The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-05-25
Noise And Health
Board OF Health Bulletin.)

Board of Health Bulletin.)
There's distinction between
noise and noises.
Noise very often means nuisance,
whether it be human annoyance or
one of mere sound that may be abat-
ed by brute strength or by ignoring
it. By the plural of the word is
meant here the aggregate of sounds,
more or less unnecessary, that make
life in a city a constant and a more
or less unrealized tax on the averaeg
nervous system and that results in
a quicker wearing out of the human
machine.
Two sets of conditions force on us
a realizatin of the noises of a city.
One is the first arrival in a big city
from the quieter surroundings Of
country life. The other is when ex-
hausting sickness has reduced the
resisting power and emphasizes the
detrimental effect of sudden and
startling sounds on the condition of
the patient.
A further analysis of the noises
that make the rumble of the busy
city shows that many, perhaps most,
of them are unnecessary to the ex-
tent that they might be prevented.
Most of them are not accidents.
They are avoidable.
Physicians and scientists have
!left no doubt that excessive noise
has distinctly harmful effect on
the human system, which each indi-
vidual resists in proportion to his
physical power of resistance. He is
the exception who is not injured by
it sooner or later.
The bells, the few that are left to
call us to church, are unnecessary;
they are more a recognition of a
sentiment than a tribute to utility.
No bells are sounded to call us to
the theater or to catch railroad
trains, or to keep dinner engage
ment or one with the dressmaker or
the tailor. Hardly more necessary
, are the bells on which the hours are
sounded in steeple clocks, yet they
are in part justified by practical util-
! ity and by the fact that their noise
is not incessant.
+ The city that permits the blowing
of locomotive whistles within its
o limits is behind the times. The city
a of Chicago some years ago declared
o against this nuisance and demanded
the abolishing Of grade crossings
!, Just as any other city has the righ'
: to demand.
The inharmonious jangling o
r street car bells as sort of command
!, to "get out of the way" is an in
a cement on the rights of the citi
zen. BY their constant and eXces
sive ringing they lose the effect TO
which they are intended.
The increasing complexities
" modern living have added to the lis
d of abatable noises. The automobil
= is responsible for some of these, wit
e it's disagreeable and excessive honk
3 ing and the violence of its unmuf
fled exhaust. Too often public sent
l. ment is Indifferent to the cuttin
y out of the muffler in violation
n city ordinance, and the selfish dri'
n err in the residence sections, ava
Re from direct police observation. pre-
Us suming on this, takes all kinds
liberties with the rights of helples
e. citizens.
Or A number of the smaller cities
to Florida make the occurrence Of
ar fire gala occasion, calling frol
lie their deepest slumbers at night e.
ne cry man, woman and child outsit
n the cemetery, by siren whistles
It other contrivances that make the
b, victims hate the inventor with
righteous hatred. It's entirely III
IN necessary.
ct There are motorcycles and sire
IT. fruit vendors; there are the new
IhovS who drive away Slumber in Il