He Guaidian

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u King st. lh'.. Toronto. Montreal Office. as Uulverd1.Y Tower lldl. Editor. Frank Walker General Managenlan A. luruott Member Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association Member of The Canadian Press Member Audit Bureau of Circulation! Branch offices at Summeruide. Montana and Albertoo Authorised as Secnnd Class Mail by the Post Offlea Department. Ottawa. ly Carrier Charlottetown. summeruldo 315.00 per lo- lllm. Elseuhere In P.E.l. 89.00. Othas Provinces and lI.S. Sl2.i)0 per Innllm.

strongest memory is weaker than the weakest Ink.”

MONDAY. MAY 7. 1956

Important Anniversary

Yesterday the world observed the 100th birthday anniversary of Sig- mund Freud, the Austrian physician who is generally regarded as the founder of modern psychiatry-ab though there is some evidence that the psychiatrist's couch was used fairly extensively in ancient times.

Freud has had as many detrac- tors as admirers; and his true place in medical history has yet to be de- termined. The consensus, however, is that his benefactions to the treat- ment of medical disorders of various kinds far outweigh any mischief that well meaning but incompetent imitators of his methods have done in the same field. Certainly, he ranks very high among the many scientists and philosophers who have experi- mented in the relation of physical disease to mental maladjustment. Ills theories on the subject of dreams -a subject which has baffled lay- men and experts alike from the ear- liest days of which there is any re- cord-are perhaps not as widely held these days as they were for some years after he propounded them. Nevertheless, there is hardly a lec- ture on psychosomatic problems in which they are not mentioned, if only by way of parenthesis; and the "Freudian complex” is still a favor- ite topic wherever the experts gather together to talk about the unknow- able and the strange as affecting human behaviour.

There is one phase of Freud's or- iginal thesis with which his present day disciples, for the most part, do not agree. That is the place of relig- ion in mental wellbeing. Freud him- self had no room in his psychiatric folio for religion which he called "mass obsessional neurosis". Most modern psychiatrists, and all the eminent ones, contend that religion is an important factor, if not an in- dispensable one, in mental a n d emotional health. At the same time, the churches have almost completely given up their former detestation of psychoanalytical methods. The pre- sent Pope has declared it to be, un- der proper safeguards, a legitimate form of treatment; while in several learned societies theologians and psychiatrists work in close co-oper- ation on joint undertakings. '

The New Challenge

.The Earl of Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, who is touring Eastern Canada this month and will visit Charlottetown on the 16th, told the Canada Club in London, England, last week that the Commonwealth is facing a situation as challenging to traditional thought as that which faced Lord Durham and the British people in the Canada of the last century.

The British Empire had been built, Lord Home said, and the old Dominions rested their associations on the monarchy, on Christian re- ligion, on the European interpreta- tion of democracy and on common inheritance. "That unity holds. But today a new experiment in the art of living together in society is much more ambitious. The new relation- ship is not only between the U. K. and the new partners but between each old Commonwealth country and the others, for it is nothing less than the launching of a muiti-racial, multl-religious Commonwealth with no formal constitutional bond of un- ion.”

Previously sentiment and loyalty were the dominant factors in the old association. Inevitably the emphasis for some would move from sentiment to common interests--interests of securlw, interests in economics. 'Ageinst this focus on common in- terests, Lord Home emphasized the background of industrialization of the great undordovolopod countries which istakingpiacoendthechongo in concentration of the available capital resources. The tut of co- ordinating these different interests wu all too difficult and might be beyond us but for the power of on

ml. "This not which must inspire Onunoundor". he pug-.

lmplies the acceptance of oblig- ations far beyond the mere labels of independence or self-government or self-determination for they can only have meaning for humanity if in- dependence is based upon law and justice, if government is based upon elective representative institutions through which the people control the executive and if self-determination carries with it the duty to live in harmony with your neighbour."

That and nothing less is the way of freedom which Canada has dem- onstrated in living and that is the gift beyond price whiar the Com- monwealth can bring to civilization.

