Editors' Table: “Hot Drinks are Not for the Body”

556 IMPROVEMENT ERA haps the alimentary canal in its entirety, and not as a designation of the abdomen. We are consistent and in harmony with the spirit of the revelation in affirming that hot drinks as specified irt the Word of Wisdom comprised the common beverages then and, less exclusively, since, taken hot. The commonest of these were and are tea and coffee, but the inhibition applies further to the drinking of any liauids at a high temperature. It should be remembered that the Lord's warning against the use of these drinks antedated by many years the discovery of the really injurious nature of thein and caffein, which are the poisonous alkaloids present in tea and coffee, and of the specific physical derangements from divers other physiological effects of these beverages. Tea and coffee, therefore, are the principal substances forbidden in the Word of Wisdom as hot drinks, iust as alcoholic liquors are interdicted as strong drinks. Modern science has demonstrated that tea and coffee are bad for the body whether imbibed hot or cold, and also that alcoholic beverages are injurious whether malted, vinous, or distilled. The comprehensiveness of the terms used in the revelation is definite and effective. As demonstrated by chemical and medical science todav, tea and coffee are harmful to the body on account of their poisonous nature, and, when drunk hot, on account of positive interference with the digestive processes, and lasting injury to the tissues of the stomach. Under normal conditions of eating, digestion begins in the mouth. Bv mastication saliva is mixed with the food, and the particular effect is that of eventuallv transforming certain insoluble substances, notably starch, into soluble corrmounds such as dextrose and glucose, which belong to the family of sugars. Within the stomach other chemical changes are wrought through the agencv of the gastric juice. Now. it has long been known, and is todav accented as an undisputed fact, that high temperature hinders. aYid boiling heat destroys the enVacy of the ptvab'n of the saliva and the pensin of the gastric juice. Tt should be noted in this connection that temperature far below the heat of the bo^v also interfere with thp art'ori of both ntval'u and neo«in: and therefore the taking of 7r°d dr"*-"!" with rneal<? j« to he deprecated. A p.necifie „~ff°rt of hot drinks ha« been emnhasized through recent inve^ti option: and. as thi« effect is the result of irritation due to hi^h temnerature. it has to do with the taking into thp bnd^ of all hot li^n'ds. whether the^e he oth^rwi^e harmful or not. It is voir helrf hv romnetertt authority that ulcers and cancels of the storvfch are Irreelr Jue to the use of hot drinks. We need not dwell here on the seriousness of the cancer

EDITORS' TABLE 557

scourge amongst mankind; the dreadful results of this malady are too generally known. Cancer has increased alarmingly with the spread of so-called civilized modes of living. Among the tribes still subsisting in a simpler way, one element of which simpler way is that the people usually take their food cold and scarcely ever drink anything hot, cancer is practically an unknown affliction, as it is also among animals. A striking testimony to the influence of hot drinks in promoting cancer of the stomach is given by William J. Mayo, M. D., of Rochester, Minn. Dr. Mayo is a surgeon of world-wide repute. In the course of a masterly address on "Gastric Ulcer" delivered before the Section on Surgery, general and abdominal, at the sixty-sixth annual session of the American Medical Association, San Francisco, June, 1915, this eminent leader in his profession set forth his reasons for holding hot drinks accountable for gastric cancer, as follows: "Thirty per cent of all cancers in civilized man are in the stomach. The relative infrequency of the disease in primitive man and the lower animals suggests that there is some cause for this preponderance; that is, since the food of man and the lower animals is of the same character there must be something in its preparation or method of taking which predisposes civilized man to gastric cancer. There are many well-known illustrations of the fact that chronic irritation from heat disturbs the epithelium, thus making malignant disease possible. It has been shown that when a considerable quantity of fluid is taken into the stomach it passes by the canalis gastricus along the lesser curvature and directly to the duodenum without mixing with the food mass in the fundus. This is exactly the situation of 85 per cent or more of all ulcers and cancers of the stomach and ulcers of the duodenum. Food is cooled during mastication but liquids are often swallowed hotter than can be borne comfortably in the mouth. One cannot help thinking that hot drinks may be one of the most important irritative ciuses of chronic ulcer and precancerous lesions. Extreme cold may have the same effect. Primitive men and animals do not take their drinks hot and seldom have gastric cancer."

Supplementary testimony is not lacking. A paper entitled "Some Public Health Aspects of the Cancer Problem," by Curtis E. Lakeman of New York, Executive Secretary of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, was published in The Southern Medical Journal for October, 1916. Therein the author refers to investigations concerning the nature and cause of cancer as constituting "still the foremost problem of medical biology", and states that

"Cancer is one of the half dozen leading causes of death in the United States ; it takes an annual toll of more than half as many lives as tuberculosis, which still far outdistances its nearest rival in this mortal competition. The steady increase in the recorded cancer death rate still continues and after full allowance for the imperfections of American vital statistics and for the factor of imperfect diagnosis, many critical investigators believe that the figures reflect a real and not merely an apparent increase of the disease. The estimate of 75,000 deaths a year in the United States which was current

558 IMPROVEMENT ERA

on good authority last year, must now be raised to 80,000. How shall this yearly sacrifice be prevented from reaching 100,000?"

