HINTS ON HEALTH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1245, 2 December 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

HINTS ON HEALTH.

A LECTURE GIVEN UNDER THE AUSPICES OF TEE AUSTRALIAN HEALTH SOCIETY AT MELBOURNE, 808. P.'J. RYAN. Dr. Ryan said it might be stated with confidence that a large number of the diseases common to poor human nature were due to the ignorance of the law of health, or to culpable negligence on the part of nations and individuals, Ague, typhoid, diphtheria, &c, were once very common in England j now they were less so, It would be so with other diseases as people became more greatly imbued with the facts relating to health, In the short time at his disposal it was only possible to give a few general hints as to the way to keep in health, He would divide his subject into three parts—the child, the man, and old age. The infant's existence is almost wholly taken up with eating and drinking,. They wore usually healthy. But although some might be born with hereditary affections, phthisis for instance, it did not follow, that they would die of that disease, Milk was especially adapted to the subsistence of the young, inasmuch as it contained all the elements of nourishment in its most digestible form, The reason why starch foods wore not fit for the food of children was becauso thoy nooded a great deal of saliva to assist in the digestion, and children under six years of age only had no issues from the salivary glands, Milk, during the first year, should be their principal diet, From that to two years of age bread sopped might be given, and after two years, when the teeth begin to be cut, meat, well cooked, might bo given, The clothing of ohildren should be light, Boys should not be permitted to wear belts, and girls should not be allowed to wear stays. After meals they should be taught to rinse their mouths out, Nowhere, that he was aware of, was the bad practice of dosing ohildren indulged in more than in Victoria, The boy'should by its parents be launched into the world with a good constitution, Men might be divided into two classes—those that labored with their hands, and those who worked with their brains, There' were many trades which much affeoted the health of those engaged in them, Painters, for instance, and workers among lead, were subjected to peculiar influence, Workers in factories might be rendered liable to a minimum of ill-health by good ventilation, He would advise all such as work inside with the hand and brain to avoid riding in 'busses, railways, &c,

Alluding to the effects of mental over-work, he said the eyes often became deprived of clearness of vision; loss of memory followed muscular and mental restlessness, with drowsiness, and a general feeling of paralysis; and the unfortunate viotim of excessive mental labor and anxiety would have that ap-

. pearance whioh would lead his friends to I suppose perhaps that he had been indulging in a " last night's debauoh." Symptoms: of such ill effects approaching were an irritability of temper,, and a want of uniformity in humor. When these conditions set in, the labor of tho brain should be altogether discontinued for a time; and a journey taken into tho country or across the sea, There was an opinion abroad in Victoria and tho other colonies that wo must , have meat to eat regularly and continuously, but this was a fallacy. Meat was good in modified quantities, and should not be eaten rapidly, or without due mastication, Huvried meals wore most injurious. They' should be taken at regular hours and eaten slowly. As regarded ventilation, he could say that few buildings were properly supplied with means of freedom of ..ingress of fresh air, Tho evils of breathing impure air were headache, lassitude, loss of appetite, pallor, and general debility. ■ As buildings contained doors and windows, the breath of Heaven need not necessarily bo excluded, if people would only overcome their insano dread of catching cold. Undor tho head of stimulants ho included all intoxicating liquors, Alcohol was in all of these. The effects of alcohol was only to inorease tho ailments of depression or weakness, It did not have the same effect on all people, In some it. did not create much «ffe:t, In some it had a sedative influencej,' and some required,a great.deal more than others to'excite or stimulato them., Ho did not wish to,totally docry tho use of all drinks containing alcohol. A man, for instance, with an overworked brain might derive solace. and rest from a modified indulgence, and it wm salutary in other occasional cases, ■ Speaking of tobacco, the lecturer said it could not altogether be, condemned, Indulged in to excess, it was very injurious, and on the account that there wai always the tendency to indulgo to excess in roan, he'' would be inclined to disallow it, Loutelle, a Frenchman of note, had died from the effeoti of accidentally swallowing the contents of his snuff-box, whioh had been put into his wine by a playful acquaintance, When first introduced into Western Europe tobacco had been looked upon as a panacea for all ills, and was mado into syrups, embrocations and poultices, and proscribed by the faculty all round, But a reaction soon set in,' and it

wsi, ultimately, not only prescribed by the doctors, but also by Popes and Kings, James the I, of England, always readier with the pen than the sword, wrote a treatise against it, called the "Counterblasts," and summed up his opinion of it as follows " Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fumes thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." The King was evidently no votary of the weed, and he, the lecturer, was strongly inclined to believe that he, the King, wrote from immatured personal experience, He did, however, decidedly say that smokers were less healthy than non-smokers, Professor Huxley, who had not smoked until in his 40th year, said:—"There is a certain substantial kind of satisfaction in smoking if kept in moderation; and I must say this for tobacco, that it is a sweetener and equaliser of the temper. lam glad to state that, in my opinion, l there is nothing worse than excessive smoking; but a man could undertake to destroy himself with green tea or any other article of diet if taken to excess." The lecturer gave in his adhesion to this view, and affixed the remark that tobacco added nothing to health, but it did to happiness. A few hints on marriage were given. It was the most natural and most healthful state. The health of each of a married couple was reciprocally influenced by each, The worst union was that in which both suffered from the same disease. For then there was the almost certainty of its development in their offspring of those affected thus. Old age might be said to begin at GO years of age, but timo laid his hand lightly on him who had lived according to the dictates of enlightened reason, Only spare eaters among those who had passed middle life were likely to last into a robust old age. For 60 years Louis Coonara, a Venetian gentleman, confined himself to a daily allowance of 12 oz, of solid and 14 oz, of liquid food, He maintained himself in excellent health until he was nearly 100 ; and his wife, who according to the habit of wives, followed the good example of her husband, lived nearly as long, There were other instances of the long life of temperate livers, In conclusion, ho would oite the good words of Dr, Richardson : "The cycle of life completed, the living being sleeps into death when nature has her way, This purely painless process, this na-

~ ~■.■■:..■:.....■/. J 1 tural physical death, is the true euthanasia, the ssqual of health, the happy death, engrafted on the perfect life."