For Safer Driving

The campaign for safer driving on our highways should not be a sporadic affair, but a continuing drive all through the year, and es- pecially during the summer period when the traffic is at its peak. A commendable move in this direction has been taken by the Provincial Government through t h e Motor Vehicle Registration Department. As noted in Saturday's news columns, applicants for registration will be re- quired to submit to and pass a writ- ten, visual and operational test. The regulations have also been tightened up in amendments to the Highway Traffic Act passed at the last ses- sion of the Legislature. In addition, provision is being made for the showing of safety films in halls and rural theatres throughout the Prov- ince.

It is to be hoped that in the near future there will be a general over- haul of our traffic regulations 011 across Canada, and general agree- ment reached between the Provinces on some standard practice which will embody the most approved highway safety principles. Last year we had thirteen highway fatalities in this Province, and a great many other accidents involving injuries more or less serious. The overall picture in Canada has reached alarming pro- portions, and it will not be remedied except by leadership on the part of all our government bodies, and the fullest cooperation by the public generally.

Maritime Development

The Globe and Mail, Toronto, notes that effective initiative by the Maritimes in bringing forth a broad plan for Eastern seaboard develop- ment would be an encouragement to the. formation of other Provincial groupings along the same lines. It must, however, be "practical, com- plete in detail and free of visionary hyperbole." If a series of well-estab- lished development commissions then kept the urgency of these broad-area requirements before the public-and the Dominion Cabinet-"Ottawa's shilly-shallying would be more clear- ly shown in the mean perspective which is its only present distinction." Nothing, however, is to be gained by abusing Ottawa until we have dem- onstrated our own initiative along the lines suggested. The Toronto paper says the "rest of Canada wishes the Maritimes every possible success in their co-operative ven- ture; and If their initiative sets a new pattern of leadership for the whole Dominion, no one will be- grudge them that honour." It is en- couraging to be placed thus in the van of progress, but we have a long way to go before this status can be realized in fact.

EDITORIAL NOTES

National Tourist Week.

The Music Festival is showing that talent is widespread among the younger generation, needing only the stimulus of public interest and encouragement.

O O O

'A' University of Michigan pro- fessor says that grandparents are responsible for juvenile delinquency because the grandparents were re- sponsible for the kind of parents who are blamed for the delinquency of their children. This line of argu- ment, comments on exchange, could go right back to Adam and Eve.

The absurdity of the jury system In the United States was illustrated in a case in the Criminal Court of Chicago, when 183 people refused or were rejected for service, and the

judge got a gangster to plead guilty to a charge of murdering a member otonother gang, and sentenced him to 16 years. The judge castigated "the lethargy of the public", but 1'00? of lung revenue might have 'I

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this column In cpl: to tho dissua- don by oorrolpoudentl of question of Interest. The Guardian does not ooceuarlly eoderoo the opinion al oorrospoudculo.

LONELY OLD MEN

Sir.-In that interesting column "We And Our Neighbours" Mrs. Frank wrote about the lonely old men we see around the Square. I too have wondered about them. Couldnt they have 3 room of their own somewhere. perhaps in the old Post Office?

A Warm T,00m. a few chairs, 50""? magazines. a checker board, above all a place where they can talk with their cronies and be comfortable.

I am. Sir, etc.. BOETHIC.

AGAINST FLUORIDATION

Sir-My attention has be e n drawn to a letter in your issue of March 28, 1956. over the sig- nature of Dr. F.S. Klllmer Mac- Millan of Cincinnati, Ohio, on "The Value of Fluoridation".

The numerous misconceptions in the statements made by Dr, Mac. Millan are based on nothing but on his recently completed in r e 9 years: postgraduate work on bio- chemistry. As such they must be rejected by one who as a medical man has been working on the sub- iect of chronic fluorine poisoning, both CIiTliCBily on man for the past 34 years, of which six were spent on research whilst sewing in the Royal Army Medical Corps dur. ing World War ll. and experi- mentally for 4 years at the De. partment of Physiology. Middlesex Hospital Medical School, Unlver. slty of London, England. With all due, respect, Dr. MacMiIIan has obviously to go a long way before his views on the fluoridation public water supplies can be talc. en seriously.

