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115
With the passing of the centuries, however, knowledge has grown;
at first it grew slowly, but gathering force and volume during the second
half of the nineteenth century, it has become the mighty river on which
the most casual observer to-day is conscious of being borne. This river
of modern knowledge is fed by many streams. From physiology comes
the revelation of the intimate relations existing between nutrition and
diseases of the blood, which cannot fail to affect our generally accepted
standards of health and the measures to be taken in raising the resistance
of the community to chronic diseases. From bio-chemistry come results
of vitamin research so closely concerned with deficiency diseases; the
last year has seen the isolation and subsequent synthesis of ascorbic acid
or vitamin C, which may lead to the control of such diseases as pyorrhoea
and Addison's disease. None of the sciences is exempt from this forward
movement, and each of them is making contributions to personal and
social welfare which need only to be known to be appreciated and applied.
This growth of accurate knowledge and the readiness to act in accordance
with ascertained facts, which are always implicit in the scientific
spirit, are steadily promoting not only public health, but an understanding
and a service which cannot fail to influence profoundly the
individual's sense of responsibility for the well-being of himself and
others. As a matter of fact, the most encouraging sign of the success of
the Health Committee's education of the people in health matters is the
outspoken appreciation by varied audiences of the lectures and discussions
offered to them. Again and again have older people said that they wished
such knowledge had been theirs years ago, and there is considerable
evidence that the talk goes on over garden walls after the meetings.
In this way an enthusiasm for health is growing, based on sound
knowledge, which, while not producing immediately spectacular results,
will undoubtedly affect for good the years to be. So much of the disease
which at present exists is quite unnecessary, and the Poplar Health Committee
are to be congratulated on their instructed imagination which sees
the value of promoting good health by preventing the seeds of ill-health
being sown often in early childhood. As Sir George Newman urged,
health is largely a habit, and it is the result of knowledge. I would add
that it is more than that; it is the result of making knowledge available
and persuading the ordinary man, woman and child to practise what
they learn.