MEDICAL TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.

White Ribbon, Volume 36, Issue 427, 18 February 1931, Page 5

MEDICAL TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.

Dear Sisters, Those of you w ho were present at the last Dominion Convention, will remember that the question w r as raised as to what was the best remedy to carry with one when likely to encounter such conditions as resulted in the Mount Cook Tragedy. I wrote, re the matter, to Lady (Victor) Horsley, our World’s Superintendent of the Medical Temperance Department, and this is her reply:— “In regard to the practical point you raisc'd as to what provision climbers can make against exposure to extreme cold. I wrote to Professor Dixon, F.R.S., M.D., Lecturer in Pharmacology and Assessor to the Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge, and Examiner in Pharmacology in the Universities of Oxford, Camb r idge and London. He says: ‘I talked the

matter over with Sir Frederick Hopkins (the discoverer of vitamines) and ho agrees with me that the most important food is Carbohydrate, that is to say, they must have an ample supply of starchy food; fats to any extent are undesirable. 4 As regards drink, water is, of course, far the best. !used to find that a little ginge* added to it eave it a relish and produced a feeling of warmth and comfort.” ‘Alcohol is, of course, utterly bad, as it dilates the superficial blood vessels, and the temperature of the

body falls with attendant evil results.” ‘The best form of carbohydrate is, of course, ordinary brown sugar. 1 am not suggesting that they should carry this with them, but it is prepared in palatable form, which they could easily carry. Chocolate is much less valuable than is usually supposed, as it is composed almost entirely of fat.’ ” I trust that all delegates, present at Convention, will make a point of securing an ample supply of literature to take back to their Unions for distribution. This is one of the things we can all do to forw’ard our work. Yours in “White Ribbon" bonds, CLARA M. NEAL, Dominion Supt. Medical Temperance Department. f> Park Crescent, Parnell, Auckland.