BRIDGE CRAZE.

Grey River Argus, 12 January 1927, Page 6

BRIDGE CRAZE.

MEDICAL MAN'S DENUNCIATION. ~LONDON .Jam 10. That bridge, under certain < ircui.istances, is most harmful, is the emphatic deelarntiol of Sir William Abuthnot Lane. In a letter to the “Daily Express,” he vigorously_ attacks the idle women, who play bridgeall night with money provided by their husbands. “Such people are rarely ot active dispositions and are usuaby stouter than the average, consequently they prefer a sedentary occupation such as bridge.” He says: “Undoubtedly bridge, like most drugs, is beneficial in moderation, but poisonous in excess. When indulged in too long, it hypnitises the players and makes them blind to their own interests, as well as to those depending upon them for comfort and companionship. Followed excessively, it must have a deteriorating influence upon the intelligence and re act harmfully on health. It is detrimental physically and morally and is too frequently associated with habits such as excessive smoking and alcoholism. It is most likely that all this

class suffer from the same complaint which tends sooner or later to terminate what to the community in genera

is a more or less useless existence. Bridge fiends, like hunting and golf enthusiasts, become an intolerable nuisance, but the latter recreations have the advantage of being in the open air.’ The “Daily Express” editorially says that a declaration from such a source is certain to create great controversy The mere statement that wo men are stouter than tho average is sufficient to overwhelm him.