Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 27, 3 July 1902, Page 17

Notes

Pernicious Literature. Modern education (so called) has brought into existence a mass of literature of the most perniciou9 kind, and it is the duty of those who have oontrol of the young to exercise vigilance lest the youthful minds should be polluted and degenerated by its influence. Every week there pours from the pre^a a weak, washy, flood of trash which is dignified by the name of notion, but which is designedly written to stimulate the baser passions of its readera, and Buds a ready market among those who have been taught to read, but have not been taught to think. It thus comes about that the tone generally of literary thought and effort exhibits a marked decadence and that form and style no longer display the polish and excellence of the older writers. This indicates that the great army of readers swallow their food at a gulp, and that without masticating it It would be bad enough were the diet wholesome ; it is often ruinous to the moral digestion. The mere ' gutter ' literature of the • penny dreadful ' olass, is, of course, beneath contempt, though there is too much reason to fear that its circulation among boys is greater than might be expected. The books are not prurient, it is true, which is about the only virtue they possess, but the adventures with which they deal are so exaggerated, the language so bombastic, and the sympathy with lawlessness so marked, that they may be likened in their effects upon the moral health of the young, to some disease in its operation upon the physical system. Their low prioe, their gaudy external appearanc3, their public display in shop windows, particularly reoommend them to young lads, who are thus insensibly taught that to be lawless is admissible if only the law breaker be courageous. * The catalogue of every public library, no less than the records of those which are ' circulating,' prove that fiction constitutes the bulk of the literary pabulum of their patrons. Some of the fiction is merely inane, and perhaps does no greater harm than waste the time and enfeeble the intellect of its readers. These attributes are sufficient to condemn it, but they do not lead to the active practice of vice, exoept as a remote conaequenca. What are more terrible and more directly incentive to vicious thoughts are the books which, under cover of elucidating some social question, abound in details which poison ten for every one who is instructed. There are some newspapers, even, which profess to castigate vice, yet seem to take a delight in describing it. Everyone cannot touch pitch and remain undented. The bad seed may germinate even in the purest of minds. If it be said that current fiction reflects the mental fashion of the hour, and that history records the recurrence of healthy reactions, we muat remember that the literature of the day is contemporaneous wdh an almost universal ability to read. It was not so when the masters produced their works. When Sir Walter Soott poured fourth his series of romances, and Dickens and Thackeray took the reading world by stirm, the circle of readers was limited to a class which miy be said to have inherited the influence of education, and brought to its reading elevation of thought and purity of taste. Bub the readers of the literature of to-day have just come into the acquisition of a new sense, which they have not yet laarnsd to employ to advantage. It needs guidance in the same sense that a child who is just learning to prattle B hould be guarded from the influence of improper conversation. Parents and guardians of the young shauld exercise the same caution about the mental as about the physical food or about the clothing. Much greater care should indeed be exercised with respect to the former, aa neglect of the one may merely injure the body, while supineness about the ochar may work inconceivable mental harm and even imperil the soul. Tuberculosis. The paper on the diseases of stock read by Mr Gilruth, Government veterinary expert, at the Dunedin Agricultural Conference, is not very pleasant reading. The authority of the speaker is not open to reasonable question. Among the earliest, if not quite so, of the experts selecfel by the Agricultural department when it was galvanised into activity by the late Sir John M'Kenzie, he has not only enjoyed an extensive practice in the Colony, but has more recently paid an extended visit to Europe to make himself acquainted with the latest points in bacteriology. It may therefore be reasonably inferred that Mr Gilruth knows what he is talking about, and when he declares that one cow in every ten supplying milk for human consumption, and one bullojk or heifer of from three to five years of age in every t arenty, are suffering more or less from tuberculosis, the most dreaded of all diseases in civilised communities, the statement is an alarming one. Without going into the question, yet unsettled by scientific men, whether the germ of bovine tuberculosis, or consumption, finds a congenial ' host ' in the

