p. 18 | Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 14. (4/7/1910)

Guatemala English School

By W. E. Hancock

The prospects for the year are good. We have a much better building for school purposes than we had last year, and have received additional teaching help by the arrival of Sister Alice Fieldberg from the Foreign Mission Seminary at Washington. Our attendance during the first month reached sixty. This is quite a surprise to us, first, because of our trouble last year, and, secondly, because we have raised the price of tuition, and have placed it on the basis of the United States currency.

The fact that we do not conduct school on the Sabbath is itself arousing interest in the Sabbath question. Recently an official of the educational board of the city wrote me a letter inquiring whether it would be possible for us to arrange to give classes on Saturday, stating that as a patron of the school he was interested in seeing us receive as large a patronage as possible, and that he heard we lost students by not having school on that day. I am replying to him by giving our reasons fully why it will be impossible for us to have classes on that day.

We need more equipment in order that we may take the advanced students successfully through the advanced studies; we would also need one more good teacher. If these facilities were added between now and the next year, we would receive no less than one hundred students. It would be greatly to the advantage of the school, as well as to the cause, if we could own our school property. Rent in Guatemala is very high. We need, more than anything else, the Holy Spirit, to use the great opportunity presented to us in winning precious souls to the truth for this time.

W. E. HANCOCK.

“We Isolated Sabbath-Keepers Must Have It”

By T. E. Bowen

So writes one of them over in Australia concerning the good old REVIEW. And what this far-away, isolated Sabbath-keeper says, applies to all of our near-by Sabbath-keepers as well. To show how much the REVIEW is appreciated over on the other side of the world, we will quote a little more of what was said by the Australian brother when renewing his subscription. He says: “By sending now it will enable us to continue without a break. This paper keeps us well posted in the progress of the third angel’s message in all parts of the world. I see by a late number the price is raised a little. Very well, perhaps this is necessary. No matter what it is, whether 7s. 6d., or 8s. 6d., we isolated Sabbath-keepers must have it.”

The REVIEW’s mission is to build up the third angel’s message in all parts of the world by keeping its readers in touch with the progress of the message in every land. Often the Mission Board is asked to tell which is the most needy field. This is a question easier asked than answered. Let it be turned about. After you have read all the reports from the missionaries in the various fields, appearing in an issue of the REVIEW, which of these fields, in your judgment, is the most needy? Does it not seem to you, as you read one report after another, that it is the one about which you are reading? Anyhow, nearly all present so many urgent appeals that it is really difficult to imagine how a field could be more needy than the one at the time under consideration.

But one thing is sure, all of our people need the REVIEW every week to know what the needs are. To drop out

one number is to lose a link in God’s chain of providential working in behalf of his own cause in the earth. Every isolated Sabbath-keeper doubly needs it, to be sure, deprived as he is of the association and help of others; but we can not understand how any Sabbath-keeping home can get along without the REVIEW.

It is much, no doubt, as it is with the brother or sister who drops out of the prayer-meeting. One does not realize how much he misses. So those of you who have the REVIEW can do much to help others sense the importance of taking it by telling them how good it is, and how much they are missing each week by not taking it. One sister lent her paper a few weeks to another who did not realize what she was losing. The taste of the good food a few times brought in another member to the regular family board.

God’s message is going fast. Great developments are taking place very rapidly now. To keep up and be in touch with the Lord’s work in all lands you need the REVIEW every week; for it is to this paper above all others that the Mission Board invites the missionaries to send their frequent reports to keep all the people informed regarding their work and the needs in their fields. Let us be sure not to lose any of these letters written home to us; for in company with the isolated Sabbath-keepers, we all “must have it.”

