Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-08-03
NATIONAL HEALTH
COUNCIL ASKS PEG
PIES SUGGESTIONS

The National Health Council,
combination Of the Is creates, medical
and public health organisations in
America. has announced says the L.
$. Public Health Service, that during
the IL months beginning July 1, 1t
will endeavor TO persuade every per
son in the United States 10 take a
peep into the future 10 see what the
condition of his health will be few
years hence. Anybody who does not
like what he sees will be told what
he can do TO better II.
For ages men have Sough, 10 probe
the future by reading the stars, con-
sulting the oraeles, visiting fortune
tellers and mediums. and even by
watching for the grounding and read
ing the goosebone. But always, in all
ages, when men sought information
concerning the future they coupled
their request with the question, an
spoken. but always understood. viii
! be there to see the prophesy full
hlledg"
Ii is not so difficult as IL may seem
to predict how long a man will retain
his health or will live. His "expeeta-
ton OF life" Is particularly easy 10
estimate. Subtract his aye from so;
and il his health Is good be will prob
ably live for more than two.thirds Of
the difference.
"But is his health good? Is YOUR
health good :" asks the National
Health Council. THAT is the ques-
toni"
A life insurance company can an
Swer the question pretty accurately.
Unless 1t does so IL is bound 10 go
bankrupt sooner or later. So il finds
out the sort of work you are doing,
inquiries into your family history, and
wants TO be told illnesses you have
sically not merely to find out whether
you are sound at the moment but
whether you have any unsupported
disease whose existence neither you
nor any one else could know from
ordinary observation. 1t considers
also whether your lungs, heart, stom-
ach etc, are able TO prevent germ"
diseases from getting fooihold in
your body or to drive them out after
they have gotten q foothold.
Most persons think of death as
coming from one of the great dis
eases--typhoid fever, for instance.
But it isn't these that do the real
damage. It's the hidden things that
weaken your organs without your
knowing it till the test comes and
you find yourself defenseess. II Is,
for instance, the abseess at the root
of tooth that manufactures the pus
that Injuries the Kidneys; the infected
tonsils that discharge pus that
causes rheumatism; the little lump
beneath the skin that some day
changes into deadly cancer: the
work that strains ones weakest spot
till it gives way, when another sort
of work would do no harm.
All these things can be and will be
investigated under the Councils plan
by reputable physician---by each
persons family doctor, If he likes.
The Council hopes that at least l0,-
DOC, 900 persons, say 10000 day, will
have themselves examined during the
IL months beginning July 4. 1t is a
big job; and to make II easier the
Council suggests that every one
should be examined on his own birth
day--even those born on February ~,
for 1924 Is leap year.
This National health examination
campaign will unquestionabiy marked
| " lengthen the average human life.
Its span in the United States was
heightened from ii to sc during the
SO years that elapsed between 1870
to 1920; and ii will be heightened
during the next so years at least 20
years more, according to the Ameri-
can Public Health Association, which
certainly ought to know what 1t Is
saying This means that fifty years
from now the average man will live
to be rs instead of Sc, as at present;
and that he will feel spry enough to
enjoy life at 76--and for a good deal
| longer