A CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL PURITY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2928, 14 November 1916, Page 10

A CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL PURITY

MADLY PERILS OF VEILED , DISEASES. "'Jo such a state a living man came, before death ended his suffering, and I think that after looking at this picture you will agree with mo that even from a health point of view immorality is not worth while." ' Thus spoke Dr. W. H. I'ettit, of tho New Zealand Medical Corps, in a lectf'rue on "Social Diseases" (delivered'in the Town Hall last evening). Men .'only were admitted, and there was a 'good attendance, including the Alinistcr of Public Health (Mr. G. W. Russell).

Dr. Pettit explained that his object was to point out the dangers of looso living. It was time that our policy of keeping men in ignorance of the awful consequences of loose living was abandoned. He was against a policy of silence about things that filled esrly graves, and number among their victims not only the sinners, but often the descendants of. tho sinners, too. The remedy, lie says, is education; ho is out to educate; and his lecture was indeed an education. It had been estimated, ho said, that ,last year that about. 1500 fresh cases of syphilis occurred in New Zealand, and (on a low estimate) about 7500 cases of gonorrhea. He warned his audience _ about the vicarious menace of syphilis. Great care, ho said, had to be exercised in drinking from public fountains, wash■ing in trains, and using any public convenience. One should wash only in running water, uso one's own towels, soap, and sponges. To say that medical science had so far mastered these diseases as to leave them things to he feared only by alarmists was a fallacy, unfortunately widespread. Tho Commission on Venereal Disease had found that 10 per cent, of the people of Great Britain wore affected by the disease, and what a problem the disease was in race preservation was shown b> the fact that 300 babies died in infancy every year in Australia as a result of inherited syphilis. Over 50 per cent, of the cases of imbecility and epilepsy in children were traceable to syphilis. One of the most far-reach-ing effects was on the brain power of tho child.

The lecturer, whose remarks -were frequently applauded, made an earnest appeal to his audience to preach the gospel of clean living far and wide, and so assist in. tho campaign of purefication and the war on these hideous veiled diseases. ,