T. E. BOWEN.

Light in Dark Places

IN a personal letter from Argentina, Elder N. Z. Town writes:—

“There is quite an interest in the truth in the province of Corrientes, apparently one of the most backward provinces of Argentina. A young man learned of the truth in Las Toscas, Santa Fé, from the elder of one of our churches. He returned home to Goya, Corrientes, and there talked the truth to the rest of the family. Later Pablo Bonjour visited them. He found them living in a little ranch in the outskirts of the town, having only one miserable room, with thatched roof and earth floor. As there was no room for Pablo inside, he slept out in the yard during the time he was with them, roasted corn being his principal food. But he found appreciative hearts even in such a place; and when he left, five adults were keeping the Sabbath. Their principal business has been raising tobacco, and of course they used it, but gave it up at once when Pablo taught them it was bad for them. Brother Gottfried Block visited them afterward, and baptized them.

“There are many such openings, and many such hearts yearning for the truth, but there are so few workers to take it to them. Aside from the conference president, there are only two ordained ministers for the nearly seven millions of Argentina.”

Revival Meetings in Kansas City, Mo.

By Jas. Cochran

MRS. LULU WIGHTMAN closed a very interesting series of meetings in the Kansas City church Sunday evening, March 20. She began Sunday evening lectures early in the winter. The attendance was large from the beginning. So great became the desire to hear the stirring truths of the message it was deemed advisable to hold meetings every night. These mid-week meetings began March 6 and continued two weeks. The last night of the meeting the church was crowded to its fullest capacity, about four hundred being present. From seventy-five to one hundred were turned away, not being able to get even standing room.

As a result of the meeting thirteen, all adults, accepted the truth. Four others are very much interested, and we trust will decide to obey.

JAS. COCHRAN.

Baptisms and Communion at Pensacola

By J. H. Lawrence

Florida

PENSACOLA.—Recently I was sent to the above-named place to perform the solemn ordinance of baptism, and to celebrate the Lord’s supper. I was glad to find the company as full of zeal as when I left them. The Lord has certainly been among them, and they have been feasting on his Word. I baptized fourteen before I left, and now I am glad to report twenty-six, making a total of forty since last May, when I pitched my tent there the second time.

On Sabbath, when the Lord’s supper was celebrated, the Holy Spirit was present to bless. It would be rather difficult for me to relate the experience of that day. I can only state that it was good for us to be there. Dear reader, please pray for this young company. J. H. LAWRENCE.

Some Native Customs in New Guinea

By S. W. CARR

MANY of the native women are tattooed from head to foot with various designs. This operation is very painful, and is extended over several weeks. The arm or other portion of the body is first painted with the design, and then closely punctured with a sharpened bone and mallet.

Feasts are dependent upon the food supply, and in times of plenty a Karisimasi (Christmas) is held every month or two. In former times, their money consisted of very small shells rounded to the size of a small button and pierced in the center, also salt, native tobacco, armlets; now, beads, cloth, and knives, together with trade tobacco, are also largely used. Gambling is not uncommon, this vice having been introduced by foreigners.

The nose is pierced, and also the ears, the first to hold a polished bone, the second some tobacco, or maybe a match box or other article. Women as a rule are better workers and carry much heavier loads than the men, and it is not an uncommon sight to see a woman carrying a heavy load with a child on top of that, and the husband calmly walking ahead with nothing. After the first work of clearing and fencing a piece of ground for a garden is finished, the wife attends to the rest, while the husband spends his time fishing or hunting. Fowls are prized by the natives, and their long feathers are used to ornament the head during feasts. His hair is the pride of the New Guinea lad, and sometimes it is encased in bamboo rods two feet long, hanging down the back. Boys are used by Europeans as cooks, and girls as nurses.

Papuans do not worship idols, but live in constant dread of the pure pure tauna (sorcerer), who has power, they say, to cause sickness or kill, as he pleases. A native would rather kill another if the sorcerer told him to do so than incur his displeasure. Much of what the sorcerers do is wonderful, and no doubt they are in league with the prince of darkness. To laugh at these people and tell them that sorcery is all nonsense does not raise a person in their estimation, as it is a terribly real thing to them. The better plan to follow is not to argue the point, but listen to their stories, and then try to show the wrong of having anything to do with such works of darkness.

