LIGHT IS FOOD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 408, 17 July 1928, Page 8

LIGHT IS FOOD

World Sees Value of Sun’s Rays

AS tlie glow-worm lives out all its life in an orgy of light , science lias suggested tlie possibility of perpetual summer —the enjoyment of tlie solar ray for the whole circuit of the calendar year. The health authorities in New Zealand have not questioned the stimulating potentialities oi artificial sunlight, but have declared it to be a luxury in existing conditions. In this Dominion, as elsewhere, however, the voice of progress is making itself heard.

The seasoned Aucklander requires no word of warning against overexposure in the cruel swelter of the noon-day sun, and one mid-January day at the open beach provides a convincing lesson for the indiscreet sunbather. Conversely, one season of judicious absorption of the ultraviolet radiation, which is the real health propensity in the sun, is equally conclusive proof of its merit as a physical restorative. Upon this ultra-violet ray acclaimed by doctors the world over to be nature’s greatest and most effective medicine experiments have been carried over a period of years, and now it is placed into the hands of experts for careful administration.

So minutely has its intensity been guaged, that scientists claim that two minutes under tlie ray is the equivalent of 16 hours of natural sunlight at 400 ft above sea level at 1.20 o’clock in the afternoon. It is, they say, sunlight intensified 960 times without diminution of the health-giving percentage. It was during the war that investigators discovered the possibilities of sunlight as a commodity rather than as a mere stimulus, and foresaw in ir something to be obtained and consumed. Recurring Epidemics This Dominion, along with other countries, suffers its cycles of seasonal epidemics; we had influenza in 1923 and 1926, diphtheria and measles in 1924, chicken-pox in 1925-26, infantile paralysis in 1922 and 1925, and whooping cough in 1926. In normal

; vears diphtheria is responsible for ! more admissions to hospital and more i deaths than any other epidemic di- ! gease. In 1926 119 people died as the result of influenza. 56 succumbed to diphtheria, and 34 to whooping-cough a total of 276 deaths from epi- ’ demic complaints, as against 159 for the year 1922. In the face of this inglorious record, it would be a happy day upon which the authorities, having discerned that light in some subtle way endows the body with power to destroy—or at least to repel—the mic-ro-organisms of prevalent winter sickness, were able to reject the unpleasant familiarity of winter’s snow and rain, and secure for all comparative immunity. Sunlight Is Luxury The State will not sanction £ for £ subsidies on solariums, however, preferring this treatment to remain in the realm of luxury meanwhile. It is a physiological fact, of course, that people do not die of influenza: they succumb to its complications; and, strangely enough, only in times of darkness does it become really dangerous.

Much of the experimental work with artificial sunlight has been accomplished in England, where tests have been exercised on groups of children, and among coal-miners. A specially observed group of children possessed 10 per cent, of victims to winter ailments; but in a similar group, in identical conditions, treated with sunlight, only 1 per cent, contracted prevalent sickness. Successful Experiments Experts declared the experiments upon miners to be a success. A group of 100 lads of similar age and physique were selected. Fifty were placed under treatment by mercury vapour quartz lamps, while the remaining 50 were kept under observation. The - first 50 were exposed twice weekly to the ultra-violet ray in doses increasing to five and six minutes on the front of the body and at the back, and at the end of three months they had put on twice as much weight and approximately 50 per cent, more in height than those who were not placed under the light. There was also a general improvement in appearance, spirits and appetite. Closer to home, it is claimed by those interested in this method of treatment in New Zealand that a man who receives full bodily doses of the ray is able to withstand the ravages of colds and chilis for the full two years dui-ing which the effect of the treatment remains with him. This country enjoys an average of approximately six hours of sunlight in the 24, and although this may not be so attractive as the sunny tropics, there is combined with it a luxuriant growth, good weather and clear rivers—all of which contribute their equitable share toward making New Zealand a land of bounteous sunshine and rich pastures. True, in the words of Kipling: Fair is our lot; Oh. goodly our heritage . . .