The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-02-25

ll1c ll4llAeliCe OI lIlC Oull SltedIll. II IS
certain that consumption has been
more prevalent in Ireland of recent
years than it was half century ago.
This is attributed by various people
to various causes. In the first place
the "white plague" has increased i'll
every country in Europe. But statis-
ties on this subject of fifty Years ago
are very unreliable and inaccurate.
At health congress held at Liverpool
in the summer of last year one Of the
speakers attributed the increase of the
disease among the Irish peasantry to
a change in diet when these peas
ants,' he said, used home grown
meal, milk and potatoes, they were
a sturdy, healthy race; now when they
live chiefly on imported white flour
and tea, they are ravaged by tubcr-
culosis.'
But whatever be the cause, statis-
tics show that. a. remedy can be APP
piled and that the dreadful scourge
can be beaten back by proper means
of prevention. Statistics come out
slowly in Ireland. The registrar gem
eral has issued his report OH this sub
ject for the past year. There has been
a marked decrease in the numbe: of
deaths from all forms of tube:cular
disease. The deaths from this source
for the year 1910 showed a decrease
of 1,0S5, as compared with the number
registered in the year 1909 The total
number of deaths from this disease
was 1924, which represented q rate
of "a per 1000 of the population Of all
Ireland.
Notwithstanding this reduction, it
appears that over Is per cent of the
mortality in Ireland last year was
caused by tubercular disease. But the
decrease is certainly encouraging be-
cause it has been kept up now for
three or four years past: and it is at
tributed by the registrar general
especially to the reformed methods of
sanitation and housing, and the con-
tinual influence of the Womens Ma
the president is Lady 1hberdeerr, wife
Of the lord lieutenant.
Climatic Conditions.
Speaking Of the Irish climate, 1 am
tempted to, repeat that these are the
days and this the season which re-
minds us here that we live so far
north. The days arc short, very short,
and generally dark. The sun gets up
late and goes to bed early, and even
at midday is but a few degrees above
the horizon. We would be subject to
the severity of Newfoundlands eli
mate if it were not for the tempering
and genial influence of the Gulf
Stream. 1t seems now that this judg-
ment needs revision, and that Eng
| lands oldest colony can in climate
compare favorably with this Green Isle,
England's oldest conquest. i.
A Sedative Effect.
For others seeking health, recrca-
ton, or repOse, especially Americans
ove:worlled in nerve and brain, this
dark SOFT sedativc and peaceful
climate must prove in the highest de-
gree beneficial. There is plenty of
sunlight, but not the stimulating and
trying glare Of southern sunshine
From early spring until late autumn it
is never too cold, and never hot
enough to be uncomfortable. Every
thing upon which the eye falls is
green and therefore restful. And if
the earth beneath is beautiful, the sky
above is not less so. Nor is it less
varied and diversified.
If there is in Ireland anything more
beautiful than her green fields and
valleys, her brown mountains, her
gently sweeping rivers and her glis-
tening lakes, it is her indescribably
beautiful cloud scenery.
These vapors, when they first reach
the Irish coast, rise and roll high into
midair and are waited across the
island in clouds assuming. as they pro-
ceed, all manne, Of fantastic forms
diversified into infinite variety OF
shape, size and hue. The painter who
could reproduce, or the poet who could
describe this perpetually moving
scenery of the Irish sky, would as
tonish the world 1t is always in
motion and seldom envelopes the en-
tire heavens, leaving always inter-
spersed patches Of blue where the SUI
can peep through the curtain and
illuminate portions of the landscape
beneath. No wonder that the fertile
Celtic imagination can see in these
cloud formation armies marshaled ir
battle array, distant castles, long
sweeping avenues of gold and silver
Ian