David says, “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty,” and this is true of New Guinea. On several occasions missionaries have saved the lives of old men and women who were to be buried alive by their relatives when they had become too feeble to resist. Think also of the horrible custom of burying a living babe with its dead mother. “Why should the child stay and be a trouble to the nurse?” they argue. Pigs are killed in large numbers at a feast, and oftentimes roasted alive over the fire, the natives meanwhile enjoying the piercing cries of the dying creatures. On being reproved once by a missionary for this cruel practise, they replied: “Before you came, we did that to our prisoners, and some of us drank human blood raw. Pity a pig when we did not pity men!” Prior to a feast the wild pigs which have been caught are sometimes left for days in the hot sun, without food or water, with their feet tied so tightly that they swell out of all proportion.

The gospel has lost none of its power, and it is able to change the hearts of cruelty for minds filled with love and pity.

S. W. CARR.

Outward Bound

One of the outbound missionaries, Elder R. W. Munson, with his family, on leaving Australia for the East Indian mission field, where he had before labored, writes:—

“We are glad, very glad, to be permitted to return to the land of our adoption, the ever-green shores of the East India islands. Yet we have a keen sense of the heavy responsibility that rests upon us as workers for God in that difficult and very needy field.

“I never felt more than I do to-day that without Christ we can do nothing. Except he go up with us, it will be vain for us to go up hence. But we have the blessed assurance, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’ That being the case, we feel brave as did Caleb and Joshua at Kadesh-barnea when they said, ‘Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.’

“In the name of Israel’s God we go up against the high-walled cities of the East Indies, particularly of Java. There are giants in the land, but we shall conquer as did Israel, but I do not want to wait forty years before seeing the work accomplished. Pray for us that we may not limit the God of Israel through unbelief. Pray for all the workers, and write to them cheering, encouraging letters now and then.

“You have little idea what cheer, what hope and confidence, it puts into our hearts to hear from you. You can never know what trials oppress us and what terrors sometimes assail us, until you are situated as we are. Therefore, pray for us! We are down in the mine; you must hold the ropes. Those who pray will give. You can not feel a burden for the island fields and not pay as well as pray for them.”

Salt Lake City, Utah

By W. L. Gardner; Eva M. Gardner

The ladies' department of our treatment-rooms was destroyed by fire Monday night, March 21. The loss in treatment appliances and furnishings was about five hundred dollars. We carried no insurance. The cause of the fire is unknown.

The main offices and gents' department were much damaged by smoke, but we are keeping our plant running, and the damage to the ladies' department will be repaired as rapidly as possible. The owner of the building, a prominent Mormon bishop, has been very kind to us, and says he will repair the building in the shortest time possible. He is also helping us in our work of repair.

We had installed more treatment appliances about two weeks ago, and were ready for better work than ever before. Why this loss should come we do not understand, but we do not feel to complain, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

Our courage is good, and we press onward and upward with renewed energy, knowing this is the Lord's work, and with his blessing it will succeed. If the Lord be for us, who can be against us?

DRS. W. L. AND EVA M. GARDNER.

Field Notes

THERE are five persons now awaiting baptism at Oxly, Mo.

TWO have recently taken their stand for the truth at Newark, N. J.

AS the result of work at Corinth, Vt., one earnest soul is keeping the Sabbath.

ELDER J. W. BEAMS reports the baptism of five, as a result of meetings held at Greensburg, Mo.

AT VALENTINE, Neb., four have begun to keep the Sabbath, and a good interest is manifested by others.

RECENTLY two persons were baptized in Muskogee, Okla., and others are keeping the Sabbath at that place.

ELDER G. W. WHITE reports several having taken their stand for the truth at North Platte, Neb., recently.

AS the result of meetings held since the week of prayer, eight have united with the church at Liberal, Kan.

SIX additions to the church in St. Louis, Mo., is reported, following a series of meetings recently held there.

IN the First Church at Kansas City, Kan., nine were baptized February 19, and two more the Sabbath following.

