Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, February 5, 1916, Page 12

(Written Specially for The Bulletin.) It's rather common for farmers as well as other folks to “take things for granted.” There’'s a big difference between “taking things for granted” and tak- ing them as mere possibilities or as likely probabilities. There's a differ- ence between “taking things _ for granted” and accepting them as facts after they been proved. To “take a thing for granted” im- plies that we admit it without re- quiring proof, merely on somebody’'s say-so or on our own self-evolved opinion of its likelihood. For illustration of what | mean One man. “takes it for granted” that the coming summer is going to be a dry season. His only basis for the assumption is that last season was over-wet, and he doesn’t think there can be two seasons in succession of the same sort. (As if the Egyptians didn’t have seven famine years all in a bunch, one directly after the other!) On the other side, most of us read- ily assume that the sun will rise to- morrow. Why? . Well, the known laws of gravitatfon and of the earth’s rev- olution make it practically - certain that, unless there is an absolute re- versal of natural law, the sun must rise tomorrow. Furthermore, the un- broken record of the sun’s behavior for several thousand years proves that it has never broken its getting-up en- Zagements yet. Which is another rea- son for believing that it won't begin tomorrow. That is, the thing which one man “takes for granted” about the coming season’s weather is based solely on a mere theory of his own without any preponderating evidence either for or against it; while the thing which we all assume as certain about tomorrow’s sunrise is based on our confidence in universal natural laws which have shown themselves immutable and unvarying for thou- sands of years to human knowledge, and for millions of vears, according to the best attainable evidence. Sometimes | think that farmers, even more than most other people, are apt to jump at conclusions witkout first meking sure the conclusion is something solid -and not a mere fog- bank of personal guesswork. That we are apt to take irresponsible say- sos as commandments of farming. That we are given to accepting cur- rent practice as mandatory, without first finding out, each for himself, the why and the wherefore of it. I don’t assert point-blank that we are more given that way than other men. I simply say that I sonietimes suspect it. Whether my suspicion is well-founded_or is a mistake matters very little. What matters very much is ‘the real fact in the case. For, whether the habit be general or_only sporadic. it is “bad medicine” and fol- lowing it is bad business We are supposed to be reasonable beings and the first duty of reason is to find out the Why. Nothing happens without a reason or a cause. At least, nothing ever has, yet, and nothing ever can till the Great Lawmaker re- peals His own laws. Cause always precedes effect and effect always fol- lows cause. But, in a world so com- plex as this and with so many things happening on it, at about the same time, it often happens that two things, neither of which is cause or effect of the other may happen right together. The old Latin phrase, “Post hoc, non propter hoc” applies to such cases. STOMACH SUFFERER ‘GETS PROMPT HELP Hartford Resident Gets Quiock Relief From Use of Wonderful emedy. Mrs. S. E. Johnson of 61 Whitmore street, Hartford, Conn.. was a victim of stomach and digestive disorders, attended by much pain. She suffered from pains in the side and other dis- comforts. She took Mayr's Wonderful Rem- edy and found quick relie In writing of her experience she sai 'The pain left me the nex taking the remedy. It’s simply won- derful how it relieved me and you may be sure I shall tell every one who has stomach trouble about it.” Mayr’s Wonderful Remedy gives per- manent results for stomach, liver and intestinal ailments. Eat as much and whatever you like. No more distress after eating, pressure of gas in the stomach and around the heart. Get one bottle of your druggist now and try it on an absolute guarantee—if not satis- factory money will be returned. day after ®ccount of Increase In price of to- the Whitestome Cigar will e sold from now on at 1,000, Tm NOTHING FOR GRANTED, PROVE THINGS FOR YOURSELF il “Following it, not because of it” the words may be Englished. And right there is where the task of reason comes in—to distinguish clearly .and cleanly between a chance happening which occurs after some- thing else, and an event which occurs not only after, but because of some- thing else. The chance happening may never happen again in that connection, because it is only a happening and not inherently related to the before- hand