HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 15

HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

ANNUAL MEETING OF SOCIETY. The annual meeting of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children was held in Burns Hall on Friday, May 27, when there was a verylarge attendance. His Worship the Mayor of Dunedin (Mr T. Cole) presided, and ho was supported on the platform by his Excellency the Governor (Lord Plunket), the Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister of Labour), Dr Truby King, the Hons. J. B. Callan and J. T. Paul, M.L.C.'s, Messrs J. Alien, T. K. Sidey, J. F. Arnold, M.P.'s, R. W. Richards (town clerk), the Primate (Bishop Nevill), Messrs J- Hutchison, T. A. Hunter, F. W. Platts (Mayor of Port Chalmers), Rev. Father Coffey, Adjutant Thurkettle, (Salvation Army), Drs Pickerill, Williams, Ritchie, Barnett. S. Allen, and Donald, and others. Apologies were received from Mr Justice Williams and the. Hon. J. R. Sinclair, M.L.C. The Acting Secretary (Mr J. B. Callan, jun.), in the unavoidable absence of Mrs F. H. Carr (hon. secretary), read the minutes of last annual meeting, which, on the Chairman's motion, were adopted. THE SPEECHES. His Worship the Mayor, in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, said it gave him very great pleasure to attend that meeting. The work carried on by the association was a good one, and one that it behoved every- Christian man and woman to join in. By reason of the efforts of the society waifs and strays were being redeemed and brought into the straight path. He advocated strongly the interests of the society, and said that the good example set by Lady Plunket should be a stimulus to all to do what they could to help forward so meritorious a project as the society had in view.. Whatever lay irh his power, that he would do to further the society's interests, and ho would do that, not only as a duty as became his office, but as a tribute from himself personally. His . Worship paid a tribute to the work done in our midst and throughout the country districts by the Plunket nurses, and he expressed the hope that the example set in Dunedin would be followed throughout the Dominion. Lord Plunket expressed his delight at being able to take part in that afternoon's meeting. He had in the past attended several of these meetings, but he had, 'because of Lady Plunket's presence, alwavs been in the background.—(Laughter.) He generally agreed with the Mayor, but he did not agree with one remark which that worthy gentleman had made. Pie had . spoken of the society as helning the waifs and strays. No doubt it did. But that was not the object which the society had in view. The desire of the society and of Ladv Plunket and himself was that the institution was one for the amelioration of the infa.nts of all classes What was known as the "upper class" required the services of the Plunket nurses just as much as did any other class. His Excellency referred in laudatory terms to the reference in the report to volunteer nurses, and expressed the hope that the admirable example which had been set would be copied throughout the Dominon. A very pertinent suggestion with regard to travelling- Plunket nurses had been put forwarcl. and that was an idea very dear to the heart of Lady, Plunket. There had been great difficulties about it, and he was again oroing to brin<r it before his Government. He was pleased. in this connection, that there was that afternoon an important member of the Government, in the person of the Hon. • 'J. A. Millar, present, for it was his hone that th» svstem of travelling nurses would be published, and also that such nurses would, as part of their initial troinimr, undergo a course at the Karitane Institution.—(Loud applause.) The motion for the adoption of the report was unanimously agreed to. DR BARNETT'S ADDRESS. Di* Barnett, on behalf of the medical professio.i of, Dunedin, thanked -Lord and Lady Plunket for the great interest they ■had taken in matters appertaining to public health, and the health of women and children in particular. Dr Barnett also made a-eferenoe to the Plunket Ward at the General Hospital, which would stand for all time as a memento of the practical sympathy of Lord and Lady Plunket. Dr Barnett continued: — To my mind one of the chief (if not the chief) aims of this society is to bring home ■to the people the fact that the natural life is the healthy life. I mean by a natural ilife that life that has been moulded to its environment by the working of. natural laws' through countless ages of time. To attempt in a few hundred or thousand -years to alter this natural life and to adapt it to the environment of latter-day civilisation is an experiment beset with perils on every hand. Life is a battle from the bginning to the end—a battle between living foes. All living things •have living enemies which prey upon them'. •" Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em. Little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad . infinitum." There are no animals and no plants which are not engaged in a ceaseless warfare against parasitic or predatory organisms. That must be so; it is one of the laws of Nature. There are no hard and fast iboundary lines between plants and animals. Living organisms of every kind can only live by living upon one another. They must eat or be eaten. They cannot exist like the inhabitants of that idesert island in the old story who eked out a precarious existence by taking in one another's washing. From the beginning of things, away back in the distant past of evolution, up to the present time this incessant struggle nas gone on, and imusfc ever continue —the fit survive and the weak go to the wall. By the slow, steady, irresistible process of evolution- human 'beings have reached a comparatively high sta<*e of fitness and physical and mental development. This naturally-acquired fitness enables man to resist best the attacks of his natural enemies, and any mode of living differing from the natural correspondingly lowers his powers of resistance, and leaves him an easier prey. Amongst the* COMMONEST AND DEADLIEST ENEMIES Of man are the disease-producing bacteria pt microbes, such as we know produce disIjases like influenza, measles, scarlet fever, rjlague, typhoid fever, pneu-

