http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/venice-in-wartime-75xm2jdjh
Sir, One aspect of the desirability of prohibiting the sale of spirits is their evil effect upon our soldiers. Are those who have given themselves at such sacrifice for the service of their country to be exposed to the danger of temptation to drunkenness? No one who has walked through our great cities or watched the departure platforms of our large railway stations can deny the prevalence of over-indulgence in alcohol. It must be recognized that loss of self-control under the influence of drink is a potent factor in the spread of those preventable diseases which are a scourge to the Army and a menace to the civil population. Prohibition is, I fear, the only way in which our traditional social habits and our association of drinking with all “occasions” can be overcome. And it can be carried out at once under the Defence of the Realm Act.
So far the Government has not had the courage to face the opposition of the liquor trade and the antagonism of the working man. The second difficulty is, I hope, imaginary. If the working man once realizes that our soldiers would be better for prohibition he will be found ready to forgo spirits for their sake and for the sake of his country. Nor should opposition be feared from the so-called “better classes”. Even those who, by reason of their years and many infirmities, take spirits under medical advice will not hesitate to do without in the interest of the younger and better men under whose protection they are living.
D NOEL PATON, University of Glasgow.
Sir, We are, I think, all agreed that something must be done to reduce the consumption of alcoholic drinks. Total prohibition cannot be enforced successfully unless there is a general conviction that such a step is really necessary for victory. I admit, with regret, that there is no such general conviction at present. Can we not agree on two measures which can be carried out at once? (1) Prohibition of off-sales of spirits. (2) Prohibition of deliveries of off-sales of wine and beer. The effect would be that wine and beer for home consumption could only be purchased during the hours licensed premises are open, and would have to be taken home by the purchaser himself. I am, Sir, yours, &c,
ALFRED BOOTH, Liverpool.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-24/register/the-tyranny-of-fashion-k0039krnl
Sir, I should like to voice a protest against the exploiting of any new fashion in the cut of women’s clothes until the war is over. In today’s issue of The Times I see one of our first-class costumiers advertising their “new spring tailor-mades with peg-top skirts”, advocating “the straighter-hanging skirt” as being “not in the least an extreme fashion, and therefore practical and becoming”. In 1914 the war found us women dressed in a way which prevented us from walking freely. It was only to be expected that when short wide skirts were offered to us we adopted them at once as giving great length of wear, being comfortable, practical and obviously suitable to the active independent life we were living. There is no need to change the fashion. More than that, there is every reason why we should not, for caprice, spend the thousands of pounds which the change would entail. We all know that there are still women who take not the slightest genuine interest in the war. Their interest is the same as before the war — the attraction of men. These are the women who will take up the new fashion. Others will follow suit because they happen to be genuinely in need of a new tailor-made; others, because they cannot resist a pretty thing in a shop window, will buy clothes against their better judgments, and before many months are out the rest of us, conscious that our appearance has become dowdy, will from lack of moral courage, try to make our appearance less eccentric. I should like to feel that I could look to our leading London houses to refuse to offer any goods which would involve a change of fashion. Their support would strengthen the hands of the women of position who are trying to give the lead in these matters.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Violet Grimston,
St Germains, St Albans
Sir, These changes are not made by the women themselves; they are promulgated, like a new law, by the dressmakers, to serve their own ends. Why should the women of England be in bondage to the dressmakers, who, even as things now are, engage the services of a vast number of persons who ought to be doing war work?
I am your obedient servant. Latymer, 440 Strand.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-21/register/the-great-explosion-100-lives-lost-2j8jxxr77
The steadiest nerves were not proof against the shock which convulsed all London and vibrated through the four adjoining counties shortly before 7 on Friday evening. For some seconds the whole arc of the heavens was overspread by a brilliant light. After a few tense moments came the report for which, half-consciously, one had been waiting, like a single clap of thunder; then the glow died out of the sky.
Though the great light which irradiated half London had gone, there came into view a dull red reflection low in the sky. Behind the masts and spars of ships in dock stood a cluster of blazing buildings, from which rose huge forked tongues of flame. The explosion had its centre in a chemical factory. So far as can be discovered a fire broke out in an upper floor of that part of the factory which is devoted to high explosive. A survivor who was in another part of the works said yesterday to a representative of The Times “There were not more than 40 people on the premises, the day shift having gone. I was at work in the office when I heard women shrieking. I came down to the door and saw the high explosive building afire. Somehow I got away without a scratch, though others running along the road were knocked down beside me by flying missiles.”
