SOCIAL DISEASES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 867, 20 November 1916, Page 4

SOCIAL DISEASES.

DR MAUD FERE'S LECTURE. On Saturday evening a large number of women and girls assembled in the Colosseum for Dr Maud Fere's lecture on "Social Diseases." The Mayoress, Mrs IT. Holland, presided, and in a little introductory speech referred to the serious menace of these diseases, and the importance of lectures such as the one Dr Fere was about to give. The men fighting in the trenches at the present time were heroes, and the women who were giving the benefit of their scientific knowledge in fighting diseases were equally heroines. She had much pleasure in introducing Dr Maud Fere, who had recently come to Christehureh from a period of study abroad, and she was sure the audience would listen with great interest and attention to what she had to sav.

Dr Fere commenced by comparing the J subject of her lecture with a devastat- | ing dragon with two heads —syphilis and j gonorrhoea. She described how the disj ease might be transmitted to perfectly i innocent persons. By even taking hold | of a door handle, previously touched by I an infected person, the disease might be j passed on. Although the germs could not pass through the skin, abrasions or j mucous membrane furnished them with a foothold. She detailed the symptoms I of the diseases, and explained how they | carried in their wake what were known ! as sequels, such as paralysis, insanity, ' deafness, blindness, etc.. Although a j man might he cured of syphiiis or gonorI rhoea, no guarantee could be given him against the appearance of these sequels. Sometimes they appeared as long aft^r |as 40 years. The lecturer stressed the I terrible consequences of venereal dis- ; eases, and how they might affect genera- ! tions to come, and urged that the medii cal profession, hospital wards, clergy - i men, women's societies, in fact, all welIfare organisations, should band together and throw the might of their influence against them, "for otherwise," she said, "whether we win the war or not. the race is doomed." She stated that there were very few households in this country where at least one member had not suffered from either of these diseases. i This, of course, was a very serious stateI ment to make, hut from experience and investigation she was satisfied as to its correctness. The first thing to do as regards stamping it out was to put on the statutes a Bill for compulsory noti- : fixation. Then the country would begin I to know where it stood in this matter. j People about to marry should also be required by law to produce certificates of physical fitness. Frequently a patient, a present or past victim of one of these diseases, went to a doctor for treatment for a "sequel" illness. The absence of compulsory notification made the case very difficult for the doctor. If lie told the patient what at once became evident to him—the fact that he was, or had been, syphilitic—the patient was annoyed, and probably went somewhere else. Doctors could not afford to quarrel with their patients. So they just had to do their best for them, aud treat them for the ' 'sequel'' illness, without reference to the origin of it. If the clergy preached health from their pulpits they might offend their congregations. Compulsory notification would bring these diseases out of the obscurity in which they had flourished for so long, and render them easier to deal with. Dr Fere went into considerable detail about ordinary precautions of health and hygiene, the drugs used in curing social diseases, aud the influence of physical fitness and training as a combating influence against the monster of immorality. Parents should explain to their children in a sane and reverent manner, the mysteries of sex, and in this way elementary biology and botany would be of great use. Sex instincts wore not wrong, but in their abuse lay countless dangers.

A voto ot' thanks to I)r Fere conelutle< the lecture.