monia, boils, diarrhoea in babies, abscesses, and so forth. Indeed, barring accidents, almost all the ills that flesh is heir to are the result of bacterial infection of the human bodv. Why do Ihey invade the human body? Not to produce disease, bu„ to live and propagate their species in obedience to the laws of ISature. lhc human body has developed wonderful natural powers of instance to bacteria, and a doctor gets his best results when lie is i*a position to help Nature. No doctor, no quack, no hypnotist, no faith healer, no human being on this earth ever healed a. wound or cured a disease. Nature docs that, and man at best can only assist. Why, we know now that inflammation is the' defensive reaction of the tissues to bacterial invasion, and when a doctor foments, or poultices, or blisters the inflamed part he is simply allying himself with the defensive forces of Nature. JNot so very long ago inflammation was re-o-avded as a thing to be combated, and it is only since the action of bacteria has 4>een scientifically studied that we have learnt to know better. To keep healthy—that is, to keep our resisting powers at their host—we must follow the guidance Nature gives us, and, as this society teaches, we must begin at the beginning, and this is even before birth. The health of the prospective mother must be cared for as to diet exercise, action of the bowels, etc. Then, when the baby arrives upon the scene, it must be naturally fed—that is, breast-fed—and if by some mischance that is not possible, then the next best thing in the way of nourishment should be provided—that is, the nearest possible approach to the human milk. The pity of it is that so-called humanised milk is difficult to keep free from the presence of harmful bacteria. Milk is a fluid that bacteria love, and although great care is exercised in the milk depot here and in other towns, so that the milk when distributed is free from harmful contamination, yet in the houses of the people, especially in warm weather, such contamination is very apt to occur. The greatest care is, therefore, necessary in the storing of the milk delivered. Where the WELL-BEING OF BABIES is concerned, it is surely not asking too much that such care should be bestowed. I hardlv think that people realise sufficiently how dangerous a- thing contaminated' milk may be. Diarrhoea in babies, typhoid fever, and the awful white plague." tuberculosis, are commonly spread by this almost universal nourishment. I should like to see a much more rigid inspection of dairies, and far greater care bestowed upon the storage and delivery of milk than is at present the rule. No doubt boiling the milk makes it a safe beverage to use so far as bacterial infection is concerned, but boiling, or even scalding, milk docs rob it of some of its nourishing and health-giving properties. All other items in baby culture- advocated by this society, such as exercise, fresh air, mothering, condemnation of the dummy, the long-tube feeder, and binder, and so on, are founded on the teachings of Dame Nature, and aye calculated to give the child a good start in life, and a good equipment of resisting power for the battle of existence. The natural

RESISTING POWER OF OUR BODIES against parasitic organisms is our most important line of defence throughout life. Sooner or later this resisting power fails, the parasites overwhelm us, and then death closes the scene. Although there may be some exceptions, or apparent exceptions,' the general rule is that parasites flourish best on tissues that are enfeebled. Fruit trees, shrubs, flowering plants of all kinds, if planted in poor soil or placed in unsuitable surroundings, blight easily, and so it is with the human body. Thrush is a disease due to a fungus that grows in the mouths of delicate babies or weak or dying adulte. Thrush never grows on a healthy, resistant surface. Tubercle bacilli, also a kind of fungus responsible for _ consumption of lungs, bones, joints, brain, etc.. cannot grow on healthy resistant surfaces. Lower the vitality by injuries, lack of fresh air.. bad food, and all sorts of unhygienic follies, and then tubercle bacilli, ever present amongst us, ever ready to seize their opportunity, settle down in the human body, multiply in myriads, scorning the poor fight put up by the enfeebled tissues, and thus a crippling and death-producing disease runs riot. _ And the death toll is numbered by millions every year. Now we all recognise that the open-air life is the best treatment for tubercular infections. And how does this open-air life benefit our tubercular patients? Only by improving the natural resisting powers of the body, and by similar treatment the resisting power oPthc body to all diseases can be enormously increased.' This. OPEN-AIR TREATMENT OF DISEASES is a praiseworthy attempt at a return to a more natural life, and it should by this time have carried the conviction