The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1921-11-11
HEALTH.

present to you this afternoon, that L
shall touch upon several of them in
a very incomplete and disconnected
way.
There is your individual health,
and mine, the health of our children,
our community, our state, the nation
and SO on until we encompass the
world.
Statistics are available in each of
these various departments, by quoting
which, we would probably accomplish
little else than to impress upon you
the enormity of the subject.
In order to understand the trend
of modern health movements, perhaps
a brief consideration of disease and
immunity may be help.
All abnormal conditions of our
bodies which we designate as sick
ness, are caused by the growth and
development of micro-organ
which are commonly called germs.
The direct cause of the disturbance
is a substance called toxin which is
produced by these organisms or
germs. These toxins vary in their
effect and virulence, so we have diff
.erent symptoms in various infections.
One kind of germs-will cause intest-
inal distress, another produces sore
throat of one type, still another a
quite different throat symptom,
others skin eruptions and so on un-
til we have learned to associate at
glance these more common symptoms
with their designated diseases. These
germs or bacteria are not all disease
I. oil
of these oganisms which produce
many useful chemicals, such as yeast,
Tactic acid, some gases, and phos-
phoresence or light. Again in our
bodies we manufacture, with the aid
of these tiny germs, antitoxns which
help us to resist the disease produc-
ing toxins, so that Nature having so
mysteriously produced these disease
bearing bacteria has at the same
time fortified US with a very potent
means of defence.
This explains the natural immunity
which we enjoy in varying degrees,
Science has studied this natural
immunity until it has evolved another
type of resistance to disease which
is termed acquired immunity.
This type may be acquired by hav-
ing had certain diseases or by inocu-
Iation of serums.
The elaboration of these serums is
a most interesting process, but too
intricate in detail for me to present
in a paper of this kind.
The first incubation to produce
Immunity was done by Jenner in If9o
for SMALLPOX. We call it vaccination,
and it has reduced the prevalence
and fatality of smallpox to such an
extent that we never hear OF serious
epidemic of the disease in civilized
countries today
Eighty-two years later, Pasteur
perfected his serum theory after eX-
haustive study.
Within recent years students OF I'M
munity have made many new dis
coveries, so that preventive medicine
has become the great ally to the
health crusade.
Diptheria, pneumonia, typholu'
blood poisoning, in fact all the IN
fictitious diseases have been brought
under appreciate control by the new
methods of treatment /
Now, we 90 one step farther and
study how we can prevent the diseases
themselves. "An ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure" has come
to mean much more to us than a
lightly spoken adage.
So now to the front FORCES Hy-
giene, in all its forms. Mental,
social, baby school and personal hy-
giene are common terms today, ana
every newspaper periodical OF stand
ing either runs a health column or
has articles in nearly every issue up
on some health topic.
Start we'll and keep we'll is a good
slogan for us to adopt.
Every forward movement has as its
inevitable accompaniment faddists
and extremists who sometimes to be
sure hinder a good cause, but out
from whose very radicalism has
evolved a sane and helpful program.
Did not Horace Fletcher impress
upon us the Importance of thorough
mastication of our food And though
we may rebel at the idea Of a single
caramel, to last Is minutes in our
mout,s, for our only dessert, we can
not deny the efficacy of mastication
against indigestion and dyspepsia.
Other extremists lay all the stress
on baths, external and internal, others
upon food and still others upon exer-
else, to say nothing of our friends
who so zealously maintain that mind
is all and matter is nothing" there
fore nothing matters.
There have been notable examples
of persons living to old age in SEEM
ing defiance Of all the laws Of modern
hygiene. but it is the exception which
proves the rule.
You have all seen lone tree grow
ing out Of solid rock or ledge with
no sisible means Of sustenance, but
did you ever see full and healthy
forest, without sustaining earth and
moisture at its roots
Public health programs are being
carried out in nearly all our com
munities to bring the knowledge of
how to care for our bodies to the
great masses Of the people.