WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20087, 2 May 1927, Page 10

WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

PUBLIC HEALTH LECTURE. Despite the weather there was n very large attendance at the Public Health Class of W.E.A. on Thursday night, when Dr Radcliffe-Taylor took for the subject of her lecture “Can Anything Be Done to Prevent Heart Disease.” The lecturer stated that disease of the heart and blood vessels was the most common cause of death in New Zealand, and, therefore, its prevention should be of vital importance. She showed diagrams to demonstrate the function of the heart, and especially called attention to the fact that the heart was a muscular organ. She also demonstrated the function of the heart valves, and went on to show that disease of these valves threw a considerable extra strain upon the heart muscle throughout life. Unfortunately, although heart disease frequently did not develop until middle age, the germs which caused tho first damage to the heart entered the system while in childhood and during minor illnesses, such as tonsilitis. Dr R-ad-diffe-Taylor stated that growing pains, though a very common complaint with children, were regarded as normal, whereas they really were a manifestation of rheumatism, and, although people generally regarded rheumatism as a disease which might affect the heart, it never occurrred to them to regard growing pains ns one of its manifestations. Other causes of heart trouble occurring in early life were such preventable diseases as diphtheria and scarlet fever. She -hen discussed the question of diseases of the heart and arteries in youth and m’ddle age, and concluded an interesting lecture by stressing the importance of paying strict attention to the ailments of childhood.

LITER ATT IRE CLASS. The first meeting-of the 1027 session of the literature class of the W.E.A. was held last Tuesday evening, Miss M. H. King outlining the programme of study of the works chosen last year by a vote 01 the members—viz., Shelley, Geo. Sand, the sisters Bronte, Fogozarro, R. L. Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, G. Bernard Shaw, R. Tagore, Rudyard Kipling, and G. K. Chesterton. After detailing the actual period during which the above writers were producing their best, the lecturer made some interesting comparisons between theliterature of the 18th century and that of the period of the Romantic Revival. The 18th century was class-ridden, its actions were formal, its morality prudential; its novels were typical centring round rank and wealth. The Romantic Revival was a very important period of English literature budding with the publication in 1798 of the Lyrical Ballads, the revival of romantic fiction taking place about 1850. _ The period marked the new elasticity in the choice of form and subject, a robustness of mind, and was sane and generous as opposed to that of extremes or affectation of the earlier period. It produced works of ideal tendency, a Renaissance of wonder, proclaiming a spirituality of life, and that the rank of man is not to be judged by possessions or power—that the real distinction should be sought in intrinsic worth, range of understanding, and sympathy. In regard to the poet Shelley, he was born in 1702, the year of the Proclamation of the French Republic and the massacre of September in Paris. Though condemned by the English politicians, the French Revolution, strange to say, found response in the hearts of all the poets of the time, but in their older years Wordsworth and Coleridge came to view if with disfavour. Shelley was Inspired hy the underlying teaching and motive powers of the French Revolution. A poet of creative imagination, he was a typical figure of the Romantic Revival. His genius was mythological, thought clothing itself in daring imagery. The next lecture will deal with Shelley’s philosophical poems, Queen Mab, the Revolt of Islam, Prometheus Unbound, and the Triumph of Life embodying his views on life. The following lecture will be devoted to the consideration of Shelley as a lyrical poet. The election of officers resulted in Mr Turner being appointed as representative to the W.E.A. Council, Misses Drakely and Boyd ns librarians, bliss Rollo secretary, and Mr Gilchrist as reporter.