THE GERM OF LAZINESS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9644, 20 January 1903, Page 3

THE GERM OF LAZINESS.

« We have all along suspected that laziness was a disease, not a, vice. It is true that m. our youth unsympathetic parents persisted m treating disinclination to work as «, mere moral failing and spanked us with slippers or cuffed our ears. It Is also true that this treatment was generally effective. But the fact remains that laziness .is a. disease, or, at least, a symptom of a- disease. In a paper read last* month at a conference m Washington, Dr. Stiles, zoologist to the United SUites Agricultural Department, announced that he had discovered the germ of laziness. The announcement, as a correspondent almost ne.edle.ssly informs us, ha.s given, rise to much discussion among scientific men. Dr. Stiles says that his deductions were drawn from the study of a hirge number of cases, extending over a considerable period of time. He has by methods been able to determine what it is that causes laziness, m mild o) Aggravated form, to take possession of the souls of men. and cause them to shun all fortns of mental or physical exertion. Dr Stiles is regarded m his own country 1 as a successfid investigator and a careful ' scientist, and his announcement has been ; taken quite seriously. For instance, Mi L. E. Johnson, chief of a great Wash- ! ingtun Hospital, declares that he has n< doubt about the accuracy of Dr. .Stiles ' deduclidius. "He has demonstrated con ' clusively," says Mr Johnson, "the canst " of existing conditions among the peopli of the. section m which investigations wen 5 conducted, and laid before the medicii. profession proof that cannot be disputed He has thrown a new light upon a previously obscure question. Dr- Stiles i: • noted for his patience, which is essentia - to successful scientific research. He neve - submits a report on any investigation mi til he knows he is right, and the iuvesti i gator who follows such i\ policy is usual!; s endorsed by those who take up this lin of study."* Having found the germ o laziness, science will now have to eontini b the discovery, and then the next step wil t be to find a. "cure. Will it be sufficient ten years hence, for tho lazy man to gu rt himself inoculated, or will he have t U undergo a course of baths and mixtures - And what will be the position of th schoolboy whose home lessons are nn done? Will he be able to plead sickness . And if the schoolmaster proposes to trai r with leather or cane, will the youth b justified m objecting to the interfereiic of an unregistered, practitioner? Furtlu n news from Dr. Stiles, of Washington, g anxiously awaited, for his discovery pn n mises to' be one of the most moinentoi n of the century.— Lyttellon Times.