OUR BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11539, 16 January 1932, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia.

Published under tli 0 auspices of tho! Royal Newv Zealand Society for theHealth pf Women and Children (Pluuket Society). _ . . ’/ / ,‘,‘lt. is Wiser /to, iput Up a fence at the top of. a precipice than to main-' tain an ambulance at the bottom.” SUNLIGHT AND HEALTH. Summer .has arrived, . and our -thoughts begin to turn towards the annual holidays, With' longing for sunshihe and thp out-of-doors. Instinctively there is a bit of the suri- ! worshipper in most of us, and of; late years so much precise knowledge, has been accumulated regarding the beneficent power of the sun that one fools perhaps we are seeing the beginning of a hew* “Cult of the Sun”, based on scientific facts "and a wealth of careful experiment, - . ( . This is what Dr. C. W. Saleeby, uri authority as well as an enthusiast, on the subject, has to say about sunlight and health: — '.'“Sunlight is the source of all life/ Upon earth. We have lately learnt; that it is no less. valuable for qbrselves than for plants, and doctors; all over the world are getting back to the ideas which'animated Hippocrates, "the ‘Father of Medicine,’ in; Greece four hundred years before; Christ; when ho. took off his patients’; clothes and made them bathe in pure/ air; and sunlight. (That, by the way! is the real meaning of .the Greek; word, ‘gymnastics.’) , J “These discoveries about sunlight are quite distinct from what we have already learnt about fresh air,’ though . the two things go naturally together, And the coal smoke which befouls the. gir also obstructs the light; Many experiments in laboratories and 30 years, of experience with artificial light for tho cure of disease (begun . by. Finsen,’of Copenhagen, in 1393) have proved that, light itself in any kind of air which will let it pass, hasspecial actions upon our bodies, peculiar to itself, and . precious for out lives. : THE BEST ANTISEPTIC. “Even before that date we had" learnt that sunlight is an antiseptic — the oldest, cheapest, safest, most na-< tural, fiiosfc widely applicable in the, world. The germs of tuberculosis/ have been experimentally. found to survive after two years in the dark;, pure sunlight of the ordinary in-, tensity in this country undimmed by coal smoke kills those germs in from seven to ten minutes. Wherever pure: sunlight falls it kills' out deadliest enemies—whether upon our carpets or pavements or children's playgrounds or sandheaps in the parks or anywhere else. There is little or no fear of contracting any infection anywhere in the open where the sun shines. Most of our infectious , diseases aro diseases of indoors, and the shade. It has been proved by e v act 'experiment that sunlight raises -, the antiseptic power of the blood by its action on the white blood cells. No chemical antiseptic, but only the celestial, has this power. ; THE ONLY SKIN FOOD., “We sometimes read advertisements about ‘skin foods.’ There is ho such food but sunlight. Certain, parts of tho light pass through the' skin and are absorbed by the blood,; which is enriched accordingly. Very few city dwellers have enough iron in their blood, for they are light starved. Tho coal smoke which blackens.uS also bleaches us. When we are exposed, to sunlight the amount of iron in the blood rapidly increases—without any change of diet or the taking of any ‘chemical foods’.: Doubtless sunlight, with its potent; chemical action, may cause the col-' ors of carpets to fade; hut color in our children’s cheeks is more beauti-i ful and more valuable than iu any' carpet.

“Besides iron', wo now know that: lime, phosphorus, and iodine are in-j creased in the blood by exposure to sunlight. These elements are nee- j essary for all of us, but pre-eminent-ly for children, whose bones and teeth cannot develop properly without ab-' uudahee of . lime and phosphorus, nor the brain and nervous system without abundance of iodine. When studying iho researches on this subject in New York I saw many infants whose blood had been transformed and tlieir rickets exorcised by , ; a fortnight’s exposure to the sunlight. DISEASES OF DARKNESS.: ( “Indeed, thorp -is a whole -scries of diseases which can be prevented and cured by sunlight, and which do not occur where people properly value sunlight and -use it as they should. To these, somo years ago, I gave tho iiame of ‘Diseases of Darkness.’ Tuberculosis and rickets are examples 'of these diseases, and it is very important to know that they yield not Only to the sunlight of the high Alps in Switzerland,. but also to the, pure sunlight, undimmed by coal smoke, of . our own country. HO W TO USE THE SUNLIGHT.' : • “But we must understand how to use wliat wO have and make ih<}, most. of it. • Probably the most -valuable part of the light-is that which we cill ultra-violet—just too high J; -m pitch "for' our eyes to s’eo. Ordinary, glass, which does not arrpst the Risible ' rays; stops ■ the- : ultra-violet. Therefore we cannot avail -'buirsfelyes. properly of the sunlight, behind eloped iwindows. Unfortunately coal Smoke acts - like , glass and arrests the L ' vpry' rays 'Which we most nestlV Wide usd is- now made at - the Zoological, Gardens and in our schools and hospitals of thq ‘vitaglass,-* made by our chemists; in response to an appeal for : something-cheaper ‘ than quartz, which I made in 192-1. _ '•-■“lt is the flight and not the .heat that serves' us. Beyond, a" certain jjiorat' lieat is enervating and ' depressing, while light is a triie : stimulant. The early morning hours are therefore the best, giving us a maximum ■ of light without too - much ' heat. This is a .useful ' purpose ,served by ‘daylight saving.’; What a pity -/that tho-

■*s y- ' y .A s A‘Wi' ,-,r early f morning Tfours- ri art?' /scarcely: 1 more than, a rffinour for hiost’ - of ■ iis; In Order to remind mothers of this’ point „ I uso a' little couplet, thus l. Fear the beat arid love tlio light; Keep your children eool arid;bright.

“Tho next point is to be careful ■always to /protect,the head and. tlie eyes. (In many people' actually have to Wear dark goggles.) "An inexpensive ' white-lined : hat, . very.Tigh’t in weight;- such as -athletes -often /wear, is tho* jdeal '‘thing - f6r this-’pufprise. t -' ?;• “ ‘Hasten - slowly/ when beginning to give your skin ? the: value of ' the S sun-bath. Remember: that nearly the:; Whole Of tlio body is unaccustomed to - the i light. A very few'minutes are? enough for a stairt. The faster’ the; skin tans the more wo can expose it. Ne orio yet" understands tluß tan-’ ning or what it really means; but it is a beneficent process, and we can use it to guide ourselves as to our use of the' sun. - Those who do,' not tan, ; but freckle, should go even more slowly than others, ■ until the/ skin can be persuaded to react pro-; perly. ; ’ ’ / '/’ . . “It is certain that: the improved? Health of" women to-day partly depends upon their modern style of dress, Which gives the sunlight a chance to roach the skin (whether un-, covered or clad only in, for instanco,. translucent sleeves and stockings) and so enrich tho blood an.d serve their lives.” ■ • • • • ' 1