THE report comes from Brother H. R. Godfrey, at Quinter, Kan., that eight are now keeping the Sabbath at that place.

Missionary Volunteer Reading Courses

By M. E.

Last fall our young people were invited to join a spare-minute circle. The older young people took up the reading of three good books, and for our juniors two books were selected. Many young people enrolled; a large number are persevering in their decision, and some have reread at least the first book. One writes, “I wish I could remember every word in ‘Quiet Talks,’ it is so good.” O the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of the friendship of good books! They help to fortify the mind against temptation, they comfort and cheer, they inform and inspire us with the experiences of others.

The first book in the senior course can not fail to create in the earnest reader a deeper desire for unselfish service, nor can he close that book without knowing better how to serve. The second book acquaints the reader with one of the earth’s most needy mission fields, while the last in the course is the history of our denominational work. Are not these important subjects? Do they not bear strongly upon the salvation of our youth? The first book in the junior course is filled with beautiful stories of the Holy Land, while the last will call the attention of the readers to the birds which God sends to cheer his children.

I am wondering if we are doing all in our power to acquaint our youth with these good books. Young people will read, and what they read will as surely influence their lives as does the air they breathe. If some young people in your home or your church have lost out by the way, will not you help them to grasp anew this opportunity to make themselves more useful to the world, choicer comrades to their friends, more wholesome companions for themselves, and better messengers for the Master? The books may still be secured; the course still may be completed, and the blessing still be enjoyed—even at this eleventh hour. Encourage those who have begun, to press on!

M. E.

The Temperance “Instructor”

By M. E. K.

Do you know that saloons were closed in the United States at the rate of forty a day in 1909? Yet the warfare is only begun.

At least two great results will come from an active campaign by our young people with the Temperance Instructor:—

A heavy blow for the cause of temperance.
A mighty spiritual uplift to the young people.

How can any one be indifferent to this deadly enemy of home, happiness, manhood, and virtue,—this enemy that stalks through our land, with “license” to carry forward its nefarious business? We must not sit idly by while the terrible cigarette evil reaps its gruesome harvest of blighted boyhood and ruined manhood, and while the liquor traffic annually sweeps into the cataclysm of ruin a hundred thousand noble boys and sixty thousand precious girls. God has placed in our hands one of the keenest weapons ever produced, and its vigorous use now will accomplish results for time and eternity.

And our young people need something of this kind. They have been instructed, and have good impulses, but they must put these things into practise, that the truths learned may become a part of their lives. “Every true reform has its place in the work of the gospel. . . . Especially does the temperance reform demand the support of Christian workers.” Here is a good place for our young people to begin. The curse of intemperance is something concrete, which the youth can easily see. Enlist them in this warfare, and you have quickened their interest in all gospel work, given them confidence that they can do something tangible for the uplifting of humanity, and cause many to look forward to the Lord’s work as their life-work.

These two results are worthy of the most earnest efforts on the part of every Seventh-day Adventist. Let nothing hinder parents or church leaders from giving their young people every possible encouragement to take part in this temperance campaign. Plan together with them for carrying out the suggested temperance rally in your church. Let many of the older people give them practical encouragement by taking up the work with the Temperance Instructor themselves.

M. E. K.

The Morning Watch Calendar

By M. E.

THE last notice of the Morning Watch Calendar in the REVIEW, brought to the office a small avalanche of personal orders. But there may still be some who are not supplied, or who have friends that would be helped by this little daily reminder. We can not easily overestimate the importance of the morning personal devotion. All who have tried it will doubtless indorse the advice of John T. Stone, who says: “Face the work of every day with the influence of a few thoughtful, quiet moments with your own heart and God. Do not meet other people, even those of your own home, until you have first met the great Guest and honored Companion of your life—Jesus Christ. Meet him alone. Meet him regularly. Meet him with his open Book of counsel before you; and face the regular and irregular duties of each day with the influence of his personality, controlling your every act.”