The most appalling effects of the explosion were felt in half a dozen streets of neat working-class houses opposite the chemical factory. Roofs and walls were blown away, floors collapsed, and homes in which their owners had obviously taken pride became in an instant hideous piles of wreckage. Among the ruins men, women, and children were buried.
The firemen, the policemen, and volunteers did what they could, but it was all too little. There was little moaning or lamentation, either among the homeless or the injured. The shock had stunned them all.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-23/register/soldiers-at-work-on-the-ruins-2sn3hrgk7
That such a drug has been discovered seems to be clear from the report of the work of Dr Browning, Director of the Bland-Sutton Institute for Clinical Pathology, Middlesex Hospital, which has just been presented to the Medical Research Committee. It is signed by Dr Browning, Dr Kennaway, Dr Thornton, and Miss Gulbrausen, and is given in full in the British Medical Journal. The drug is called “flavine,” from its yellow colour. It kills the germs causing ordinary abscesses in solutions of one part in 200,000, but to stop the activities of the white blood corpuscles it is necessary to use a solution 400 times stronger, that is, one in 500. Carbolic acid, on the other hand, prevents the activities of white blood corpuscles in solutions of one part in 500, but will not kill germs until the strength of one part in 250 has been reached.
The reports on the antiseptic are very encouraging. In a paper by Mr Ligat the case is recorded of a man who had his leg amputated. “The patient came under my care with a very septic stump. It had been treated with eusol for three weeks, but showed no definite improvement in the suppurative condition. After four days’ treatment with flavine the wound had entirely ceased to discharge.” Eusol has proved a great help as an antiseptic in this war, yet while it kills the germ referred to at 1 in 1,000 concentration, it interferes with the white blood corpuscles at 1 in 4,000. Thus long before it is strong enough to do its antiseptic work it has interfered with the work of the “warrior” cells.
january 26, 1917
Venice in wartime
Venice has been attacked from the air 21 times since the outbreak of the war. In 1915 there were eight bombardments, last year 13. These were made either by daylight or when the moon defined the position of the city on its lagoon and canals. It seems that some attempt has been made to aim at specific points — the arsenal, the station, the cotton mill — except during the violent assault which followed the fall of Gorizia, when bombs were sprinkled freely all over the town; but, in any case, the height at which the aeroplanes fly makes the incidence of the bombs a matter largely of chance. As to actual damage, it is surprising that there has been so little. Many of the bombs fell in the water and were comparatively harmless, but neither the Venetians nor their enemies can tell what precious monument may not be sacrificed in some future raid. The raid of October 20, 1915, demolished the roof of the Scalzi Church, near the railway station, with the ceiling by Tiepolo representing the Translation of the Holy House. Though the fresco was not one of Tiepolo’s finest works, it can never be replaced. On August 9 of last year incendiary bombs were used, and the roof of S Maria Formosa, the Shrine of Palma’s Sta Barbara, was completely burned, except for a fragment over the north transept. The August attacks wrought the greatest havoc, but on September 4 an incendiary bomb fell in the Piazza, only a few yards from the facade of S Marco. This naturally roused great alarm for the safety of the Ducal Palace and the Basilica. The bronze horses from the facade of S Marco are stabled in the Atrium, and covered with sandbags. The facade has disappeared behind a huge screen of timber. Inside, the church, on sunless days, is almost pitch-dark. The windows of the cupolas have been removed and, during a raid, are all left open. To prevent rain from entering, they have been filled with screens of rough, brownish cloth. The effect on the interior is most surprising. When the sun is shining the light coming through is of a soft, diffused yellow. This exactly hits the key of the mosaics, which are illumined by it, till each cupola shimmers and gleams like an inverted saucer of molten gold. It is a revelation of the mosaics of San Marco; they have never been seen like this before.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-25/register/prohibition-on-sale-of-spirits-xrb2zj8np
JANUARY 25, 1917
Prohibition on sale of spirits
To the Editor of The TimesSir, One aspect of the desirability of prohibiting the sale of spirits is their evil effect upon our soldiers. Are those who have given themselves at such sacrifice for the service of their country to be exposed to the danger of temptation to drunkenness? No one who has walked through our great cities or watched the departure platforms of our large railway stations can deny the prevalence of over-indulgence in alcohol. It must be recognized that loss of self-control under the influence of drink is a potent factor in the spread of those preventable diseases which are a scourge to the Army and a menace to the civil population. Prohibition is, I fear, the only way in which our traditional social habits and our association of drinking with all “occasions” can be overcome. And it can be carried out at once under the Defence of the Realm Act.
