Snarls Northern Smiles Smoke-room and Stories

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 24, 17 June 1893, Page 562

Snarls Northern Smiles Smoke-room and Stories

There are times, gentlemen,’ observed the The Prolific B prolific parent, * when the family man is aren on sore ]y t em pt e d t o a< jd •< thank goodness !” to Measles. t^e poet’s dictum as to there being “no place like home.” Times, gentlemen, like the present, when the price of coals is “ np ” and the children are “ down ” with the measles ; when the first born climbs out of the sickroom window to run off to football, and the last born lets you know how decidedly unpleasant he is finding the initial stages of “teething” The measles, I take it, ought not to give much cause for anxiety. The death rate even in London hospitals is only about six per cent,, and here amid more healthy surroundings, and where children are better nurtured and fed, it must be even less. I hope,’ he added, gazing round, * none of you are nervous of infection. Five of mine have it, and two are sickening, but it's only a children’s disease, you know.’ ‘That’s where vou are wrong, my friend,’ The Professor , , • , broke in the Professor, gloomily. * I don t Correcteth gU pp Ose y OU know the extent of your criminH ' m ’ ality in coming here to-night. Measles is not a disease peculiar to children, though it is generally supposed to be so. The only reason adults are not often attacked is because they have usually had it as children. Those who have not had it early in life are every bit as susceptible to the disease as children. ‘ Perhaps,’ he went on, ‘ you have not heard Famous of the Faroe Islands case—on the coast or Measles Denmark, you know. In the year of grace Epidemic, there had not been a case of measles on the islands since 1781. On the 20th of March, 1846, a man embarked for the islands from Copenhagen. He landed at the fishing hamlet of Thorshaven on the 28th, sickening for the measles. There were, at that time, 7,782 persons living on the islands, and in the ensuing six months 6,000 of these took the disease, the mortality being shockingly severe. In Fiji, too, in 1875, the contagion was terrible, elderly and middle-aged people taking the disease just as freely as the youngsters. In this case the mortality was frightful, owing to the ignorance of the natives, who plunged intothe watertoget coolwhen suffering from thefever. Little, as far as I have read, appears to be known of the nature of the infecting agent. It is a bacilli, of course —we scarcely need to be told that about anything nowadays— but there is no known way of exterminating the “crittur.” Measles, moreover, as such is, comparatively speaking, a new disease, though it was known in the 10th century as a variety of smallpox, and after the non identity of these diseases was established measles and scarlet fever continued to be confounded. It is a moot point whether a third party can carry the infection. Doctors differ, but the majority,’ with a rather gloomy glare at the prolific parent, ‘ declare that most certainly the third party does.’

* Since we are on the subjects of health and The Ordinary disease,’quoth the ordinary man, ‘have any of Man Starts . > i . .. , „ you come across the pamphlet on “Longevity, Longevity r £ aaac Holden, the old gentlemen recentTheories. |y baroneted, and who, according to the daily papers, still walked his seven miles a day, wet or fine, in his eighty-seventh year ? Anotherof histheoriesbesidesexercise is on diet. He has, he says, never varied in weight more than a few pounds since he arrived at maturity. He kept his weight down to Brt 61bs, or thereabouts. If he gets heavier he cuts off supplies ; if lighter, he eats a little more. He eats without drinking, and recommends it, the advantage being, he says, that you eat less. It takes you longer to eat, and you get bothered with it, and want to get away. For months at a time he lives on nothing but fruit—cooked apples, raw bananas, oranges, and grapes. Meat is necessary in very small quantities under certain conditions, but fruit is best. To this diet he attributes his long life and robust health at his advanced age. Possibly lie is right—probably, indeed—but how about other cases, isolated

