The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-29 00:00:00

A "MEDICAL TALK" BY SIR ANDREW

CLARK.

On Monday night in the hall of the Young Men's
Christian Association, Aldersgate-street, London, Sir
Andrew Clark, Bart., M.D., delivered, under the title of
"A Medical Talk to Young Men," an address on the
subject "Considerations 1 sspecting the constitution of
man and its relations to Health, Knowledge, and
Religion." There was a large attendance, principally
composed of the young men of the association. The
Earl of Aberdeen presided. Sir Andrew Clark, who
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order that he might convey to his hearers some scraps
of useful knowledge, that he might suggest to them
some counsels for guidance in life, that he might
beget in their minds some fresh utterance of thought
on a most important subject, and especially because
he thought that there was to be found in the consi-
deration of the constitution of man arguments for the
position of the Christian which were not to be sur-
passed, if they were to be equalled, in any other
natural field of inquiry. In entering upon the topic of
address, Sir Andrew drew attention to the relations
and analogies subsisting between the four classes of
objects which were presented to human observation
when directed abroad on the universe. These objects
were either physical, vital, mental, or spiritual, all
dependent upon each other, yet all absolutely distinct,
and each in the order named introducing a new fact to
the observer. Man was the only possessor of all the
qualities of that quadruple division, and man himself,
like God, was three-fold. He had bodily life in com-
mon with plants, mind in common with animals, spirit
in common with God. Or he was like a well-ordered
State, where the body was the subordinate
executive, the mind, the deliberate council, and
the spirit the sole supreme ruler. Proceeding
to deal with each of these divisions in turn, Sir
-Andrew remarked of the body that its great concern
was health. As to what health was it might be suffi-
cient to say that health was that state in which ex-
istence of itself was a joy, in which it was a delight
to see, to hear, to think, to be. (Hear, hear) As to
the conditions of laws of health, he doubted very
much whether people in general knew whether there
were such laws at all, for in his profession he found
such violations of them that he preferred to think of
men as ignorant transgressors rather than as arrant
fools. ("Laughter, and "Rear, hear.") But these
conditions were really few and simple. The first con-
dition was proper food, and temperance in food.
There should be three or four meals a day and he
would not be particular as to their nature if they
were moderate in quantity. The food should be
fresh, and if possible no preserved food should be
used; it was an abomination before men who
knew anything of the matter. (Hear, hear.) The
other conditions specified were a moderate
supply of fluid, a proper regulation of the
bodily functions, and regular and purposeful labour
a work, which genteel people preferred to call exer-
cise. (Laughter.) Two other questions presented
themselves in that connection—one that of personal
purity, and the other the question of the use of
alcohol. In discussing the latter Sir Andrew said
that he was not a partisan, and would not take a side;
but, as to the relation of alcohol to health, he did not
mind saying two or three things about it— (hear, hear)
—though he was afraid he would be misrepresented
as he had always been. He would say that alcohol
was not necessary to health; that in his opinion
alcohol was iaot a helper of work, physical or in-
tellectual; and that if a man was as well with alcohol,
he was ten thousand times better without it.
(Laughter, and hear, hear.) But there were in this
world of ours poor, weak, ailing people who were
never well, always complaining, and travelling along
their journey with great difficulty. These took a
little alcohol, and said that it made them comfort-
able, and that it enabled them to do the little work
which they had to do, and which otherwise they could
not do. Another class of persons, engaged in physical
and mental labour, declared that a certain portion of
alcohol was an assistance to them, that they had tried
the experiment without it, and that they could not
work so well without it as when they took it. Speak-
ing as a person of considerable experience, who had
made the subject a special study, and who was as
anxious as anyone to get at the truth of the matter:he
(the speaker) was bound to say that, though he was a
most earnest advocate for temperance, it had yet to 1
be proved to his satisfaction that alcohol in certain
small quantities' which he had called "the physiolo-
gical quantity" taken at stated times—namely, with
dinner and supper—did interfere with the physical,
the mental, the moral, or the spiritual develop-
ment of mankind. (Hear, hear.) He did not say
that it did not; he said it had to be proved. (Hear,
hear.) The one argument against this concession
of his was the argument of example—(hear, hear)—
and that he would leave to others to deal with. But
the less alcohol the better; it certainly took the bloom
off the spirit and joy and brightness of life. (Hear,
hear.) After an earnest exhortation to the young
men on the question of purity, Sir Andrew proceeded
to deal with the second division of man's nature—the
spirit—analysing its phenomena into the perceptive,
the reasoning, the motional, and the testhetic func-
tions. Speaking of the last named, he remarked ths t
there was no better feature in modern education than
the increasing importance given in its curriculums to
the training of the aesthetic faculties, which, in their
operations, did so much to idealise, to beautify, and to
sweeten life. (Hear, hear.) As to the third and last
division—the mind—its proper concern was defined to
be knowledge, which was the consciousness of what
was or had been going on without or within us.
The relativity of knowledge was insisted on
and on that admitted relativity the speaker urged that
a strong argument could be based in support of the
Christian theist's position. God, a Christian would
say, was as much an object of knowledge as was
physical matter, for man did not know matter as it
was, but only as it seemed to be. (Hear, hear.) The
organ of the spirit was the will—a free moral force,
which broke through the dead uniformity of physical
laws, and in the guidance of which lay the secret of a
true and a noble manhood. Sir Andrew Clark con-
cluded a long address by an earnest appeal for the
cultivation of holiness of spirit. The address was
loudly applauded, and, on the motion of Mr. Hugh
Matheson, a vote of thanks both to the speaker and
the chairman was carried by acclamation. The Earl
of Aberdeen briefly responded, and the proceedings
terminated with the singing of the Doxology.

A plan for establishing telephonic communication
between Brussels and Paris is being considered.
THE NEW POSTMASTER - GENERAL. - Mr. Shaw-
Lefevre, the new Postmaster General, has formally
taken up his position at the Post-office. Almost his
first duty was to receive a deputation from the Cor-
poration of Birmingham with reference to their post<
Office.