CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13888, 24 October 1905, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Mr E. F. Wright, writing from Loudon at tho beginning of last month, directs attention

HOLIDAYS AND HEALTH.

to an article in tho “ Lancet,” .in which the holiday is insisted upon as a necessary factor in health. Tho holiday instinct, tho medical journal contends, is after all an elemental call to 'fresh air and exercise, to healthy hunger and thirst and sloop, which has merely become more clamorous of late years as a protest against the raids upon human endurance created by modern conditions. We should not bo deaf to the call. As to the nature of tho holiday, of that ©ach man must bo his own judge within limits. It is idle to lay down any axiom. Even the oftrepeated statement that the truest holiday is the one Which forms the most complete chango from the everyday groove is not necessarily accurate. The change may be too sudden or too violent. It would be, for instance, foolish for the mountaineer to start upon groat ventures when fresh from his desk. The holiday must be planned' so that it is a source of refreshment. No immoderate athleticism should be allowed to make it a cause of future fatigue. Mr Wright agrees with all this, but he points out that tho “ Lancet,” while calling for physical energy, has not explained how this physical energy can be produced. For liimself, lie relies upon gluten, , “ tlxo most powerful energy-producing compound in the world to-day,” be Bays, and emphasises the evidence given by Dr Robert Hutchison before the Royal Commission on Food Supply in Time of War. Bread, according to tho doctor, is the most important of all the common foods of the people. It yields more energy than an equal weight of meat. A man, in time of scarcity of general food, could subsist upon two pounds of bread a day. He would begin to suffer from lack of energy if he got less, but he could go considerably below the two pounds for a bare subsistence in times of great urgency,, such as garrisons undergo in time of siego. Tlie next most important article of diet as a source of energy is sugar, but, unfortunately, sugar contains no nitrogenous matter at all, and without nitrogen tho human machine cannot be kept working. Mr Wright’s advice to the holiday-maker is that he should start out on Ills search for health with an abundant supply of brown bread and adequate dressings of sugar and beaus and cheese. The menu may not look very attractive, but it would ensure plenty of energy and a healthy appetite to the last.

KEEPING COOL.

Mr T. P. O’Connor, the versatile editor of “M.A.P.,” has lately taken up the role of a

temperance advocate, and is filling it so well that it would not bo a bit surprising to see him in demand as a prohibition lecturer. During the “Dog Days” in London this year the'> heat was bd excessive that “ T.P.” was moved to write a. whole page on the art of keeping cool. He had tried light clothing and codling drinks in previous years, but they had brought no permanent relief, and this year he determined to try another remedy. “ When the hot weather cam© some weeks ago," runs the record of his exporiontoe, “ I began to find life so intolerable that I made uxa my mind I must do something to- meet the case, so I turned teetotaler. It was hard for the first few- days; it is sometimes hard now ; but it is curious how soon the desire ■ for wine passes away if you only give yourself free play. And still more interesting -and satisfactory -are tOro compensations whi'-dh you get from the absence of alcohol from your blood. I cannot say that I regard teetotalers as the cheeriest of men; but they are the most equable. They bar e none of the exaltations, but they escape all the dejection and reactions of those who take wine. Above all tilings, they can stand such heat as we have had recently. This they can do even better if they do not take meat, as they have been accustomed to in cool weather. No man who is in his senses would ©at meat more than once a day in hot weather - ; and- perhaps it would be just as well if we gave up butchers’ moat altogether during the summer, and confined ourselves to fish and fowl.” Mr o’Connor had often been a teetotaler before, sometimes for yeans together - , but bo confessed that he had never been a teetotaler willingly, and that be loved wine and its effects. He was net ashamed to admit this weakness, particularly a.s it was shared by Gladstone, who took two glasses of port every day of his life after dinner and Claimed that they quickened his intellect and increased his capacity for work. But, in apite of hiis own taste and, the example of Ids former leader, “ T.P.” istill holds that few men can occupy great places in any department of human ’activity who are not practically teetotalers.

THE QUACK.

The question of patent medicines has been agi-

tating the colony recently to tho extent of restrictive legislation, and, whilst the boundaries of this legislation have been fixed to the satisfaction, apparently, of both parties, this desirable result was not achieved without much diplomacy and tact on the part of tire Government. America, or, at least. Now York—and the inhabitants of the strenuous city, will saw that New York is America—-

has been exercised over the same subject, and incidentally over what is regarded as a, much more serious medical abuse. This is what is known as the “drug graft,” and even this particular sin of commission, it will be remembered, occupied the attention of the trade in Christchurch a little while ago. It may not be generally known, write® a New York paper, that many doctors receive a commission upon prescriptions. Very often the physician does this as a matter of course, without giving serious thought to the moral aspect of the question, but in some instances it leads physicians to write mere prescriptions than are necessary, or larger prescriptions than are necessary, in order to increase their incomes. It is needless to point out that this money is earned at the patient’s expense. Either the druggist charges an extortionate price for prescriptions, or he uses inferior drugs. The patient of the honest physician suffers equally with the patient of the “grafter,” as the druggist will not make two prices. There is also, though mor© rarely, a “ commission graft,” where a surgeon offers to physicians a percentage of the surgical foes received from the patient. This arrangement causes venal physicians to give their surgical cases to venal surgeons. The venal surgeon charges extortionate prices, because he not only has to make his fee, but also has to pay the venal physician. “ The Private Hospital Graft” is said to be a good deal the worst of the lot. The physician who sends patients to certain hospitals is rewarded by getting back a percentage of the patient’s hospital fees. The hospital in turn gets a “rake-off” from the druggist, or unnecessary laboratoxy examinations are made, and the patient pays. But although these modern instances are quoted against the profession, it is certain that no class of men work harder to keep their profession clean than do the doctors.