perhaps, but still cases where men equally old and equally vigorous have lived on the ordinary meat diet? Mr Holden has a brother living here in Auckland. He is also in the eighties, and as hale and strong as possible. Is it not possible that the Holdens are a long-lived stock, and that the new baronet would have been just as hearty as he I is now without the Spartan diet to which he has subjected himself, and the various other precautions dealt with in his pamphlet ? He Objects to * don’t consider myself a gourmand, and I would make things very unhealthy for anyand Doubteth fa J J J one who insinuated I was a glutton, but I Spartan Diet. confess to enjoying my dinner and my malt with it. A glass of grog cometh not amiss in the evening, nor a pipe with it. I take this regularly, and I feel as strong as possible, and as sound as a bell. The prohibitionist will probably tell of awful deaths from drink, undoubtedly from excess, and I could instance deaths from over eating, but I certainly maintain that for every teetotal octogenarian there is another who has partaken in moderation of the balm of Gilead in its various form. A respected relative of mine drank his bottle of port every night of his existence (after maturity), lived in full enjoyment of his faculties and life till his 90th year, when he died very comfortably, during a post prandial nap, in his armchair.’ The prohibitionist moved in his chair. ‘ Keep quiet,’ said the ordinary man, * your turn is presently. You were going to say he might have lived a few more years had he gone without his port. Personally I don’t think it, but even if you are right, I think he had the best of it.’ T 1 „ L . ‘Like the old-fashioned preacher,’ said the The Prohi- ... prohibitionist, ‘ I shall answer the ordinary man’s arguments in the form of firstly, Speaks. secondly, and thirdly. Firstly, then, no solid argument can be built up on the evidence of a few admittedly exceptional cases. The data available is too meagre to warrant any sweeping conclusion on the question as to whether abstinence or non abstinence is most conducive to longevity. It is impossible to form a sound judgment by simply calling attention to the fact that thi. or that man lived to a good old age, with or without drink as the case may be. Quite a host of facts have to be taken into account, some referring to himself, some to his ancestry, and some to his environment, before any intelligent opinion can be formed as to the cause of his long life and the probability of its further extension. Secondly, the way to deal with this question is, in my opinion, to ascertain the nature of alcohol and its effects on the human system. I believe that medical science is now clear in teaching that alcohol is not a food ; that a healthy person is better without it ; and, that, admitting the possibility of its usefulness in certain cases of disease, its value as a healer is not high. On this last point, the experience of the London Temperance Hospital is apposite. The report rendered on March 23rd, 1893, showed that during nineteen years, only in fifteen cases out of over 8,000 treated had alcohol been used in any form ; and everybody knows, or should know, how singularly successful that hospital has been throughout its history.

‘ Thirdly,’ continued the prohibitionist, • the Insurance w ’ experience of all Insurance Societies, which Societies , , insure the lives of abstainers and nonSupport his a Dstainers separately, proves conclusively the Theories. advantages possessed by the former. The time was when societies would not insure the lives of abstainers without loading them because of their abstinence. They were regarded as ‘ bad ’ lives. The boot is now on the other foot, so to speak. They are eagerly welcomed into any of the societies, and if we ask what has wrought the striking change, the answer is, facts, hard facts. We are all aware that Insurance Societies are not conducted on sentimental, but business principles. And yet the unvarying testimony of all such societies, from the oldest to the youngest, which have a dual membership, is that abstinence from the use of alcohol undoubtedly lengthens the human life. Passing by hosts of figures which could be adduced to prove my contention I will conclude with the mention of one fact. As the result of an investigation, made .by the British Medical Association, into the habits of life of a number of people who were over 80 years of age, it was found that 36 per cent, were total abstainers. Considering how small a portion of the community are abstainers, and the compara-

