Evening star., 1932-08-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

IT wish you would write a piece
he said, about fools like me who get
all burned up by the SUM-"
He was, indeed, a rare, red reminder
of the necessity for acquiring ones
"suntan," as the ladies call it, by easy
stages.
So acquired, there is nothing but
benefit to be gained from the popular
process of bathing in the rays Of the
Summer sun.
Achieved too quickly, however, the
"sunburn" which often results is pain
full and not very slightly. In extreme
cases it can be dangerous.
The vogue for sun bathing in recent
years has led many people to rush into
this pastime without due investigation
Of the good and harm in it.
Every one has experienced some
burning by the suns ultra violet, or
actinic, rays, and almost every one is
willing to regard himself as more or
less of an expert in these matters.
The truth is that there are few sub
jects in which so many people show
an interest about which so compara-
lively large number are essentially
ignorant.
This comes about because, although
the sun has cheered mankind since its
earliest days, it has remained one of
the last subjects for scientific investi-
cation.
Science itself, as we moderns know
science, Is a new thing in the world,
state Of mind which had created a
new faith as trusting as the orthodox
religious faiths of yesteryears.
Thousands Of human beings today
spout bits OF information as facts about
ID ffr AIz.,
whatsoever
Yet If any were to interpose a doubt
they would regard one as a veritable
scientific hereto
This Is the new faith Of science. It
is phenomenon which has been the
subject OF several volumes In recent
years.
Only within the past two decades
has man turned to a really studied
approach to the subject of the sun
shine, which falls upon the Just and
the unjust alike, and which will burn
the skin OF the innocent quite as read
1ly as the skin of tile guilty.
1t Is with sunbeams as with air and
ra1n-because every one Is subject to
their effects almost every one imagines
that he knows something or other
about them
And there is some truth there, too.
city dweller who goes to the sea-
shore for a couple of weeks and who
precipitateS himself onto the beach for
an all-day session Is very apt the next
day to know a great deal more about
the burning effects Of sunshine than he
did before.
Especially If he is light-haired.
The beams seem so pleasant, as he
casts himself down on the sand in the
morning that it is difficult for him, If
not wellnigh impossible, to feel alarm
ed by the warmth which so genially
bathes his limbs.
The fact is that the warmth does
not burn him. The rays of the sun
which actually do the burning are so
short that they are not visible to the
human eye.
Their effects. however, are very ap-
parent, and need no description.
Who is there who has not, at some
time or other, suffered from too great
an exposure to these rays? And who, at
the same time, has not vowed that he
would never do it again? And who
Is there, alas, who has not made fool
out OF himself in exactly the same way
the very next chance he got?
The beneficial effects Of sunburning
or sun tanning, have been known to the
layman for centuries, but only recently
has science come to the definite con-
clusion that the good Is a real good
and that 1t is connected In some as
yet unknown way with the actual reac-
tion of the skin in building up the
coat of tan"
If one tans readily, in other words,
one will derive real benefit, through the
formation of the very coat which the
world now finds so attractive.
If one does not tan easily, and espe-
cially If one merely gets red, and, what
is worse, If one just remains red, the
beneficial effects are considered dubious,
II they exist at all.
This does not mean that the red