As the result of extensive investigation through many years and on three continents the conclusion is emphatically set forth that chronic irritation is the general cause of stomach cancer; and as an instance of hot foods producing this irritant condition, the writer says: "Best of all, perhaps, is the observation that cancer of the stomach is frequent in China among the men who eat hot rice, while occurring far less commonly among the women who get their rice cold at a 'second table.'" It is not held that the taking of hot drinks or solid foods into the stomach is the only cause of cancerous development in that organ. There are numerous other predisposing conditions and specific causes. Irritation of the mucous lining of the stomach has been proved to be a very common condition productive of gastric cancer; and hot drinks are held by medical authority to be among these destructive irritants. Here again revelation has preceded science in matters of human welfare. Those whose faith gave them confidence in the Word of God knew that hot drinks are not good for the body manv decades before man made the discovery and found partial explanation of the fact. It is pertinent to inquire as to the effect of the inhibition against hot drinks revealed by the statistics of Latter-day Saint communities, amongst whom it should be remembered the Word of Wisdom is widely but not universally observed in its fulness. The Presiding Bishopric of the Church report that for the six vear period ending with 1916, deaths among Latter-day Saints in the organized Stakes, due to cancers and malignant ulcers of the stomach, averaged 15.83 per 100,000 of population. For the United States Registration Area as a whole, during the six year period covered by the latest report, which, however, is earlier than the sexennium of the latest Church statistics, the average mortality from stomach cancer is 28.3 per 100,000, or nearly double that among the Latter-day Saints. Deaths from all cancerous afflictions among members of the Church during the last six years averaged 31.15 per 100,000, or only 2.85 more per 100,000 than the national rate of mortality from stomach cancer alone for the six years last reported.

Ward teaching. In Bulletin No. 2 compiled at the Presiding Bishop's office and giving a record of ward teachers' report meetings, sacrament neetings, etc., for the month of February, 1917, it is stated that there are 814 wards, 347 of these reported 100 per cent of the families visited; 280 reported fifty or less than 100 per cent visited, and 120 reported less than 50 per cent visited; 67 reported none visited and not reported. Bear Lake, Big Horn, Blackfoot, Box Elder, Duchesne, No. Sanpete, Ogden, Oneida, South Davis reported 100 per cent of the families visited in those stakes.

MUTUAL, WORK Special Activities

Church-wide Pennant Scoring Report To each of the stake superintendents of the Y. M. M. I. A. a Churchwide pennant scoring report for 1916-17 has been sent. Stake superintendents are requested to report their stake in special activities up to and including April 1. The joint enrollment of the stake and the total number of points scored jointly in the stake, in all activities for the entire season, from October 10, 1916, to April 1, 1917, inclusive, is to be compiled as per instructions on the blank report. The reading course scoring counts from June 1. Please see that the compiled report is returned to General Secretary Moroni Snow, Bishop's Building, Salt Lake City, on or before May 1. Any report received after May 25 cannot be considered. The stake scoring the highest number of points in proportion to the joint enrollment will be awarded the Church pennant, at the June conference.

Vocations and Industries

Report of Distribution of Prizes for 1916 To the Committee on Vocations and Industries, Y. M. M. I. A., Gentlemen: We have examined the report submitted of the Boys' Industrial Contest, and in our judgment, awards to the following should be made: 1. First prize, $25, Kelsh Wheeler, South Cottonwood, Cottonwood stake, Utah. 2. Second prize, $20, Carl R. Borg, 26th ward, Pioneer stake, Salt Lake City. 3. Third prize, $15, Edwin Kimball, Houston ward, Panguitch stake. Utah. 4.Fourth prize, $10, Earl Price, 32nd ward, Pioneer stake, Utah. 5.Fifth prize, $5, Philip Hurst, Blanding ward, San Juan stake, Utah. We suggest that the prizes of equal amount, $2.50, be awarded to the following boys: Glenn Spracher, 15 years, Rigby ward, Rigby stake, Idaho. 6. Thetford Lindsey, 14 years, 27th ward, Ensign stake, Utah. 7. 8. Ronald Hammond, 13 years, Rigby ward, Idaho. 9. Willard W. Porter, 16 years, Blanding ward, San Juan stake, Utah. 10. Willard L. Black, 16 years, Blanding ward, San Juan stake, Utah. 11. Morris Gottfredson, 16 years, North Manti ward, South Sanpete stake, Utah. 12. Marvin Waite, 16 years, Bunkerville ward, Nevada. 13. Clark L. Bayles, 14 years, Blanding ward, San Juan stake, Utah. 14. LaVere Moffat, 14 years, South Cottonwood, Cottonwood stake, Utah. Respectfully submitted, George S. McAllister, Seth Pixton, E. H. Eardley.