THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1907. THE HEALTHY NATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8495, 26 July 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1907. THE HEALTHY NATION.

Sir Frederick Treves is the leading optimist of the medical profession. "I am certain it is safe to prophesy," he said recently, "that the time will come when hospitals for infectious diseases will be empty and not wanted." He looks forward to the day when it will be as anomalous for a man to die of scarlet fever, typhoid, cholera, and diphtheria as it would be for a man to die of a wolf's bite in England. For prevention is better than cure, and the aim of medicine to-day is to prevent disease by removing or controlling its causes, rather than to cure disease, which should not occur in a scientificallyordained community. We are constantly at war, remarks a London paper, with millions of microbes, and the weapons we wield, as Sir Frederick says, are the sanitary regulations of municipal government, the sanitary inspector, and the medical officer of health. The ratepayer who grumbles at the weight of his burdens does not always realise how far the "fads" of which he complains in municipal administration are essential to the modern policy of making life bett.r worth living. The betterment of housing conditions, the prevention of overcrowding, the removal of dirt, the organised crusade against corruption and adulteration, the regulation of the milk supply and of factory and workshop conditions, the notification of disease, and the whole machinery of the sanitary system are vital to the well-being of the people, and the expenditure of money on these agencies is the best investment any community can make. They promote health, happiness, and efficiency and should be regarded by the people as their essential weapons in the fight against d'soasa and degeneracy. The fundamental proposition is that disease is preventable, and that it is the duty of the community to prevent it by taking proper precautions and shaping its environment so that health may be the heritage of all who are born into this world. If the people can be brought to see that health of body and of mind rests largely with themselves, and that perfect hygiene is essential to happiness, medical ..science

will do the rest. Health is a matter I sense —tho least common j of all the senses —and if our leading j medical men devote themselves to the j propagation of this doctrine a vast; amount of disease and suffering may be swept away. And as the healthy nation must be the efficient nation, this is a very important phase of the world's economical problems.