The Sentinel=record., 1912-05-15

government should always be in mti- mate touch with the daily lives of it's citizens. Aye, the most enhghtenej government would now concern itself with prenatal conditions SD as to in- sure the permanence of vitality and
 stock integrity
 e"The first wealth is health How
 to obtain it and how to prevent il
 should be drilled into the minds of
 every school child as a part of its
 primary education. Public education
 is public necessity; ignorance is
 born in darkness and is the enemy of
 light and progress. Public health is
 utilitarian, and the wide dissemina-
 tion of sanitary and hygienic knowl
 elge is the best sort of paying politi cal economy.
 The activities of health depart
 ments are directed more toward pop
 ularHing health maxims than in en-
 acting and enforcing health laws How
 fragmentary is the knowledge which
 the majority of people have of the curative value of fresh air anu sun shine One ounce of Gods sunshine
 is worth a ton of drugs-and decidedly cheaper The sunshine and fresh air doctor is the apostle of the newer medicine and represents new brand of common sense, which is sure to become popular. What are some Of
 the things which the profession should
 teach the public? The public should
 know that most diseases are com- municabe and preyentable; that ty-
 phoid fever and cholera are filth dis
 ease and a disgrace to the commit
 nity; that tuberculosis, the colossal ghost of civilization, is a social ques-
 ton, and to be solved must be pre- vented; that malaria and yellow fe-
 yer are caused by the bite of the mosquito; that hookworm disease, the greatest menace of the south today. lis disease Of soil pollution anu is easily preyentable; that the paglle and the dwarf tapeworm are conyeyeu by the rat; that vaccination will pre- vent smallpox and quarantine will con trol it. that 30 per cent of all blind. ness is due to one of the social dis aacao aud ia ,,rat.u+of,fo f,, th. t.....~ in room that scarlet fever, typhoid fever and diphtheria may be trans mitted through the milk supply; that good digestion depends upon thorough mastication, this act being dependent upon gool teeth; that much of the deafness and mental inaptitude of chiI- dren could be prevented by thor ough system of school inspection: that the playground is the arena in l which children get their first real l lessons of life and which are so nee. i essary 10 their harmonious develop ment; that godliness is the child of | cleanliness and that soap and water are the safeguard of our liberties and have much to do with the destinies of nations. A thorough understanding of and familiarity with these and col. lateral truths would do much toward enabling the people to solve some of the problems with which society is 4 and certainly would lay he grounl work for the enjoyment H of a more perfect life here and here \ after
 The usefulness of this society de- \ bends upon the frankness and success with which it attacks and solves prob. ems affecting the life, health and hap. 1iness of the people, the support and H cooperation which it receives from ts membership, and the confidence which it inspires in the people. As he membership increases it's rela. ions to the public are Increased, and Is sphese of usefulness extended.