A young man of Washington State says: “The Lord has wonderfully blessed us lately. The Morning Watch Calendar is almost indispensable. One gets such strength from a talk with the Lord before he goes to his work. I seem to feel happier the day through.” Space will not permit the many personal testimonials that have been given in its favor. It is a little thing, but as the slender cord draws in the strong rope which anchors the ship securely to the wharves, so the little “daily reminder” is drawing into many lives the strong habit of regular personal devotion which will anchor them securely to the Rock of Ages. It is late to begin. But now is better than to wait until next January. There are still a few calendars in stock. Send your address and five cents to the Missionary Volunteer Department and get one by return mail.

M. E.

Three New Leaflets

By M. E. K.

The Missionary Volunteer Department has published a series of leaflets, some for our workers and older people, and others for the use of the young people. Three new ones have recently come from the press.

Number 25, “The Enlisting and Training of Raw Recruits,” primarily for workers and older members. Three cents each, five or more, 1½ cents each.

Number 26, “The Importance of the Missionary Volunteer Movement,” a talk by Elder A. G. Daniells on Missionary Volunteer day, which will be of interest to all. Two cents each, five or more, one cent each.

Number 27, “A Near-by Mission Field.” This excellent article by Prof. E. A. Sutherland, on the needs of the Southern highlanders, ought to do much to awaken an interest in this important mission field. Three cents each; five or more, 1½ cents each. Order from the proper conference officers or the Missionary Volunteer Department, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C.

M. E. K.

Young People's Work

Conducted by the Young People's Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference

M. E. Kern - - - - Secretary

Matilda Erickson - Corresponding Secretary

Missionary Volunteer Day

By M. E. K.

“I THINK Missionary Volunteer day was well received by the churches, and as far as I have heard, was quite a success,” writes one Missionary Volunteer secretary.

A local leader says that the special meeting has given his society new life and interest.

In some churches great interest has been awakened, and as a result the young people have been organized for effective work.

The Northern Union Conference was in session at Des Moines, Iowa, on Missionary Volunteer day, and the entire day was given to the consideration of this important phase of our work. Elder A. G. Daniels’s talk has been prepared as Missionary Volunteer Leaflet Number 26.

Did your church observe the day? Some churches that could not carry out the program on February 26, have had it since. It is not too late yet. Elder Daniels said, “I am profoundly thankful that we can, at least one Sabbath in the year, give ourselves up entirely to the interests of our children, and I pray that this may be a day of victory and blessing to the young people of this cause.”

Those who have been pursuing the Missionary Volunteer Reading Course have had their interest aroused in the Moslem world. It seemed fitting that the offering on Missionary Volunteer day should be devoted to opening the work among the two hundred twenty-five million followers of Mohammed, for whom scarcely anything has been done. The offering goes as regular mission funds, but should be marked “Missionary Volunteer Offering for Mohammedan Fields.”

Please send a report of the day’s program in your church to your Missionary Volunteer secretary.

M. E. K.

Tuberculosis and Missions

The International Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis has appointed Sunday, April 24, as a day when special instruction on this most important subject shall be given in every church throughout the United States. Ministers in these churches are to preach sermons pertaining to this matter on that day. The General Conference Committee has signified its desire that in all our churches proper discourses shall be given on this subject on Sabbath, April 23. Where church elders or others may so desire, the following article may be read:—

There is no subject before the people of the United States to-day that more intimately concerns them than that of tuberculosis. In his letter of acceptance of the presidency of the International Congress on Tuberculosis, held in Washington, Sept. 21 to Oct. 12, 1908, Mr. Roosevelt said:—

“The importance of the crusade against tuberculosis, in the interests of which this congress convenes, can not be overestimated when it is realized that tuberculosis costs our country two hundred thousand lives a year, and the entire world one million lives a year, besides constituting a most serious handicap to material progress, prosperity, and happiness, and being an enormous expense to society, most often in those walks of life where the burden is least bearable.”

