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form in order that such teaching may be absorbed and made part of the belief and
life, not only of children but of young children and even adults.
Nuise.
To the tired worker solitude in pastoral scenes on thd moor or mountain side
or by the sea brings the peace and repose that comes from quietude. This is an
age of noise; we have grown up without noticing its gradual] increase. In industrial
pursuits the harmful effects of excessive noise on the hearing and the part
it plays in producing fatigue are well known: in so far as they are unavoidable,
they represent one of the costs of industrial civilisation. Are the noises of the
city highway, in any serious measure, harmful to health? Many street noises
are unrhythmic, discordant, varied in quality, pitch and, intensity and, above all,
unpredictable. The sudden unexpected screech of the hooter, the rattling of the
heavy omnibus, of the laden lorry, the unexpected explosion of the exhaust of
the motor vehicle overstimulate and call up unnecessarily the sense of hearing
and exhaust the brain; the noisiness of London means an enormous drain of energy
even from those who are not acutely conscious of the noise as a nuisance, but who,
nevertheless, all the while are unconsciously putting up a resistance to it. These
noises harm the passers-by whose brains are not concentrated on work; the* office
worker must perforce take steps to combat the insufferable nuisance. The windows
must be kept closed, with all the consequent disadvantages of discomforti ensuing
on inadequate ventilation. This precaution does not always suffice in the case
of professional men grappling with vital and intricate problems; the disturbance
of intensive concentration causes irritation and the consequence is fatigue.
Thousands of people work late at night and right through the night hours, sleeping
as best they can during the daytime when noises and sounds prevent the
unbroken sleep which is needed to give the body perfect rest so that it can store
up energy for the working hours.
For the sick and convalescent in hospitals and nursing homes, quiet is imperative
at all times: for these sufferers zones of silence must be enforced.
Legislation already exists to deal with certain objectionable noises; soon it will
be extended to motor traffic. A responsible Conference has recommended the
making of a regulation* under the Motor Car Acts to deal with extensive and
avoidable noise from motor vehicles which are badly constructed, badly loaded
or in faulty condition. The Conference agreed that the excessive use of horns
and their nerve racking noise constituted a legitimate grievance. Other remedies
worthy of consideration are the placing of white lines across the opening of side
roads into main roads to obviate hooting, the limitation of weight and bulk of
goods carried by road, the control of the speed and hours of work of lorries, the
prohibition of the sale of motor cycles without effective silencers, the prohibition
of the use of pneumatic drills at night in proximity to occupied dwelling houses.
Much is to be said ir» favour of the total prohibition of such drills on the ground
of the injury to health caused to the workmen using them. A comprehensive
measure would be the inclusion of all excessive and avoidable noise, whatever
its source, as a nuisance with which sanitary authorities were empowered to deal
under new Public Health legislation.
*Regulations have now been made and come into force on Aug. 1st, 1929.