May 1927
T II F. • K i ü c ’ s
B U S I NES s'
323
Can Man Adapt H is Nervous Machinery? W E do not wish to seem to be ever in the minor key in our editorials, but we feel that it is indeed a fool ish optimism that can close the eyes to some conditions in our rushing world today, and say, “All’s well.” It was Dr. Theodore Cuyler who once said, in referring to shallow optimism: “I would rather be a brave, cheery pessimist.” In line with what we have written concerning the ever mounting suicide figures, is the following from “American Medicine,” relative to insanity: “An excellent article on the burden placed upon ciziliza- tion by the cost of its mentally unfit was published in the ■New York Times recently by Dr. Max G. Schlapp, pro fessor in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. Modern medicine has for several years stressed the import ance of lengthening the span of human lifej priding itself upon its ability to save life, both near its beginning and towards the natural end. Dr. Schlapp questions the advis ability of this in so far as it applies to the mentally unfit. Apparently the unfit are multiplying faster than the fit. Society has erected a protective wall about defectives and physical and mental weaklings who would have been entirely destroyed by ‘cruel nature.’ “Insanity statistics seem to prove beyond peradventure of a doubt that the indicated state of affairs is not local but general throughout the western world. For example, Story of Hymn “Draw Nigh to God” D u r in g the world-war, the writer of this- hymn saw four years of active service with the Anzacs in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France. Shortly after thé evacuation of Gallipoli the Anzaç’s were sent to the Suez Canal to guard this very impor tant passageway against the Turks, and it was while here that Mr. Hooker wrote the words and music 'of this hymn. Only one who has been a soldier can realize the many temptations of camp life, and the intense loneliness that the soldier has to fight, especially as his thoughts turn towards home and loved ones far away. Dur ing such times many a soldier was brought face to face with the need of a present help and comforter which could be found only in God. During one of these days in Egypt, the reai meaning of some of the hardships of the war were brought to bear upon the writer. Temptations lurked on every side, loved ones and friends seemed so far away. It was then that the Lord brought comfort in the words of James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.” The Lord had truly spoken, and He was true to the words of His promise. Sitting in his tent, pitched on desert sands, meditating upon the nearness of His presence, the words and music were given, and as they were written down, the writer realized anew that He would never leave nor forsake. The hymn was first sung at a soldier’s hostel in Cairo and later in England. It was then only in manuscript, and is now published for the first time. This song with three others by same composer is pub lished in a leaflet, “Four solos and duets,” by Gordon E. Hooker, and is on sale at Biola Book Room, 10 cents per copy.
United States census figures show that the number of registered lunatics rose from 82 per hundred thousand in 1880 to 118 in 1890 and to 200 in 1900. In England ând Wales between 1859 and 1907, the number of insane in creased nearly 100 per cent, allowing, of course, for the increase in population. Similar conditions exist in Scot land, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria and Italy. ‘Dr. Schlapp states that there is need of arousing the public to the seriousness of the situation. He stresses especially the question of women in industry. Hè says that while there are no figures available to show how many men and women have been upset by the abnormal speed and strain of modern life, every neurologist and psychiatrist knows from his experience that this is no mere academic phrase, but an actuality. He thinks that our women have stepped out of their natural biological place into commer cial and industrial life, where they are least fitted to with stand the shocks to which they are naturally subjected. He also makes the assertion that business life puts the endo crine glands under a special strain which unfits woman for healthy motherhood, and claims that this is'not idle theory, but the facts can be observed at work in daily hospital experience. The fact is that we are living in an artificial and un congenial world to which we cannot adapt our nervous ma chinery with sufficient rapidity. The attempt to do it destroys many of us and adds annually to the totals of dependence. . . . “We build more asylums, prisons and other institutions for the hopeless. They only add to the taxes we must pay, while we rush on trying to get enough money to support the staggering burden of public administration and public charity, and enough to pay for our own neurotic indul gences and excesses. . . . “To say that the race will go to ruin unless this and this and this be done is too much of an assumption of wisdom for any man. It is always possible that the western peo ples will perform some miracle of adaptation and survive the rising tide of the infer-man. But it is also possible that our culture will go down under the burden as have other cultures in the past.” Labor Tha t Lives "My fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life" Phil. 4:3. J F by chance Paul had omitted the names of any of his co workers in his Epistle, he would remind them that their names were written in heaven. To His disciples, our Lord said: “Re joice not that the Spirits are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven”. (Lk. 10:20). Many of the most faithful of God’s wokers, those whose service is most highly valued in heaven, are unknown here on earth. What a comfort to these obscure workers to know that their “labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. IS :S8) and that on the indelible registers of eternity their names appear. When Columbus was homeward bound after discovering the new world, his ship was caught in a terrific storm. In agony of soul, thinking his magnificent discovery w o u l d never be known, he wrote brief records placed them in sealed bottles and threw them in the water, hoping that some day they might reach land. We need not be so anxious about our labor for the Lord Jesus, nor need we fear lest we shall have no fame. God has taken the record, and that service which comes out of a heart devoted to Him can never go unrewarded.
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