into the minds of the people that if it can cure, or help to cure, disease, surely it will help to prevent it. Habits are easily born, but dio hard. How slowly this love of fresh air as compared with a life of indoor comfort is gaining hold amongst us. Yet Nature has indicated so clearly that the human plant languishes, and becomes blight-stricken, if cultivated indoors. Many a time I have said to mothers in whose houses I have been attending, perhaps on sick children: "Why do you not pull up your blinds and let in the sunlight? Open your windows and let in the fresh air." Many a time the answer has come: "I should have my carpets and furniture faded and destroyed." Yet these people do not mean that they regard these things as of more importance than the health of their fading children. Of all foods necessary for our existence—that is to say, firstly, the ordinary things composed of or produced by living animals or plants; secondly, the salts of the earth;_ thirdly, water; and fourthly, air—there is only one which Nature permits us to take in unlimited quantities. I mean that there is only one article of diet which you cannot take too much of, which the more you have the more you want and the better you feel, and that one thing is FRESH r AtR. Hosts of people eat too much meat; hosts of people drink too much tea, or too much" whisky or beer; but I have yet to meet the person who took too much fresh air. I belief© we should be a healthier and happier people if our houses, instead of being elaborate arrangements for keeping out the wind and sunshine, were replaced by artistic shelter sheds, calculated) to keep off the rain and

let in the air. Outdoor life should bo encouraged in every way, and I think we ought all to support the Daylight Saving Bill that our Parliament will soon take j into consideration. Some housewives have | said to n:c: " We canont keep the windows open on account /of the dust." and I must admit that there is some rcueon in their argument. Town dust is undoubtedly a dirty, unpleasant, and harmful plague, j and I think- municipal authorities should j attack this dust problem in a whole-hearted i fashion. I have read that there is a satis- j factory mtvhod of coping with this dust ! problem by usinar a crude form of oil upon ! the streets. Of this - I feel certain : that j considerable expenditure in the way of dust prevention would be more than compensated to the ratepayers by increasing thfir comfort and diminishing; their sickness. In the meantime, however. I have frankly to admit that no fault can be found with those .housewives who close their windows during a dust storm; but when that dust storm is over the windows should be opened, and opened wide. Let me here refer briefly to the question of PURE WATER. Not only are bacterial diseases like typhoid, "choler?,, and dysentry spread _ by bad water, but in New Zealand—which, as you know, is a country largely devoted to the sheen industry—hydatid disease may be transmitted to man in this way. It is a parasitic disease, spread by the dog, and human beings get this disease from two sources—(l) by drinking water that has been contaminated by dogs; (2) by allowing dogs to lick the hands or faces, plates, dishes, etc. I have at different times spoken ?,nd written in considerable detail upon the subject of HYDATID PREVENTION, and I am not going to take up your time or weary you with any further reference to it, except on these two (points: —Never drink water that has not been through a fairly good filter, like a Pasteur or a Berkfeldt, and if there is no such filter available see that the water is boiled: Also keep dogs in their places, and that is outside of houses, and never allow dogs to lick the hands or face. In conclusion, let me summarise my remarks thus: —I have tried to direet your attention to the parasitic enemies that are seeking our injury or destruction on every hand. I have tried to indicate that it is in many ways possible to prevent these parasites gaining entrance to our bodies by care in regard to food, by keeping the mouth and teeth in a clean, wholesome condition, and by attention to general hygienic surroundings, and so on. When once these parasites have gained entrance, it may be possible to remove them by medical or surgical means, but the most important, the most valuable of our defences against the attacks of bacteria and other parasites lies in our own powers of resistance, and these can only be kept at their best by following on the lines of Nature, by living what I have tried to indicate as the natural life. Dr Truby King, speaking as general president of the society expressed the appreciation felt by members throughout the Dominion, not only of the patronage extended to the society by Lady Plunkot, but still more, their appreciation of the great sympathy and keen practical interest and personal help given by their Excellencies in pioneering and advocating the movement. It would be a pleasant memory at future annual meetings of the Dunedin Centre that his Excellency had honoured them by being present and had taken part in the proceedings on the eve of his departure from the Dominion. Referring to Dr Barnett's admirable address, the speaker said that the society had been very fortunate' in the two previous years, when important communications of wide public interest had been given by Professor Pickerill and Dr Batchelor. sen. Dr Barnett had placed the society under a further debt to the medical profession. It was interesting for members to note how, speaking as a high surgical authority, Dr Barnett had confirmed what had been conveyed