“Science has demonstrated that this disease can be stamped out, but the rapidity and completeness with which this can be accomplished depend upon the promptness with which the new doctrines about tuberculosis can be inculcated into the minds of the people and engrafted upon our customs, habits, and laws.”

One of the most impressive exhibits at the congress on tuberculosis referred to above was three incandescent bulbs burning brightly in a row on a conspicuous board. At intervals of two minutes and thirty-six seconds the lights flashed out, then off again. Under the lights were these words:—

With each flash of the light, some one is dying of tuberculosis in the United States— 1 every 2 minutes, 36 seconds. 23 every hour. 548 every day. 200,000 every year (Mr. Roosevelt’s estimate). And every death is unnecessary because from a preventable disease.

The statisticians of the Prudential Life Insurance Company in 1904 estimated the annual cost to the United States because of tuberculosis to be $240,000,000, or approximately three dollars for every man, woman, and child. Tuberculosis is the cause of one seventh of all deaths.

Some of us are slow to believe that we as a people are as subject to tuberculosis as we are. Of the 265 deaths reported with causes in the REVIEW AND HERALD last year, tuberculosis was given as the cause in forty cases. This means that one in every 6½ deaths was the result of tuberculosis, an even higher rate than that of New York City for 1908, or of the District of Columbia for the past thirty years.

Three hundred eleven deaths were reported in the REVIEW last year without giving the cause. Supposing the percentage of deaths from tuberculosis is the same among these as among those where causes were given, which is more than likely, we should have reported in this paper eighty-seven deaths from this disease, in the United States only, last year.

An appalling feature of this is also that the great majority of these deaths were of people in early or middle life, when they should have been of the greatest service in the cause of God.

Compare these figures with the number of missionaries we sent out from this country. During last year we furnished ninety-eight persons, counting both the man and his wife where families were sent, as foreign missionaries. The conclusion is that we are sacrificing to this preventable disease every year as many persons in the prime of life as we are sending as missionaries to other lands. Does this mean anything to you? Are you interested in missions? Then help us stamp out this disease as far as we can among our people. If the young people we are sacrificing to the great white plague each year could be saved from this disease and turned toward the needy fields, we could double our recruits to the ranks of foreign missionaries, and this with no more expense than the disease is causing us.

More than this. Those who are suffering with tuberculosis are a constant care and menace to the health of those who must care for them. Many are in this way becoming infected. How important, then, that we be as well informed as possible as to the cause, prevention, symptoms, course, and treatment of consumption.

The exciting cause of tuberculosis is a germ one ten-thousandth of an inch long and one hundred-thousandth of an inch wide. It must be magnified five hundred diameters in order to be seen. Upon gaining entrance to the body, either through the air or through food, it develops and multiplies very rapidly. When located in some spot, the body endeavors to fence it about by hardening tissue, and this lump is called a tubercle, hence the name. Thousands of these germs may enter the body and be overpowered by it if the resistance or general health is preserved. If, however, for some reason the resistance is lowered, the germs gain the ascendency, and tuberculosis results. The tubercles in the lungs break down, the germs are thrown off through the air, and other persons become infected, hence the great need of prohibiting the habit of expectorating.

The most important thing in preventing tuberculosis, as well as in treating the disease, is to secure conditions most favorable to maintaining vigorous health. Proper food, fresh air, sunshine, and rest are the essentials to health. Tuberculosis depends more upon indirect causes than upon the direct cause, the germ. A healthy body may successfully resist the invasion of the germ, and even combat it when the disease has gotten a foothold; hence the great importance of maintaining the best condition for preserving health when we have it. The old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is nowhere more applicable than here. It is much easier to prevent consumption than to cure it. Our first duty then, as well people, is to secure such conditions as will insure a continuation of health. The same treatment that will cure consumption will prevent it.