So far the Government has not had the courage to face the opposition of the liquor trade and the antagonism of the working man. The second difficulty is, I hope, imaginary. If the working man once realizes that our soldiers would be better for prohibition he will be found ready to forgo spirits for their sake and for the sake of his country. Nor should opposition be feared from the so-called “better classes”. Even those who, by reason of their years and many infirmities, take spirits under medical advice will not hesitate to do without in the interest of the younger and better men under whose protection they are living.
D NOEL PATON, University of Glasgow.
Sir, We are, I think, all agreed that something must be done to reduce the consumption of alcoholic drinks. Total prohibition cannot be enforced successfully unless there is a general conviction that such a step is really necessary for victory. I admit, with regret, that there is no such general conviction at present. Can we not agree on two measures which can be carried out at once? (1) Prohibition of off-sales of spirits. (2) Prohibition of deliveries of off-sales of wine and beer. The effect would be that wine and beer for home consumption could only be purchased during the hours licensed premises are open, and would have to be taken home by the purchaser himself. I am, Sir, yours, &c,
ALFRED BOOTH, Liverpool.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-24/register/the-tyranny-of-fashion-k0039krnl
JANUARY 24, 1917
The tyranny of fashion
To the Editor of The TimesSir, I should like to voice a protest against the exploiting of any new fashion in the cut of women’s clothes until the war is over. In today’s issue of The Times I see one of our first-class costumiers advertising their “new spring tailor-mades with peg-top skirts”, advocating “the straighter-hanging skirt” as being “not in the least an extreme fashion, and therefore practical and becoming”. In 1914 the war found us women dressed in a way which prevented us from walking freely. It was only to be expected that when short wide skirts were offered to us we adopted them at once as giving great length of wear, being comfortable, practical and obviously suitable to the active independent life we were living. There is no need to change the fashion. More than that, there is every reason why we should not, for caprice, spend the thousands of pounds which the change would entail. We all know that there are still women who take not the slightest genuine interest in the war. Their interest is the same as before the war — the attraction of men. These are the women who will take up the new fashion. Others will follow suit because they happen to be genuinely in need of a new tailor-made; others, because they cannot resist a pretty thing in a shop window, will buy clothes against their better judgments, and before many months are out the rest of us, conscious that our appearance has become dowdy, will from lack of moral courage, try to make our appearance less eccentric. I should like to feel that I could look to our leading London houses to refuse to offer any goods which would involve a change of fashion. Their support would strengthen the hands of the women of position who are trying to give the lead in these matters.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Violet Grimston,
St Germains, St Albans
Sir, These changes are not made by the women themselves; they are promulgated, like a new law, by the dressmakers, to serve their own ends. Why should the women of England be in bondage to the dressmakers, who, even as things now are, engage the services of a vast number of persons who ought to be doing war work?
I am your obedient servant. Latymer, 440 Strand.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-21/register/the-great-explosion-100-lives-lost-2j8jxxr77
january 21, 1917
The Great Explosion, 100 lives lost
A great explosion occurred at a munitions factory in the East End on Friday evening. Four large industrial works and several smaller ones were destroyed, and rows of small houses demolished. The work of extricating the dead has not been completed, and owing to the difficulty of this work no final casualty list can yet be given. It was estimated last night that the death roll would reach 100 and that the number of the injured would be not less than 400.The steadiest nerves were not proof against the shock which convulsed all London and vibrated through the four adjoining counties shortly before 7 on Friday evening. For some seconds the whole arc of the heavens was overspread by a brilliant light. After a few tense moments came the report for which, half-consciously, one had been waiting, like a single clap of thunder; then the glow died out of the sky.
Though the great light which irradiated half London had gone, there came into view a dull red reflection low in the sky. Behind the masts and spars of ships in dock stood a cluster of blazing buildings, from which rose huge forked tongues of flame. The explosion had its centre in a chemical factory. So far as can be discovered a fire broke out in an upper floor of that part of the factory which is devoted to high explosive. A survivor who was in another part of the works said yesterday to a representative of The Times “There were not more than 40 people on the premises, the day shift having gone. I was at work in the office when I heard women shrieking. I came down to the door and saw the high explosive building afire. Somehow I got away without a scratch, though others running along the road were knocked down beside me by flying missiles.”
