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the time will come when our nurseries will cater for this very necessary
means of improving the lot of those women who "never get a minute"
to themselves.
NOISE
Noise is an enemy to the health of the public. It seems that we can
get accustomed to almost anything, in fact, so accustomed are we to noise
that if we do get out into the depth of the country, particularly in the
evening, when the cows have stopped their lowing and the lambs have
stopped their bleating, the stillness is almost oppressive.
But, we are something like the widow's donkey; she taught him to
feed on straw instead of hay, but unfortunately he died, and it is much
the same with us. We get accustomed to noise, but it kills something
in us.
we, in the Public Health department, are very much aware of this.
We have a relatively large general office where typewriters are tapping,
the duplicating machine is making—anoise (how much it might be
libellous for me to write), the telephone bells are ringing and I am out
asking sommeone to do something, and I am persuaded it is only because
we cannot assess the disability that we do not face the fact that all this
noise not only decreases personal efficiency, not only causes mental fatigue,
but also sets up complications, inhibitions and frustrations which, even
though they begin as fancies of the mind, end up with physical defects also.
The noise of our underground railways, the eternal grinding of our
traffic, the noise in the factory and the noise in the home have an effect
on us. I would like to say how much I dislike the noise of a certain
carpet sweeper!
A most curious thing happened to me recently. I met someone who
said he did not believe that noise was a factor in producing either mental
fatigue or bodily fatigue, and I could not understand anybody holding
this opinion, because it is not only contrary to my personal experience
but contrary to general experience. In fact, I am going to be plain blunt
and say that I believe that noise is amongst one of our foremost troubles
today, so far as the promotion of health is concerned, and that if we could
get together in reducing noise, we should have done far more to promote
the health of the public than some of the wonder-drugs with their
"wonderful results" which have so captured the imagination of the public
at the present time.
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