to them previously from other points of view. To most of them, probably, the " surgical point of view " meant the point of view of blood and accidentssomething unavoidable visited on the victim by external violence or " the hand of God," to use the archaic phrase. But modern surgery was infinitelv extensive and progressive and nowadays the vast majority of a sursreo-n's patients owed their disabilities to defective conditions of the interior of the body, due to mperfect health and fitness_ of the ; tissues, just as obtained in medical invalids. Out of some 160 patients at present in the Dunedin Hospital the great, majority of the cases were surgical, and vet only 15 were due to accident—about 9 ner cent, of the admissions. This showed how very large a proportion of grave human diseases in the present day came under the broad heading "Preventible " —potentially preventable, that was to bv increasing the health and fitness of the tisues on the lines which Dr Barnett had suggested. The stupendous importance of a healthy state of the mouth, teeth, and nnse, the parts primarily concerned in the intake of food and air, and essential therefore to the proner nutrition and erowth of the_ tissues, which had to hold their own against the inroads of microbes, had been specially dwelt on bv Professor Pickerill two yeare ago. All that 0r Barnett had iust been saving went to extend and confirm this, and confirmed also in the most convincing way the jvaramount importance of what the socieW was doing in the direction of ensuring to mothers proper practical guidance in all matters concerning the rearing of offspring in a state r 4 health and resistiveness to disease. The safety of the orfranism depended nn the vitality—the defensive fitness—of the units of which it was com nosed. There could be no health if the verv ports of entrv for the supply of the body were _ blocked by adenoids or other obstructions—obstructions which themselves harboured the microbes bent on invading the organism. Enemies could not invade Australia from within—they must land, say, at Melbourne or Sydney; and, anplving this simile to the human body, microbes had to land and spread for the most part from the ports of mouth', nose, and throat. It was no exaggeration to sav that, from the point of view of the health of the whole organism, this was the most important r«erion of the bodv. and the res-ion that was showing most disastrous evidences of deterioration under the conditions of our modern civilisation. This might seem an exaggeration, but it was not" so. Dr Sim Wallace. a phvsioian and dentist who spoke with world-wide authority, had said recentlv: " This is not merely % dental Question, it is hot merely a medical question, it is not merely a national question,

but it is p'-obably iho :n«i imj oriant ol all questions anMtina the health and wellbeing of humanity throughout the length and "breadth of the civilised world. This wa= hot hyperbole, but sober truth, ana its relevance to what Dr Barnett had been saying, and to what the society was en-n-a°ed in carrving out. must be clear to all'of them. Dr Wallace scouted the idea that stunted jaws ?nd bad teeth were hereditary. He said that both were readily avoidable by attention to the primary needs and' laws of life—especially the proper moulding and building of jaws, teeth, and palate by giving the mouth and jaws, and later the teeth, plenty of work to do during infancy and early childhood. It was within the power of the mother to virtually create the jaws and teeth of her offering by attention to the general need of health and the special exercise required by the mouth. The spread and teaching of such knowledge as the mother most needed was the special mission of the society, and every member present must feel how much they owed to Dr Barnett for the clear, convincing, and comprehensive way in which he had brought the essential requirements of life before them. Dr King concluded by proposing a very hearty vote of thanks to Dr Barnett, which was carried by acclamation. The following office-bearers were elected:—President, Mrs Truby King; vicepresidents—Mrs J. M. Gallaway, Mrs Joachim, Mrs Moore; hon. treasurer, Mrs D. E. Theomin; hon. secretary, Mrs W. F. Edmond; hon. surgeon, Dr Barnett; committee— Mesdames James Allen, K. S. Ramsay, A. Jackson, J. Loudon, J. Ross, 0 W. Rattray, E. G. Edwards, Arundel, TV. Donald, F.' H. Carr, J. H. Hosking, A. M'Master, J. H. Walker, J. M. Ritchie, L. Harris, T. K. Sidey, Sydney Allan. W. Allan, Ansell, Adjutant Tweed, Sisters Ernestine and Eveleen, Misses Cole, Berwick, and Gow; hon. physicians to the Karitane Hospital—Dr® E. Williams. Russell, Ritchie, Sydney Allen, and S. Batchelor; hon. gynecologist, Dr F. C. Batehelor; analvists—Dr and Mrs Donald ; dental surgeon, Dr Pickerill; solicitor, Mr J. B. Callan, junr. The Primate, who proposed the re-elec-tion of Mrs Truby King as president, expressed' his entire sympathy with the society", and commended it to the support of the community. Speaking as a clergyman, he said it was an entire mistake to suppose that the church,, was only concerned with the spiritual needs of men. Christianity was, as all would bear hnr out, deeply concerned in all that appertained to" the individual in every respect.— (Applause.) The Hon. J. A. Millar, in an arprecratorv address, expressed his goodwill towards the Karitane Home ?s an institution, and generally to the work the society was doing. Mr Millar's remarks and also those of nrevious sneakers were heartily concurred 'in bv the Hon. J. T. Paul, who took a keen interest in the afternoon s proceedings.