The symptoms of tuberculosis are not always plain, neither are they constant. Some of the most common are: (1) Gradually failing health, with loss of appetite and weight; (2) slight rise of temperature in the afternoon, from 99° to 101°, with subnormal temperature, as low as 97°, in the early part of the day; (3) this temperature causes what is known as a hectic flush, which manifests itself by a more or less diffused red spot on the cheeks a little above the ordinary location of the rosy cheeks; (4) night sweats occur in quite a large proportion of cases, but this is not constant; (5) cough is present in most pulmonary cases. While it is not best to give too much thought to symptoms, it is well to take an occasional inventory of one’s condition, and if serious signs present themselves, to give attention to these immediately. When these symptoms present themselves for any considerable length of time, one ought to consult a competent physician to ascertain the reason.

We can not here enter into a full discussion of the subject of food. A proper amount of all the elements—fat, protein, and carbohydrates—is necessary. Fats and carbohydrates are especially important, for from these the body derives energy and heat. Fats are derived from cream, butter, nuts, yolks of eggs, olives, olive-oil, cottonseed oil, and animal fats. If in our reform in diet we as a people have erred, it has been in limiting the element of fat in our dietary. In seeking a substitute for flesh meat our food in some instances has been lacking in this essential. More wholesome fats may be obtained from olives, olive-oil, cottonseed oil, nuts, and cream than from flesh foods. It is hoped that these suggestions concerning diet food, will not cause any to go to another extreme in this respect.

Protein, the element of food obtained from lean meat, beans, peas, lentils, curd of milk, white of eggs, and nuts, is an essential part of food, but this element is so well distributed through all foodstuffs that there is little danger of an under supply. Even bread has the proper proportion necessary for body needs. Flesh meat, the ordinary source of protein, is not essential, even in tuberculosis, unless it be in a case where there is no appetite for anything else. One fertile source of tuberculosis is diseased meats, and milk from diseased animals. Any animal products should be thoroughly sterilized by heat before being used as food. It is likely that a very large percentage of deaths in children results from the use of tuberculous milk. Wherever this product is used, it should be either Pasteurized, which means heating for from thirty minutes to an hour at from 140° to 160° F., or brought to the boiling-

Medical Missionary Department

Conducted by the Medical Department of the General Conference

W. A. RUBLE, M. D. . . . Secretary

D. H. KREBS, M. D. . . . Field Secretaries L. A. HANSEN

Fresh Air and Sunlight for Tuberculosis

By W. A. R.

point. Pasteurization is preferable, for the reason that boiling diminishes the digestibility of some constituents of milk. Butter is a frequent carrier of tuberculosis. One should be certain that the cows from which this product comes are tested occasionally for tuberculosis. Carbohydrates (sugars) come from grains, vegetables, fruits, sugars, sirups, and honey.

Plenty of water is also essential to health. Cream, milk, and other fat emulsions, eggs with well-cooked grains, fine vegetables, legumes, and nuts, with fruit at proper times, compose an ideal diet for tuberculous patients and suspects, as well as for well persons. Proper mastication is important.

Fresh air is a most important feature night and day. The old theory that night air is bad has exploded long ago. Fresh outdoor air is as essential by night as by day. Sleep outdoors if possible. If not, have two or more windows open wide. Proper precaution as to exposure to drafts is necessary. Breathe deeply when in the outdoor air. Expand the lungs fully.

Germs exposed to sunshine can survive but a short time. Germs, like mold, are vegetables that thrive best in dark places. When exposed to light, they wither and die, as a potato sprout that has grown in the dark does when exposed to sunlight. Then let the sunlight into your rooms. Expose the bedding, carpets, and clothing to the sunlight. Open your windows and blinds, and throw back the curtains, during the day and night. Health depends much upon proper exposure of the body to sunlight. Sun-baths are excellent. Patients whose temperature is above normal, however, should not remain long exposed to the direct rays of the sun.

Rest is essential in health or disease. Insufficient rest of body and mind is disastrous. Especially is rest necessary in tuberculosis. While a person who has this disease is having any rise of temperature, he should rest in bed or in an easy chair all the time.