matter. But the effect which follows cause will always follow it, step by step and line by line, with mathematical accuracy. If it doesn't sometimes seem to, the difficulty is in our ignorance, not in the event. We may not always see all the causes at work. That's our misfortune or our fault. Th e there justthe same, and we have no more excuse for denying them than we would have for denying the existence of the Alps because we can’t see them from anywhere in New London county. Does all this seem pretty dull and stupid talk to farmers? I'm moved to it by a recent bulletin of the New York Agricultural Experiment station, which has been investigating the ef- fect of various dressings on pruning wounds of fruit trees. For nobody knows how many years self-styled tree experts have been'ad- vising the ‘use of various paints and other coatings over the wounds made in orchard pruning, as a protection to the - exposed surfaces. It has been stated that such treatment prevented the attacks of fungi on the raw cuts, hirdered drying and rot and helped the healing process. And thousands of orchardists, who wanted to be good to their trees and to give, them every help possible, have “takén for granted” that these assertions were correct and this advice deserving of obedience. Somé years ago it occurred to the managers of the New York station to find out just what the facts were about this painting over of pruning wounds. So they took a set of trees, apple and peach, and put them through their paces. Some they left for months and then painted. Some they pruned and painted in the spring. In every case they treated from three to four wounds on a tree and left an equal number on the same tree untreated, as a check. They used, in order, the various sub- stances variously recommended by various “experts”, i. e. white lead, white zinc, yellow ochre, coal tar, shellac and avenarius carbolineum. . The results, after four years’ watch- ing of the tested trees, are illuminat- ing. The testers report that * in all cases undressed pruning wounds have healed more quickly than those whose surfaces have been protected.” Shel- lac seemed to do the least harm of any and ochre and- avenarius carbolineum the most. These last two ‘“caused so much injury that neither should ever be used” On the whole ‘“there is nothing to show in this experiment that it is worth while to treat wounds, large or small, of apple trees with any of the substances in common use. As to peaches: “The treatment of peach tree wounds with any of the sub- stances under experiment caused So much injury that it may be said that the wounds of the peach should never be treated with any of them.” New York happens to be one of the great apple states of the unlon, and it was natural that everything connected with the industry should be of special interest there. But there are quite & few apple trees in little old Connec- cut, and more than a few peach trees. The findings of these New York ex- periments will be of interest to a good many people in this sister state. For myself, I humbly and contritely plead guilty to having fallen into the very error I am now preaching against. Because the so-called “tree experts” had advised painting wounds made by the pruning saw I had “taken it for granted” that they must know and_that I ought to follow their lead. So TI've painted ovér lots of pruning wounds. Not all for sometimes I'd find myself out of paint, and some- times I've been too dum lazy. I ad- mit, frankly, ‘that I've,never seen any good from the practice and that my enthusiasm for it has gradually cooled down with the years. I've rather per- functorily ascribed my apparent fail- ures either to my own inexpertness or to poor quality of paint. Yet, when the practice is subjected to a really acid test, it turns out that the highly expert faculty of the station with the very best of paints to use can't find any value in the practice, but do find some damage caused by it. I'm not going to be so mighy modest and humble about my own observa- tlons, another time! The experimenters admit, merely as a possibility not yet disproved, that a longer observation than four years on very large wounds ‘might, perhaps” show ‘some prevention of rot due to thy se of paint. Well, I've just been out looking over my few apple trees. And the very i grade chemicals. ““The Maine. ¥ The most vaiuable crops are those which are treated with the best fertilizers, and the best fertilizers are those which contain nature’s food. Lowell Animal Fertilizers are made of BONE, BLOOD, MEAT and high They meake your soil rich and productive in nature’s own way. And they are always active, continually feeding the crop with nutrition enough tokeep the soil rich and productive. The war cut off the supply of