The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1913. THE WORLD'S HEALTH.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 39, 16 October 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1913. THE WORLD'S HEALTH.

(Statistics recently published make it umvelcomely evident that lunacy is 1 markedly increasing in New Zealand,,' and nun- the Inspector-General ol Lunacy in Victoria, after a visit to! Europe and America, has publicly) stated that latest statistics make itj appear that the numbers of insane are increasing all ever the world at aj tremendous rate. He suggests that!

to some, extent this increase is not what the figures make appeal', as, owing to better diagnosis and more elaborate care of mental disease, many people nowadays are described is insane who previously escaped offi•ial classification as such. While possibly thus accounts for some of the increase, hut for the whole of it other explanations have to be sought. That nodern life is much more strenuous md that greater tax i« put on the nontal part of the human machine, is indeniahle, and with this greater menal strain under which we live and rork it is not surprising to find that he percentage of breakdowns grows ;reuter year by year. It j s , however, ot altogether to this fact that the lcrease is to be attributed, and anther factor is given as the lengtl;ning of the average duration of life, 'hich affects the disease statistics in very remarkable manner, because isanity is most frequently developed fter middle age, and as the average •ngth of life increases, these cases

necessarily increase in proportion, so llml if there arc to-tiny more iinfortrnjalw afl'lictec] with insanity, it is

at least partly because some who, under less favorable physical health conditions died before their reason failed,' now live on possibly as inmates of our asylums. It is also claimed by those who have given careful attention to the subject in all its bearings, that a® the past-middle a>ie section raises its proportion to the whole community, tho.statistics which are thereby affected regard to cancer and lunacy arc affected favorably in regard to tuberculosis. That the physical health of the people is improving must be concluded from the lower mortality rates.