HOW TO BE HEALTHY

Evening Star, Issue 19783, 6 February 1928, Page 14

HOW TO BE HEALTHY

(By Sir Wm. Ariutthnot Lane, C. 8., L M. 8., E.R.C.S.]

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE

In spite of all that modern science has taught him, man lias the greatest difficulty in throwing off the idea that “ tlirfo score years and ton” spell the inelastic span of his life cycle. Yet he secs nothing to wonder at in the fact that a turtle should live for 210 years, an elephant over a century, and a dinosaur for 800 years. Science has over and over again shown that the life cycles of many living ■ organisms can be profoundly changed and considerably lengthened by its methods. Man is certainly included' in the range of these experiments. Aanong the most wonderful experiments of modern times are those of the distinguished French surgeon, Dr Alexis Carrel. Working in the .Rockefeller Institute in New York, ho successfully grew living tissues of the body upon microscopic slides. Keeping these at a suitable temperature, Dr Carrel fed them daily with some juice from a. living organ, washing them regularly so as to cleanse them of the waste products of digestion which the cells threw off after being fed. Under this" treatment the cells grew and nourished, multiplying in number and increasing in bulk. Any neglect of the regularity of the drainage of the cells was at once followed by a shrinkage in size and n reduction of vitality, finally ending in their death. For this and his other work, Dr_ Carrel received the Nobel prize, and it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of his work. Just as it is an acknowledged fact that cancer never yet affected a healthy organ, so is it equally true that a perfectly drained body, properly nourished, cannot possibly provide the breeding ground for disease. There is practically no end to the possibility of lengthening human life, and increasing its happiness and utility, by the application from childhood of these remarkable discoveries. PREVENTION IS BUTTER THAN CURE. It is most encouraging to notice the steady increase of public interest in the idea of periodical medical examination constantly advocated by the New Health Society. While there are only two assurance companies in England, so far as wo know, which give their policy holders the inestimable benefit of "free _ medical examination, yet its economic advantage to the companies is so obvious that it is a matter for astonishment that it has not been eagerly taken up. The experience of the greatest insurance company in the world, the Metropolitan Life Assurance Company of Now York, shows that truly wonderful results flow from the most careful attention to the health of its clients. By free nursing of the sick, health education for all, and periodic examination by medical experts, this company lias not only made a handsome profit on its expenditure, but has doubled the expectation of life of the policy holders so treated, compared with the longevity record of the general community. This is an achievement all the more remarkable when wo remember that the company includes amongst its policy holders a very substantial proportion of the American people. Incidentally, the effect of such a system upon the medical profession would he beneficial in the extreme. There arc not enough doctors in England to carry out anything approaching a national periodic health examination, and the specialists who would bo required to deal with defects and diseases would constitute a far larger number than those available. It is impossible to exaggerate the revolution in the people’s health that would result from the medical profession being applied to its real task, that of keeping the people in health, rather than waiting to treat them when illness has fallen upon them. A COMMON AND DANGEROUS COMPLAINT. By far tho greater number of letters I have received from readers of these articles relates to cases, of one of the commonest and most dangerous complaints. The best advice 1 can give is that the sufferers should procure a copy of an important work just published, ‘Chronic Constipation, 1 by J. Ellis Barker (John Murray). This book is a perfect mine of information on the subject, giving numerous authoritative opinions, and, what is of the greatest practical importance, very clear advice upon the treatment and cure of this distressing condition. The author was himself reduced to a pitiable physical condition by this very complaint, and with great strength of will and admirable faith in natural means effected a truly remarkable self-cure. lie gives other instances of a similar kind, showing the great hope of ultimate recovery that lies before even the most obstinate cases. There is probably no living authority who is not a medical man to whom greater knowledge of this subject can ho •ascribed, and Air Ellis Barker has the inestimable advantage of having the pen of a ready writer. CHRONIC COLDS AND THEIR EFFECT. Another group of correspondence may be summoned up in the complaint: “,While otherwise perfectly healthy, I am bothered every winter with- a chronic cold, which I cannot shako off. Tlkj rest of tho family suffer very much the same annoyance.” The expression, “ otherwise perfectly healthy,” is quite out of place in such a case. The condition described indicates a general lack of resistance of the body to infection by germs, often opening the way to fatal attacks of bronchitis and pneumonia, —(wo of the principal causes of death at all ages. The bacteria of colds and influenza attack ns all. We vary only in the quality of the _ resistance we set up to their invasion. Tho body fights the action of tho bacteria by manufacturing a. poison or anti-toxin which lulls the cold germs, and this antitoxin can only be produced in adequate amounts when the body is really healthy. Good resistance con only ho ensured by good nutrition, without which 'the human engine must run down or collapse. A good mixed diet containing fruit and vegetables hi quantity, wholemeal, cereals, and milk, and only moderate amounts of fish and meat is icleal for the purpose. This was proved up to the hilt by the experience of tho people of Denmark in tho war, when their forced adoption of such a simple diet caused tho death rate to fall to the lowest on record of all countries, and the influenza epidemic to have a negligible effect on the general mortality.