"SOBBING SICKNESS"

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 127, 31 May 1919, Page 13

"SOBBING SICKNESS"

NERVOUSNESS AFTER WAR WHY WAR DOES NOT PAY? Mr. Julian Graude, correspondent of the New York Times at Berne, Switzerland, refers to the general disturbance of the nervous system of the people in both Austria and Germany as one of the aftereffects of,war. Sleeplessness is rampant and extreme nervousness is general. In Austria, for instance, the people are suffering from what may be called a sobbing sickness, which is the result primarily of nervousness. Both men and women suddenly begin to sob, and. very often continue sobbing even in their sleep. Some doctors seem to think this malady is due to unwholesome food, which causes stomach dilatation; others attribute it to nervousness alone. In some cases this nervousness has become so acute that people have attacks in the night, not unlike an epileptic fit. The sufferer begins by feeling a choking sensation, then cries out, and finally becomes quite unconscious, very often remaining so for twenty minutes or even half an hour, after.which he falls into a deep sleep. Afterwards he remembers nothing whatever about what has happened to him. The result of this sobbing sickness and these attacks is, of course, still further to weaken a people already very greatly enfeebled. RELIGION'S LOST INFLUENCE. Another effect of the prevailing nervousness is naturally to make people far more"irritable than usual; and the physical weakness, combined with the overwrought state of their nerves also makes them disinclined for effort or exertion. Religion, it is significant, seems to havo lost all influence over . them. Not only have adults become careless or indifferent as regards morality, as is proved by the grave increases of certain diseases, with which the medical authorities no longer know how to cope, but the condition of the children in the cities and towns, particularly of Austria, is distressing beyond words. For example, the number of offences against the law committed by children and young persons under 18 in Vienna alone was in 1913, 7885, but in 1917 14,029 —a nearly 78 per cent, increase. And now it is scarcely possible to keep count of the number of thefts and other misdemeanours of which even young children are guilty Again, the children often cannot be made to attend school, and- the youths cannot be induced to do any work. The children play truant for days and weeks together, and the youths leave their work for any trivial reason or none* Children and young people are constantly quarrelling until they come to blows; they have no respect for tlieir i teachers, parents, or elders; they insult and abuse older persons, and even spit at them sometimes and threaten them .with violence. Thieving, however, is the commonest offence. Some children no doubt steal because they are hungry, but this is not always the motive, and at piesent in Vienna there is an epidemic of thieving as well as of nervousness, and I there are even organised gangs of child thieves in the Austrian capital. | "The other day Dr. Waitz, Roman Catholic Bishop of Innsbruck (who, by the way, used to be the spiritual adviser' of the former Austrian Emperor), told me," Mr. Graude continues, "that the English and Americans 'ought to- send troops to Vienna, but in my view it is l either medical missionaries who aro .needed, and owing to the present extreme prevalence of disease in the Austrian capital I should be very sorry indeed for any of our trops to be sent thither." HEAVY INFANT MORTALITY. In Poland nervousness and nervous piostra-tion have become so appalling that vory few mothers give birth to children capable of surviving. Thus, at the maternity hospital of Lemberg in two months only one infant survived out of ninety-one born, and people are daily perishing from hunger. This interesting eld city with its cathedrals and university, has now become forlorn and desolate, and what is true of it is true of the rest of Poland and Austria. To add to the scourges of nervousness and sobbing sicknoss, infantile scurvy, caused by bad it':'t, is greatly increasing among youn^ .Siildren in Austria. Even those who are supposed to be free from any specific disease have as a result of nervous strain, sobbing sickness, and underfeeding, lost weight. Adults, for instance, have lost from 22 to 44 pounds; occasionally as much as 80 pounds. Children of one year admitted to one of the leading Viennese children's hospitals in 1918 weighed on an average 9£ pounds too little in the case of boys and 6J pounds too little in the - case of girls. What the future generation will be no one dares to think. ■ ■■ ■ The unprofitableness of war, which is one of the main contentions of. Professor Nicolai's " Biology of War"—that war does not pay—is assuredly appearing with only too painful clearness to every dweller in the heart of Europe to-day. { Most painful of all, however', is the way lin which his contention that war1 is | morally deteriorating is being borne out | and its truth proved over and over again. "War, in-short, has ceased to be a payings concern," he says. " War has no beneficial effects on national well-being. It neither raises a nation's standard of ' civilisation ■ nor uplifts na- ] tional sentiment. In other words, as the ! Psalmist puts it, ' He hath scattered the i people that delight in war.'", i * —-—___: ._: '