human body, Mr Gilruth advances the opinion that it is the more virulent, but he does not pursue this branoh of the subject further than by detailing the methods that may be adopted to check its ravages. It is to these methods that the public must look for protection, which must be strenuously sought. Even though the heroic Bacrifice now being made by that French doctor, who has been inoculated with tuberculosis bovine serum, to test the question of oommunicability be happily decided in the negative, the public will not view with equanimity the consumption of milk or flesh from tuberculous animals, and there should therefore ensue that p&blic pressure whose absence Mr Gilruth deplores in another part of his paper. Indeed, it would seem that the efforts of the department should be mainly directed for some time to come to the propagation of preventive information among the people. The Colony, while happily yet free from the scourges that periodically decimate flocks and herds in other parts of the world, nevertheless possesses an extensive list of diseases, many of which are inimical to mankind, yet are all susceptible of mitigation by preventive measures. * With respect to tuberculosis, Mr Gilruth repeats from hie report of 1893 a short list of precautions that should be given the widest publicity. We therefore reprint them :— l. There Bhould be a periodic examination of all cows supplying milk for human consumption. 2. The tuberculin test should only be applied where isolation of the reacting animals is possible, or where it is necessary to awist in diagnosis of doubtful cases. 3. Compulsory notification to the district stock inspector of any disease of the udder in miloh cows. 4. Pasteurisation of milk in factories. 5. Inspection of meat. Some of these recommendations have been carried into effect yet much remains to be done, and to effect this Mr Gilruth recommends, besides periodic and complete inspection, the co operation of farmers themselves, and notification to the nearest inspector of any case of disease immediately when observed. The state pays half value in compensation for diseased animals which it destroys, and ' there is no reason why such co-operation should not be the rale the more especially when it is considered the result is probably more beneficial, at least financially, to the individual himself than to the community. 1 Mr. Seddon in South Africa. Mr Seddon's meteoric flight through South Africa is not without its humorous aspects. Our Premier has not hitherto been credited with the ability to impart the saving salt of humor to his utterances and actions. He may, indeed, be endowed with humor of that description that exults over a discomfited antagonist, but that he is ever disposed to look on the funny side of things those who know him best would be the last to suggest. For example, it never seems to have occurred to Mr Seddon that there was something irresistibly comic in the circumstance that it should fall to the lot| of Mr Hutoheson, formerly M.H.R. for Patea, to officially welcome him to Johannesburg, and to deliver the conventional laudation upon the distinguished guest. The chairman glided gingerly over the thin ice in referring to his acquaintance with Mr. Seddon in hia capacity as Premier of New Zaaland. Nor is there absent an element of humor in the fact that Mr Seddon's reply to the address presented to him was ruthlessly expunged by the Press censor. Neither does our Premier's reply to the toast of the evening (himBelf) appear in the reports of the gathering, to that Mr Seddon suffered ignoininiously from the double extinguisher. In Cape Town, however, Mr Seddon was more fortunate. There he was fully reported, but this again leads to the highly humorous conviction that it would not have detracted from hia reputation if the press censor had again intervened. He was very insistent upon the necessity of the British acquisition of the Delagoa Bay territory. Now, Delagoa Bay happens to belong to Portugal, one of the weakest powers in Europe. That country is largely indebted to Britain for the unpaid balance of the cost of the Peninsula War. During the recent South African War Delagoa Bay was a veritable thorn in the British, side, for by that channel were conveyed supplies that enabled the Boers to prolong the contest. Mr Seddon Beems to have imagined that the importance of Delago& Bay had esoaped the notice of British statesmen. The merest tyro in history should know that the possession of Delagoa Bay has been the subject of intrigue and negotiation for many years. It involves great international considerations in which its nominal owner, Portugal, has very little to say. All that Britain has been able to Beoure is an undertaking that if the territory is to be alienated she shall have the option of refusal. Its acquisition may now come more easily since the Boera have succumbed, but to point out what has been perfectly obvious for many years was certainly superfluous on Mr Seddon's part.