potash. We immediately con- ducted extensive experiments through New England with specially prepared formulas, which produced abundant crops. Experiment Station tried out with and some without potash. The resalt See your local agent or address LOWELL FERTILIZER CO., Bosfon, Mass. OWEL BONE BLOOD FERTILIZERS B d MEAT i3 fore the days of hospital care ANIMAL BF £ 85 P 2 o 83 ether my ignorant though well- t efforts to help it caused the ‘not, of course I can’t say. But it is pertectly evident to the most ca The problem of the needs and care of the insane, and their relations to the family and community, and par- ticularly the study of causes and pre- vention of insanity have heretofore been left very largely to socleties or individuals who give their time to this special work: More than any oth- er class the insane have come to be regarded as wards of the state. From time immemorial they have been mis- understood and generally (gnored.tge~ ey were popularly considered as the vic- tims of demoniacal possession; since care has been provided in hospitals, especially adapted to them, they have been removed from public attention, and consequently from public inter- est. At no time has insanity received any such consideration and study as has been bestowed upon tuberculosis and other physical disorders. It is not strange, therefore, that to unthink- ing and uninformed public opinion all cases of insanity are alike. The man who has never studied this form of disease has no knowledge of causes and is as likely to see-in a mental trouble a visitation as an illness. He can take account only of superficial conditions and cannot see in symptoms reactions to definite mental processes, and he passes the patient as one suf- fering from a malady fated and in- curable. As of old the Persians looked upon thelr sick as unclean, and not to be touched, so today the receiving office of any institution for the insane en- counters ideas and attitudes indica- tive of just as much lack of knowledge and the same sort of superstition. Public Should Know. “Once insane, always insane,” has been the public conception of mental illness, and probably -there has never been a time when the occurrence of insanity did not carry with it a stig- ma. To add further to the lop-sided ideas and confusion in the lay mind, physicians in general practice have avoided the subject and psychiatrists have not always been in full accord. There is obvious need to bring to pub- lic attention conditions that, directly or indirectly, are responsible for more pain and suffering than occurs in any other form of illness, and to present some of the problems that are related to a cla#s that in numbers make up a large percentage of the population of the state. The effort to get a public hearing for the insane through newspapers and magazines ‘is not .a new ,one, and like many humanitarian' projects, had its inception abroad where hiymanitar- ianism seems no longer to exist. Mor- el, of Belgium, some years since, speaking before the National Associa- tion of Charities. and Correction, ad- vocated Guardian Societies -for the insane on the belief that “much good could be done by giving popular ad- dresses upon the predisposing and ex- citing causes of insanity and preven- tive treatment of the malady. When once these questions become under- stood by the public, mutual aid, moral as well as material, becomes possible. From that moment the insane will be considered as sufferers from disease. These popular addresses should in- struct as to the patlent’s early treat- ment, giving short and clear descrip- tions showing how a mental trouble | can be recognized. People still remain distrustful of hospitals for the insane. ‘They do not believe as they should that many cures are possible and that they are more frequent and rapid if the patient be placed early under treat- ment. Guardian socleties should in this way help to prepare people by in- formation which shall combat these prejudices, and the public should be taught to take an interest in what ac- tually goes on in asylums and how patients are treated there. These re- sults can only be obtained by constant co-operation among persons of broad ideals who shall interest themselves in arranging public lectures in which shall be set forth the suffering en- gendered by mental disease, the hope that lies in early treatment, and the conditions which may contribute to recovery and prevent a recurrence ‘of the disease.” In Massachusetts. A practical attempt is being made in Massachusetts to arouse interest and to spread information on what is be- ing done for the insane, together with suggestions as to methods of preven- tion, by inviting representatives of the newspapers to visit the hospitals, to study methods at first hand, and