tive youthfulness of the temperance cause, this is a remarkable result.’ ... * Perhaps you fellows didn’t know I was a reSir Isaac . ' lative of the new old baronet,' he began, ‘ but Holden's . , since I am, aud since the ordinary man has Relative suggested that constitution and not Spartan Speaks. diet probably accounts for Sir Isaac Holden’s age, I should also like to chip in. The question’was asked what course is pursued by Mr George Holden, of Auckland, who, like his brother, is in the eighties ? I can answer that. He has never confined himself to any kind of diet, and, so far as one can judge, stands quite as good a chance as the “ dietist ”of reaching a patriarchal age. He has lived in a good many parts of the world, and has always eaten and drunk of what was going. Tea he takes in strict moderation, one cup only a day, and his inclinations do not lie in the direction of much butchei’s meat. He is, by the way, a heavy smoker, and is not a total abstainer.’ The Ordinary * bought so. I felt morally certain of it,’ interrupted the ordinary man. ‘lt is constiMan Again. r, , tution. Fads, dieting fads, there are of every sort, and so long as a man has a good constitution he can do anything, and live on anything in reason. Your vegetarian is happy and healthy (he seldom looks it, though) on his haricot steak and maize meal porridge, and insists, therefore, that other people cannot be properly healthy or happy without a purely vegetable diet. What puerile nonsense ! The Esquimaux live entirely on blubber. Vegetables are unknown to them, and they are perfectly healthy and happy. My friend the prohibitionist probably thinks tea and buns are ideal diet, but I prefer beef steak and onions aud bottled stout. It’s all a matter of personal ..taste, personal temperament, and the individual idiosyncrasies of the digestion. One man is healthier on fruit, another on meat, but it is absurd to maintain that either one diet or the other universally adopted would have universally favourable or even moderately favourable results.’ TheNewChum There was a brief silence broken by the Newon insomnia Chum > who observed: ‘I agree with our Cures friend the ordinary man, that there’s truth in the old adage of one man's food being another’s poison. It is the same in everything else. Look at patent medicines. What apparently cures one man has no effect on ninety-nine of his fellow creatures. Nor is this only the case with the patent medicines. The ordinary medical treatment of some malady may succeed in five cases only to utterly fail in the sixth. I suffer from insomnia. I have tried some half-dozen treatments ; I have gone to bed after cold baths and after hot baths ; in fact, I have followed the advice of half-a-dozen famous medical men without success, and have experimented on methods that have undoubtedly cured hundreds of others, but which fail with me. Some day I shall discover the thing that will cure that organization, and make other sufferers unhappy by insisting on their attempting it, probably uselessly.’ The Doctor G oing to bed with a well-filled stomach is,’ said the ‘ Doctor, the essential pre-requisite on Food and . . . of refreshing slumber. The cautions so Sleep. often reiterated in old medical journals against late suppers were chiefly directed to the bibulous habits of those early times. When at late feasts the guests not unseidom drank themselves under the table, or needed strong assistance to reach their couches, the canon against such indulgence was not untimely. Nature and common sense teach us that a full stomach is essential to quiet repose. Every man who has found it difficult to keep awake after a hearty dinner has answered the problem for himself. There are few animals that can be trained to rest until after they are fed. Man, as he comes into the world, presents a condition it would be well for him to follow in all his after life. _. _ ‘ The sweetest minstrel ever sent out of The Cause or paradise cannot sing a newly-born child to Infant Squalls sleep on an empty stomach. The little stomach of the sleeping child as it becomes Slumbers, gradually empty, folds on itself in plaits ; two of these make it restless ; three will open its eyes, but by careful soothing these may be closed again ; four plaits and the charm is broken ; there is no more sleep in that household until that child has been fed. It seems to us so strange that, with this example before their eyes, full-grown men are so slow to learn the lesson. The farmer does it for his pig, who would squeal all night if it were not fed at the last moment, and the groom knows that his horse will paw in his stall until he has had his meal. But when he wishes to sleep himself he never seems to think of it.

Note.—! lie Editor tenders his thanks to those who took part in the discussion. Two gentlemen desire to preserve their incognito. The Doctor is not an Aucklander, but a prolific writer on medical subjects. Mr Field took the role of prohibitionist, and Mr Holden spoke of his relative.