The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-29 00:00:00

,Stintrbribge Obsertler

SATURDAY, MARCH 29th, 1884.

AN EXHIBITION OF HEALTH.

THOSE who remember the interest which was
aroused, now more than thirty years since, bv
the first Great International Exhibition cannot
but have been struck by the comparative de•
suetude into which such institutions have fallen
during the past few years. In 1851 "The
World's Fair" was the theme of universal talk ;
it pervaded the conversation not only of the
palace—for Prince Albert was at its head—bat
of the cottage, for it was believed that good
would result from it to all classes. Looking
back after so long a lapse of time to the some-
what fervid expectations of those days, we may
be inclined to s nile at the brilliancy of the
colours in which the outcome of the venture
was painted; but no one who has attentively
studied the artistic and manufacturing conditions
of 1851 and 1884 can fail to have been struck
with the fact that the movement in favour of a
higher taste, which was inaugurated in the former
year has had good effect upon the English
people. Yet, although this has been generally
recognized, there can be no question of the fact
that similar exhibitions have not been as popu-
lar as that of 1851, and that anyone who a year
or two since had prophesied that the day would
speedily arrive when such institutions, in a
modified form, should again become exceedingly
successful, would have been laughed to scorn.
Such a prophet, however, would have been
amply justified by the result of the Fisheries
Exhibition held at South Kensington last year,
which, popular as it was among Londoners, was
equally popular with provincial visitors to the
metropolis. The saecese, in fact, was so great
as to lead to a hope that it might be repeated
this year not in the same form, but in the same
spirit, by means of a Health Exhibition held on
the same spot. An exhibition of health, or,
rather, of tbe appliances for maintaining or re•
storing health, appears, at the first blush, a
somewhat strange form of public amusement;
but those who are of so practical a tarn of Mind
as to wish amusement combined with instruction
will not object to it on that score As a matter
of fact, this is just the very case in which the
two ought to be joined for mankind in the bulk
is so heedless in matters of health that, unless
instruction on the subject is conveyed to them in
the form of amusement they will never trouble
t•-) have it conveyed to them at al!, And it is
Lot only the actual and visible points concerning
his bodily state with which a man ought to be
acquainted, and of which, as a rule, he is
utterly ignorant. Sanitary science has made
such progress in these latter days that we now
know, or ougat to know, that dangers lurk in
unexpected quarters, and that they may be
avoided by tta.ely precaution, but that left to
work their own way they may prove fatal. It
is to provide instruction on these points, and to
provide it in popular iorin that the Health Ex-
bibiticea is projected. Undoubtedly, as is the
case in most such concerns, there will be much
included in the show, which, strictly speaking,
will have no right to be there. bat this will be a
small matter cenipar,d aith the many valuable
ideas which will be practically In o ight under
public notice. And, although the exhibition will
be held in London, it is not the capital alone
which will participate in i:s advantages. The
facilities of communication in these days of
railways and cheap excursions are so many and
so varied that even the most distant parts of the
country can witness that which only a compara-
tively short time since would have been alto-
gether out of their reach. This opportunity
way be expected to be largely availed of, and
although a great discount must always be taken
of the sanguine expectations of promoters, there
seems good reason to hope that, as a result of
the Health Exhibition, the general public may
be so instructed 119 to be better able to withstand
either the open or the insidious attacks of
disease.