to hear reports by members of the med- ical staff. At such a meeting held last month twenty-four newspapers were represented. The press has per- formed a remarkable service in re- cent years in presenting the essential facts in an instructive manner con- cerming diptheria, typhoid fever, small-pox, and other diseases, their causes, and preventive measures that may be employed against them. As fruitful a service can be performed for mental disease. In order to make effective any ef- fort directed toward the prevention of insanity it is essential, first, that ‘the haze of superstition and the idea that insanity “just happens” and Is not the result of definite causes be cleared away; second, that the fact be recog- nized that there are entirely distinct forms of insanity due to absolutely different causes. It -cannot be safely maintained that of the .various forms of insanity the cause is known for every group or class, but the causative factors are understood in at least fifty per cent. of all cases, of which more than half are absolutely preventable. One of the most natable examples of a mental diseage traceable to, a sin- gle cause is paresis, or general alysis of the insane, which, until with in ebout three years, was regarded as due to excesses of various kinds, direct injury, or over-exertion. It is now admitted beyond any sort of question tiht it 18 o eyphilitic ‘disease. The extent of the prevalence of this dis- order is probably. pot,generally known. One hears of a case now and thdw but 3’0:\: rence is not outside the immediate _comes to public atten- tion is report of a heat prostration, a condition of nervous exhaustion, a con- vulsive seizure caused by over-eating, for a’ % . But after little ‘malady declares itself and-lesds PREVENTABLE FORMS OF INSANITY Described by Dr. Whitefield N. ‘ Hartford Retreat and Chairman of Executive Committee of Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. be to be waste- llvuu:utom‘mhm minds to reason with, They're about the most useful-tools we've got, too. It's & pity we don't all of us use them dot s more than we S, THE FARMER. Thompson, Superin'tondent‘ of ) to the patient’s removal to an‘institu- tion where the' doors close behind an incurable, ‘the rest of whose life is, for obvious reasons, charitably hidden. The Death Rate. It is only when the agsregate toll' of paresis is considered that the need of measures to combate it becomes ap- parent. - Since the disease runs a fatal course in from one to three years an idea of its prevalence may be gained elther from the reports of admissions to hospitals or from the mortality re- ports. The annual death rate from paresis in the state of New York is about one thousand; one man in every nine and one woman in every thirty, the country over, who die be- tween the ages of forty and sixty dle from this disease. The admissions to the hospitals for the insane In the United States number about seventy thousand annually, and of these ap- proximately ten per cent. are victims of general paralysis. The ratio in the. eastern states is somewhat higher. Syphilis of the brain and.other syphili- tic disorders causing insanity are re- sponsible for from one and a half to two per cent. more. - A very consider- able number of paretics and other of the classes just mentioned never come to hospital care. The aggregate, then, of mental diseases resulting from syphilis, a.preventable disorder, must run well toward ten thousand annually. As a . public health problem the con- trol of hyphilis is outranked in num- ber and kind only by diseases than candbe counted on the fingers of one hand. Alcohol Greatest Cause. Certain poisons produce degenerative disorders of the nervous system which eventuate in —mental weakness; of these alcohol is responsible for by far the largest number. There is no community of opinion as to the exact action of alcohol on the nervous sys- tem, and out of widely differing opin- ifon it is not easy to arrive at conclu- sions. In the last general census which was inclusive of the population of institutions for the insane the computation of alcoholic psychoses was meant to include only “the men tal diseases which by their character- istic sympfoms are known to be the direct of alcoholic intemperance”. Above ten per cent. of the admissions into institutions for the insane were reported under the general head “al- coholic psychoses”. This would mean that at the present time not less than seven thousand of the admissions In the current year were suffering from an illness of alcoholic origin. Ten per cent. is probably too low; twelve or fifteen would perhaps be nearer a true estimate. The percentage of re- covesies is very small. It cannot be a source of any particular satisfaction that the ratio in New