'Lest some of them should think he was trying to justify war in one of its phases, Dr, Paterson said that there was a' very black side 0 the same question, Wars had a bad habit of proving to be much longer than was originally expected, and preparation often. proved to be very insuMcient, The most and the best was demanded for the Aghting units and munition workers, Then was that the future began to be endangered 30. much, when mother and child began to suffer and when, it might be, blockade and destruc ton brought all too near the grim tragedy of semi-starvation, Adults could go through an amaz~ ing amount of semi-starvation and come out but little the worse, But with children, the lack of even a few months of proper food could never be made up for, and left Ineradieable traces in physique, stunted growth and limited brain power, At their very doorstep they had evidence enough of what happened to the children of a country prepared for war and suddenly plunged into its vicious vicissitudes, To look at another aspect, that of the general effects on a people's energy, Here again they had to admit that foreing a community out of the ruts of peace had its effects for good on a people's energy.
If one could get rid of the vision of tom bodies and serried ranks of erosses one might say that war had good side for the men of a nation, Open air, constant exer= cise, freedom from the infections houses and crowds harboured, these came nearer to the conditions' under Which' their bodies were meant to exist, Spread of Disease But war always brought in its train the curse of pestilence und had een one of the main factors for the spread of disease, went on Dr. Paterson, although war alone did not produce this dissemination, regular trade routes were under susplefon, and but for quarantine regulations might seriously endanger the life of a community.
With regard to the effects of war fon mental health, he discussed at Tengths the various desires and hopes that went on within a man's mind, and of their conflicts with the desire for self-preservation, In many cases, this struggle led partial or total breakdown, and the humorous cases of mental and nervous disability and of so-called Shell-shock Uestifed amply to its reality, 'There was also the question of the break-down of conventions, War undoubtedly brought out the worst in-man, and the worst elements in man, normally subdued by convention' and perhaps fear of con-Sequences, broke out at times in exaggerated form. There were cases where, even under the most continued strain of warfare, soldiers had kept their minds healthy and their actions towards others conside rate, "But in stark contrast there are incidents in our minds
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.