THE GROWING BODY

Southland Times, Issue 21662, 26 March 1932, Page 6

THE GROWING BODY

UNDERSTANDING URGED SURGEON’S INTERESTING ADDRESS IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION An address full of interest to parents and teachers was delivered at the annual conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute on Thursday afternoon by Mr Renfrew White, the famous surgeon and author of the work "The Growing Body: Its Nature, Needs and Training.” Besides members of the institute, there was a large attendance of the outside public. At the conclusion of his address Mr White was accorded a vote of thanks by acclamation. Mr White said he belonged to two professions and claimed the privileges of both. He was both a doctor and a teacher. What had made him become a teacher? He had witnessed the human body in all stages, in health and ill-health. He was always interested in and studied the work of the body. He wished to speak as a hygienist, who had studied the work ofthe body, its ideal needs of to-day, what thwarted them and the training of the body to the highest point of skill for those purposes. In other words, its fundamental work and skilled work.

A point he wished to deal with, said the speaker, was the needs of the body and what fulfilled and what thwarted them. In regard to health, civilized people were fortunate in many ways. They had conquered many diseases known to primitive peoples, which in those days had swept communities away by the million. They were reaping the reward of the work of many men and, what there was a tendency to forget, the work of the Health Department and its officers in regard to sanitation and the work of the local bodies. This had been made possible by Parliamentary enactment. But there were enemies, who had tradition supporting them. They -Were social customs and educational customs. Education of the people was required to reduce the amount of human suffering in civilized lands. They had only to look around to see the numerous lives ruined by ill-health, chronic illness and premature death. People were graduating into illhealth every day. They only had to look at the hospital statistics of the country or take the financial point of view to realize the amount’ it was costing civilized countries to bring people back from ill-health. He could see no other place for hygiene than in the school. Fortunately they were living in an age when many discoveries were being made and if they used the weapons put in their hands miracles would almost happen. Importance of Diet. Mr White went on to say the body needed to be fed rightly, to be given the correct chemical elements from outside, in the correct proportions and in the correct form. Mothers frequently said they knew better than anyone what their children needed. A lot of that was instinctive. He meant the thought, not the knowledge. A child needed oxygen through the lungs and fats and carbo-hydrates through the stomach. He did not know that he could say to-day with impunity what he could have said three years ago —that no child in the country lacked these things. A few years ago a superabundance of these was taken into every body with a neglect of the disease resisting foods. It meant changing the dietetic habits of the people. It was in the teachers’ hands. Continuing, the speaker said there was no more important question for people than the question of the teeth and the teeth in relationship to health. Of all cviilized people they had the greatest need to look after their teeth. Did they not think it was monstrous that nature placed such beauiful organs in their mouths and six months after they- allowed them to be progressively eaten away till only hollicles remained. He desired to praise the efforts of the dental profession, the members of which were trying to keep pace with this trouble.

The bodies of children needed stimulation and protection, said Mr White. There again the maternal instinct overdid the good and so did harm. There was too much protection and too little stimulation. Until a few years ago doctors had been on the wrong track. No matter what accumulation of carbon dioxide there was in the air it did no harm in any building they were in. They had to get rid of the heat generated in the body. The great lesson for those who had to deal with children was the importance of atmospheric conditions to get rid of heat. Bone grew only when it was asked to grow. The body was plastic under the conditions of life, but never so plastic as when asked to grow. What caused boys and girls, and particularly girls, of secondary school age not to have as much exercise as they should by reason of their sitting at the piano for hours and sitting at study for hours, was the pressure of examinations. If he were a teacher he would exercise the children to make them warm, have as many windows as possible in the room and keep them as wide open as possible. Then they would keep warm. That was nature’s way. The speaker then went on to deal with the prevention of disease. He said he wished to speak particularly of those diseases which produced life-long disabilities. The problem was to protect the children against bacterial invasion. He was of the opinion that every teacher or child suffering from a cold should be as rigorously excluded from the schoolroom as if they were suffering from a malignant disease. Fuller Understanding Urged. Mr White concluded his address by saying his plea was for the fullest understanding of the needs of the growing body on the part of ■ teachers. They occupied a peculiar position in life. He had examined the pupils in one school situated in a district eminently suitable for turning out healthy children. The posture of the children in that school was _ irrevocably ruined. No amount of training would correct it. When he saw the children’s teeth he told them to have the teeth extracted as soon as possible in favour of artificial teeth, but that was surely a poor ideal for their children. No engineer would build a machine and then misuse it, but that was precisely what they were doing. Parts of the body wore out; they had to accept that. That was part of the game of life, but he desired to stress the terrible harm of the premature wearing out of parts. On the motion of Mr C. A. Lawless, Mr White was accorded a vote of thanks.