England was found to be higher than in any other division in the national census. Korsakoff's disease is a characteris- tic though not very common form of insanity due to peculiar alcoholic poisoning. It is characteristic by un- usual disturbance of the memory, falsification of memory so-called—Iloss of interest in family and affairs, and utter inability to attend to business. ‘Such patients are unable to recall in the evening what has taken place dur- ing the day, and they make up out of ‘whole cloth statements that are so co- herent and connected as to deceive those who are not informed as to the facts. One patient related in ‘great detail his experience in attendance at the funeral of a friend, where the fu- neral was held, the clergyman who presided, the persons who were pres- ent—in fact, such detail as to make it seem impossible that the story could have been a fabrication, yet the man had not been away from the hospital grounds for many weeks, and the friend whose funeral he had so fully described was himself still attending to business. Such a patient is wrecked when this disease declares itself and alcohol is uhdeniably teh cause. Abuse of Alcohol and Law Violations. The abuse of alcohol is probably re- sponsible for many of the so-called paranoic conditions out of which grow so.many infractions against the law. These systematized delusional states are marked by suspicions and jealous- ies of those who have formerly been most trusted. The explanation that has been advanced for this particular mental attitude is that when the pa- tient has arrived at the point that he has suffered mental impairment from alcohol poisoning his judgment has become weakened, his ability to meet environment has narrowed, until he looks upon those who have criticized him as responsible for his troubles. Out of this situation ideas of jeal- ousy and persecution grow rather na- turally. It may be admitted that only certain temperaments suffer from al- cohol poisoning, but it should be. re- membered that without the alcohol, pecullarities and idiosynosynorasies would not have developed into mental disease. Alcohol and syphilis stand in the role of destructive agents to the ner- vous system and they are both con- tributory causes in other forms of in- sanity than paresis and the alcoholic psychoses. Physicians and nurses working out- side the hospitals and investigating conditions in which insanity has arisen are able to confirm many of the earlier assumptions relative to the causal -influence’ of ° alcohol. The elimination of alcohol and syphilis would relieve the occurrence of insan- lctymfl‘om twenty-five to thirty-five per ent. Many Preventable Cases. In the other groups, formed under the present system of classifying the different forms of insanity, there are no preventable classes but undoubted- ly many preventable cases. Insanity is not inherited as a disease but an hereditary tendency exists in' about twenty per cent. of the cases that come under hospital care. If we were to include the offspring of the feeble- minded who ‘become irsane, the per- centage would be somewhat larger. The preparatory. schools and colleges tur? out an unfortunitely large num- ber suffering from mental disease of a serious kind. It may be questioned here if work under undue stress in lines for which the-pupil was not well equipped may not be largely responsi- ‘These are the tim ble for e o i Lyrics by Henry Blossom.. Music by Victor Herbert Direct from one entire year at the Lyric Theatre, New York Beauty - /" Composed of Victor Herbert, Soloists Prices—Entire Lower Floor $1.50. Baloony $1.00 and 7Bc. .Family Circle 50c. ' Gallery 25c. Sale Wednesday, February Sth, at 10 a. m. e \ Singing nn?&%‘:fic « A Comedian You Will Like' TRIANGLE FEATURE ALOHAX OE 5 Part Ince duction with », Willard D. Mack and Enid Marken Two-Reel Keystone Comedy CONGERT ORGHESTRA EXTRAORDINARY-BILLS FOR BOTH TODAY AND MONDAY AN EXCELLENT 3 SHOWS - ELSIE JANIS in ‘“*TWAS EVER THUS” PARAMOUNT COMEDY AE SISTERS EUNIGE HOWE WEST and TETE UNIVERBAL s | And Her Talking Dog: | Heavy Weight Jugslers | COMEDY PICTURES, COMING! ALL NEXT WEEKY LEW ORTH'S MUSICAL COMEDY €O. 14—_PEOPLE—14 : Bigger and Better Than Ever—Presénting Entirely New Bills—Changed Monday and Thursday MONDAY AND TUESDAY / PARAMOUNT #5565 DONALD BRIAN in “THE VOICE IN THE FO” AMERICA’S LEADING MATINEE FAVORITE. ORIGINATOR OF THE “MERRY WIDOW"\WALTZ Former Star of “The Girl from Utah” Now Appearing in “Syble” at the Liberty Theatrs, New York . MATINEE, 10c. EVENING, 10¢ and 200" o A Y x o D Return Engagement SPECIAL 3 SHOWS DAILY—230, 7, 9.00 save misfits, not only in school but in the various walks of life, from under- taking that for which they are not adapted, which even in the attempt disables