TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1928, Page 9

TALKS ON HEALTH

THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE. (By a Family Doctor.) All our progress in making this world more comfortable to live in is the result, broadly speaking, of, two forces. One is the fresh and original discovery of one genius or a small group of men. and the other is the earnestness with which the now discovery is embraced by the mass of the people. One man discovered oxygen, the vital principle of fresh air. the rejuvenating gas of the atmosphere we breathe, the marvellous elixir of life that is sucked into the lungs and carried thence all over the body by the blood to give health and vigour to every organ. But the mass of people take no interest in the discovery. Best parlours are stuffy, bedrooms smell nasty, some places of entertainment are black holes of Calcutta, and worst of all are the.churches, and places of worship. What has been culled public conscience has never been roused by the scientific discoveries grouped under the heading of Heredity. No interest is taken in such a boring subject as the welfare of offspring. There are very few young women and no young men who say to themselves “Wo ought to take care of ourselves for the. sake of the children who will one day be born- to us.”

Phenomena of Heredity. Some of the observed phenomena of heredity appear to be contradictory. We all know that some of the laws are absolutely rigid and unalterable. For instance, the offspring of negro parents is always black; the baby of a black father and mother does not turn out to be a ■ Chinaman; the • black skin produces a black, skin with the certainty of the law 6f gravity that brings a stone back to earth when it is thrown in the air. On the other hand, a musical brain, does not always produce a musical brain. When a deaf mute marries a deaf mute ■ you cannot prophecy that the offspring will be a deaf mute. A man who has six fingers may have four children, two having six fingers and two the normal huniber. And if the child with normal fingers grows up and has children, one or more of these last offspring may have six fingers, showing that we may pass on to the next generation characteristics that we do not actually possess ourselves, but which we hold latent, within us.

A Question for Young Men. When all the scientific observations on heredity, studied in man, animals, and insects, have been tabulated we do feel very strongly that the man in the street ought not to be allowed to ignore the subject. J. Ignorance in this matter is criminal. “Like father like son” is a good rule for guidance. The struggle during the next thousand years is going to be the attempt to induce men not to get venereal disease, or, if they do get it, not to infect their •wives and children. At present tho outlook seems almost hopeless. : The men of the present day openly declare that nothing on earth will induce them to avoid venereal disease. Love of offspring is not so highly developed in man as it is in wild beasts, and the homes for children born with venereal disease arc very busy. The demon of venereal disease is a clever fellow, and he derives enormous strength from the whole-hearted support, given to him by his many devotees. The question that the young man of to-day must put to himself is, “Do I love my future wife and my unborn children too dearly to run the risk of getting venereal disease, or am I so determined to have a ‘good time’ and ‘enjoy life’ that I don’t care if my babies are born blind?” We must wait and see what answer he will give in words and what answer he will give in actions.

Applying a Bandage. When you put a bandage on, you can make two mistakes: you can apply it too loosely or too tightly. If it is too loose, it will fall off; it will allow the antiseptic dressing to slip off so that the wound is exposed to infection' from germs in the air or on dirty clothing; it will fail to keep the splint iii position, and, incidentally, it will bring you bad marks in your examination. If the bandage is too tight it will be very painful, and the pain will get worse as the sprained limb continues to swell under the bandage.; Always be ready to, itemove and reapply a tight bandage. Even if the bandage is being used as a tourniquet, you only want it tight enough to stop the bleed-, ing; you do not need to stop all circulation in the limb. Firmness, without violence, should be the rule.