The most appalling effects of the explosion were felt in half a dozen streets of neat working-class houses opposite the chemical factory. Roofs and walls were blown away, floors collapsed, and homes in which their owners had obviously taken pride became in an instant hideous piles of wreckage. Among the ruins men, women, and children were buried.
The firemen, the policemen, and volunteers did what they could, but it was all too little. There was little moaning or lamentation, either among the homeless or the injured. The shock had stunned them all.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-23/register/soldiers-at-work-on-the-ruins-2sn3hrgk7
JANUARY 23, 1917
Soldiers at work on the ruins
Under a cold grey sky soldiers were hard at work yesterday among the chaos caused in East London by the great explosion. Before midday lanes had been driven through the piled-up masses of bricks and clay and iron, the debris of the shattered houses had been turned over, and the whole area of wreckage was losing something of its first fantastic appearance. The scene was still dominated, however, by the three isolated and fire-damaged towers of the flour mill, the great crater where once stood the munition works, and the rusty walls of the distorted oil-tanks. Some of the people who fled from houses which were brought down by the blast returned to their homes yesterday for the first time since Friday night. They returned to see if any of their household goods remained, as arrangements had been made to store any furniture which could be saved. When these refugees looked round on the acres of black desolation they marvelled at their own escapes from death or injury. The casualty list is big enough, but the remarkable thing is that it is not larger. The irregular oblong over which the explosion vented its worst fury measures 400 yards by 300 yards. Within those bounds no property escaped destruction, but men and women and children were happily left unhurt. The estimate given in The Times that the deaths might number 100 is not likely to be exceeded. So far as can be ascertained 46 bodies have been recovered and 24 victims have died in the hospitals. A number of people are missing, and their bodies have not yet been found. The seriously injured are put at more than 120, and there are several hundred cases of minor injuries. The firm controlling the munition factory where the explosion occurred is collecting lists of the survivors. A temporary local office has been opened, and all the employees presenting themselves yesterday signed their names on the roll. It is still believed that not more than 40 people were in the building when the fire broke out, and some of these are known to have got away before the factory was blown up. The body of Mr Angel, the chief chemist, who gave his life without hesitation when he might have saved it, has not yet been recovered. His wife was welfare superintendent at the factory, but she was away at the time of the disaster.
january 20, 1917
A new antiseptic discovery
From the beginning of the war search has been made for the ideal antiseptic. This must satisfy two conditions — it must be powerful enough to kill the germs of infection in wounds, and yet be as harmless as possible to the tissues of the patient’s body. In particular, it must be innocuous to the white blood corpuscles — the leucocytes — for they fight and kill the bacteria of infection and contain a substance, trypsin, which, when liberated into the bloodstream, lowers the power of the blood to destroy bacteria. What was wanted was a gun to kill bacteria only, and to spare the warrior cells and tissues, a drug in fact like Ehrlich’s salvarsan (600), with a definite and specific effect on bacteria, and on nothing else.That such a drug has been discovered seems to be clear from the report of the work of Dr Browning, Director of the Bland-Sutton Institute for Clinical Pathology, Middlesex Hospital, which has just been presented to the Medical Research Committee. It is signed by Dr Browning, Dr Kennaway, Dr Thornton, and Miss Gulbrausen, and is given in full in the British Medical Journal. The drug is called “flavine,” from its yellow colour. It kills the germs causing ordinary abscesses in solutions of one part in 200,000, but to stop the activities of the white blood corpuscles it is necessary to use a solution 400 times stronger, that is, one in 500. Carbolic acid, on the other hand, prevents the activities of white blood corpuscles in solutions of one part in 500, but will not kill germs until the strength of one part in 250 has been reached.
The reports on the antiseptic are very encouraging. In a paper by Mr Ligat the case is recorded of a man who had his leg amputated. “The patient came under my care with a very septic stump. It had been treated with eusol for three weeks, but showed no definite improvement in the suppurative condition. After four days’ treatment with flavine the wound had entirely ceased to discharge.” Eusol has proved a great help as an antiseptic in this war, yet while it kills the germ referred to at 1 in 1,000 concentration, it interferes with the white blood corpuscles at 1 in 4,000. Thus long before it is strong enough to do its antiseptic work it has interfered with the work of the “warrior” cells.
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