them mentally and more or less permanently. Tolland County STAFFORDVILLE Charles S. Cowles Leaves Pearl But- ton Factory—Fourth Quarterly Con- ference. S —— Colonial Theatre GEORGE %2 FYUINENT DRAMATIC STAR in “The Cotton NASH King”. . outh, New York and Sensa Powerful 5-Reel Drama Sunn tional Events. Don't Miss It MONDAY—“SHOULD A WOMAN DIVORCE?” S —————————— ——————————— _— vis farm, made a trip to Wickford re- | Jane Crandall, #idow. of:‘A. ;Clinton cently and purchased a horse. Crandall of MoséoWw, ‘were héld at the the week.end with Everett Moore and | home of her sister, Mrs. Davis Saund- famil; ers in Westerly, .where Mrs. Crandall Mrs. Edwin Smith returned home | had been the greater part of the time from Newport Saturday afternoon. since the death ef her husband, nearly Everett Moore and son, Ralph, were |a year ago. The funeral serv in Crompton and Auburn Saturday. conducted by Rev. Clayton Mrs. John W. Smith was a caller |dick of Westerly. : Buri through this vicinity Monday. Rockviile cemetery. George Sunderland and two daught- ers of Clifmore Farm were callers through here Saturda; Charles J. Green of Kenyon was caller at the Bell school Friday. Alex Smith captured a fox Friday. ROCKVILLE The funeral services of Mrs. Lydia Charies S. Cowles has resigned at the Pearl Button mill on account of ill health. He intends to return to his home in Willington after a visit with friends in Union and West Stafford. Pastor’s Family Quarantined. Rev. C. C. Lyon and famliy are un- der quarantine as ther daughter, Marjorie, is 111 with scarlet fever. Mrs. Napoleon Larges who broke her ankle sometime ago, is conval- escing. Her many friends aré glad to | hear she is able to be out. Quarterly Conference. Rev. G. G. Scrivener held the fourth quarterly conference at the Methodist parsonage last Saturday evening and preached an excellent sermon Sunday morning. in the Methoist church from Matt. 4.4: Man shall not live by bread but by every word that pro- eedeth out of the mouth of God. Robert Heck, of Wales, Mass, has bezun work in the Pearl Button mill and is boarding at the home of 1. A. Bosworth. Washington County, R. L. HOPKINTON Town Council Offers $500 Reward for Arrest of Murderer of Thomas D. Main. Cotton Supply Short. ckville and Centerville mills have been still this week dn Account of the cotton not coming. Albert Woodmansee and sister, Miss Charlotte Woodmanseg.are ~both {ll with' grip, >+ 2 B. E. Pendletan chards:is repertéd’ a 'y . Pleasant Or- 1 with grip. Avoid the Grip of Winter - These days are hardest on health and vitality. Wouldn’tatripsouthsave a possible breakdown? Wouldn’t a sea trip be just the thing? Plan now to take a bracing six-day voyage down the Coast and across the Gulf of Mexico to “Atlantic City of 5 GALVESTON ffaticsine: - Sailings from New York direct to Galveston, €alling at Key West - with connections for - Havana, also for Pllel Bem:hf .n: Miamt. Connections at Galveston for the pigturesque Southwest, Arizona and Californit. - . Liberal stop-over privileges on all tickets A. W, Pye, Passeriger’ Traffic Man- ager, Clyde Mallory_ Lines, Pier 36, North_River,” New SR(, or call upon local Railroad Ticket Agents. t. * s A special meeting of the town coun- ik cil was held at the town hall Monday afternoon and a reward of $500 was offered for the arrest, conviction and confinement of the murderer of Thom- as Dorr Main. A bill of ten dollars for | collecting statistics of births and Geaths in town during 1915 was or- dered - paid. Rev. E. Adelbert Witter accompan- ied his daughter, Miss Delberta, to a hospital in Providence, Friday, where she was operated on Saturday. In his absence, his pulpit was occupied Sat- urday morning by Rev. E. P. Mathew- son. Mr. Mathewson also conducted the Friday evening meeting in the Ashaway church on account of the ill- ness of pastor, H. C. Van Horn. Hon. E. B. Allen has been confined to the house this week by a severe cold. Others ill with the prevailing dis- temper are Walter F. Mills, Deborah Wells, Deacon Roger W. Lewis and wife. . Mr. Slattery, an attorney from Prov- idence, has been a daily visitor for a few days at the town clerk’s office in- specting the title of the Nichols and Langworthy Machine Company. Several men and teams are engaged making temporary repairs on the state road which was in very bad condition due to the recent open weather and heavy traffic. "RICHMOND Walter R. Durfee of Cranston spent Marie De Vere who lives on the Jar- “Land of Sunshine and Flowers” affords an enviable change from the rigors of winter in the North. One may play Golf under perfect climatic conditions, | bathein thesurfof semi- ‘waters, motor over the finest beaches to be found anywhere— Dressers sttt Still Prevail THE SPECIAL PRICES 7 E : Bu.ffets ,