What shall we do about those who are afflicted with this disease? They may be cared for without much danger to others if proper precautions are observed. All patients suffering with tuberculosis should be under the care of a good physician, and should give heed to the suggestions regarding fresh air, food, and rest. The mouth should be covered with a large handkerchief when coughing, for germs are thrown out into the surrounding air unless this precaution is observed. These handkerchiefs should be kept between coughs in a receptacle that can be sterilized. All sputum must be collected in a receiver that can be burned. The patient should, of course, sleep alone, and if possible the bed should be exposed to the sunlight an hour or more before it is made up.

The many cases of sickness and increasing disease all about us offer an exceptional opening for us to gain access to the people. With the great light we have, we should be foremost of all people in helping others. Where is there such a wide-open, unobstructed door to the homes and hearts of the people as through the gateway of human need in time of suffering? A certain church in Boston establishes classes for tuberculous patients, and instructs them and their friends concerning the prevention of the disease, and the care of those who are sick with it. They report seventy-five per cent of these patients cured by this means. It costs the church one thousand dollars a year.

This brings us to the question of climate. It was thought at one time that mountain altitude and air were essential to successful treatment of tuberculosis. Happily this has been found to be a non-essential. Almost, if not quite, as large a percentage of people recover from consumption in their own homes, or possibly I should say, just outside of their own homes, on the roof or veranda, as recover when sent to some mountain region. Fresh air, proper food, and care do not depend upon altitude. These, fortunately, are more easily obtainable at home than away from home. Then, too, the great majority of those afflicted can not afford to go to a distant altitude.

The object of this article, then, is to urge preventive measures. Every Seventh-day Adventist should be awake to this subject.

Summary

As many of our people in the United States in the prime of life are sacrificed to tuberculosis annually as we send away as foreign missionaries.
Tuberculosis is a preventable disease. If we do not prevent it as far as lies in our power, are we not guilty of violating the principle of the sixth commandment?
The preventive as well as the curative measures are plenty of fresh air, proper food, adequate rest.
Other churches are taking advantage of this situation to gain access to the people. Should we not do something along this line?

W. A. R.

Declines to Prosecute

By K. C. R.

THE following, from the Kansas City Journal of March 25, illustrates how Sunday-law crusaders can carry their evil work to such an extreme that it becomes obnoxious to prosecutors of the law:—

“A committee representing the local barbers’ union, and another the grocers of the city, recently called upon Henry Jost, assistant county prosecutor, and demanded of him the Sunday closing of barber shops and grocery stores. Mr. Jost has refused on the grounds that with the thousands of dollars spent to close such places during the last crusade, there were only five convictions of breaking law, and the total amount of fines paid did not exceed five dollars.”

Death of Justice Brewer

THE death of Justice Brewer occurred at 10:35 P. M., March 28, 1910.

The name of Justice Brewer is one that is familiar in nearly every Seventh-day Adventist home as the distinguished jurist who rendered the famous Supreme Court decision of Feb. 29, 1892, declaring this “a Christian nation.”

There has doubtless been no one act that has given greater prestige to the champions of religious legislation than this one. This decision is frequently cited by the advocates of Sunday laws as a proof that religious elements can properly be incorporated into the laws of the land. The Washington Post of March 28, 1910, in referring to some of the decisions rendered by Justice Brewer, makes mention of his “Christian nation” decision in the following unique manner:—

“Another and somewhat amusing decision was rendered in the Holy Trinity Church case, in which he ruled that the statute which forbids the importation of foreign contract laborers did not apply to ministers of the gospel. In this decision Justice Brewer for the first time set forth that the United States was a ‘Christian nation,’ thus for once and all establishing our status in the matter of creed.”

It is to be deeply lamented that men who occupy positions of such great influence in the country as did this eminent jurist, should be so blinded to the true principles of religious liberty that a decision so contrary to the true American idea of civil government should be rendered.

K. C. R.

Continue reading: Religious Liberty Notes