child suffering from malnutrition. Such children come from an unsuitable environment, as a home where there are unsanitary habits, bad food, and iliventilated rooms; conditions found, in largo degree, in tho homes of persons addicted to alcohol or excess in other directions. The influence of environment was never better demonstrated than in tho well-known experiment of Trudeau, who found that rabbits, inoculated with tuberculosis, if, confined in a dark, damp , lace without sunlight and fresh air. rapidly succumb; while others, treated in the same way, but allowed to run wild, either recover or showed very_ slight lesions. The influence of environment is also shown in tho results achieved in health camps for children suffering from malnutrition, where they are restored under conditions that should be the natural heritage of every child.; ■ Therefore children reared amidst unhygienic surroundings, the product of excessive alcoholic drinking of their parents, or from other causes, may easily become the prey to tuberculosis, which readily attacks _ the physically weak and neglected child. Parents addicted to drink, as a rule, are more prone to this disease, for alcohol certainly stands in a causative relationship to tuberculosis; and tho offspring of such tend to be more unstable and less durable than the offspring of healthy parents! Of course, the abuse of alcohol is only a part of the picture, but, in some circumstances, it may be no smal factor in the laying of -the foundation for this' disease, which takes such a toll of human life* SWISS, SOLDIERS ON MILK DIET. For tho first time in the history, of military manoeuvres, it is said, Switzerland is this year trying the experiment of putting its soldiers on a milk diet ou the long, mountain marches. A, wireless in tho New York ‘Times’ says that Commander Schwar organised the plan, 1 which has met with . success -Thousands of glasses of fresh pasteurised’ milk were sold to the battalions of soldiers, and it. was found that the men who drank iti were not ill and did not fall out of tho ranks in:spite of the worst weather they Lad ever experienced. SIX YEARS WATER WAGON. Tho six yedrs I vowed to stay sober wore up a few months ago, and when I mentioned this fact to a lady temperance worker, she said a little uneasily,: “I hope you have no thought of drinking again.” As in a swiftly moving panorama the old days of hard work and..wasted money, of disgrace and prison cells, came before me, and I answered this lady with an emphasis that startled her; “Lady, I would rather let a rattlesnake bite me ” BIRDS AT AIRSHIP CHRISTENING. In a simple but impressive ceremony on August 8 tho world’s largest airship was launched at Akron, Ohio. Introduced by the head of tho GoodyearZeppeliu Company, Mrs Herbert Hoover, wife of the President, stepped before the microphones and said clearly; “I christen thee Akron.” She then pulled a deribboned cord, which released a flock of snowy pigeons from their cages as the big airship slov ’y rose from its moorings amid •'.o cheers of the immense throng.