When in his letter he dispar- Izlngly mentions that in one of my papers I described "no less than 24 deviations from normal" in chronic fluorine poisoning, he is deliberately suppressing the fact Quoted by me that all these 24 "deviations" are in every respect Identical with the same number of signs and symfoms encnunt. ered in chronic arsenical poison- ing. Surely, it is not asking too "IWI1 05,8 l)0SIf-Zradualc student of biochemistry to present more or- lginal. more accurate statements to intellltzcnt readers of The Guar- dian than are those which are known to have been many times made by others and as often re- jected. Amongst others. the re- mark on "the philosnpher's sfcne", and the one that "ii is difficult to understand how the aluminium is transformed into fluorine", or that "fluoride compounds used for water fluoridation are not a by- Ilroduct of aluminium plants" have been met with before,

..Since in his study of the pro- blem of fluorine Dr. MscMlllan does not appear to have taken the trouble to study all my 34 papers published on the action of fluorine in important medical journals in Great Britain, In the United Slat- es. and on the Continent of Eur- ope.,he may find it profitable at least to read my book "The Drama of Fluorine: Arch-dnemy of Mankind". which was written in popular language for the bene- fit of the lay public. He will then find that the fluorine in alumin- ium ” utensils is not a pro- duct of transformation of alumin- ium, but is derived from cryollfe, a fluorine mineral which is in- dispensable in the manufacture of the metal. The metal is, on every housewife knows, readily corrod- ed by both acids and alkali: con- tained in the food or used in the process of cooking. with the re- sult that impurities. including fluorine. present in the metal no set free so as to contaminate the

food.

Dr. Mschllllan will learn of the some time that the amount of cryollte employed in the menu- facture of aluminium, whlct has been left over in the process. re- presents a waste product which up to a few years ago used to be thrown Into rivers and into the sea, with the result that the nah died. since there is no safe way to d of this waste product, E is it to conceive a more

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Modern Garden Sculptors

National Geographic Society

In the spring the topiary gard- en designer's fancy turns to shears and clippers--the tools by which he

” shrubs and hedges into odd and ornamental patterns that not- ure never knew.

Hls is an ancient and imagina- tive skill. The term itself. says the National Geographic Society. goes back to the Roman Topiarius. a slave charged with training and trimming hu master's ragged greenery into formal designs or fanciful figures.

One of the most famous of all such earlyi gardens was owned by the Roman scholar. Pliny. whose sea-fronting terrace "was adorn- ed with representations of diverse animals in Box." But long before Pliny's time, the Greek poet Hom- er sang of the legenda y garden of Alcinous. "Where interwoven branches fonn a wall, and from the living fence green turrets rise". . .and "ships of myrtle sail." EMBELLISHED FORMAL GAR- DENS

Interest in topiary decoration has waxed and waned In many lands With e” T (gghjong ju

the coffers of vested interest with gold obtained from pushing the waste product down the throat of humanity under the pretext that it is good for them.

It would be ' possible in 3 sin. gle letter to expose all the other misstatements, fallacies, and cm- issions made by Dr. Macll-lill.-in concerning the action of fluorine. Against his often reiterated state- ment that in the Newburgh ex- periment the Iong-continued ingest- ion of fluorine brought about a considerable reduction of dental decay, I wonder whether Dr. Mac- Millan has never seen, or has nev- er even heard of, the existence of an official report issued hy the chief of the Bureau of Health Scr- vice at the University of the State of New York. Albany. N.Y.. on October 26, 1954. According to that report, about half as many more dental defects were found in New- burgh where the drinking water is experimentally fluoridated than in Kingston where for the purpose of comparison the drinking water has been left fluorine-free. Or, when he speaks of the great num- ber of communities which allow- ed themselves to be persuaded that fluorine is good for them and accepted fluoridation. has he nev- er heard of the constantly increas- ing number of communities WhIf'h rejected it. everi when it was in operation for several years?

For Dr. MacMllian to say that the deposition and accumulation of one-third to one-half of the in- gested fluorine in the skelt-tin re- presents a protec”ve mechanism depleting fluoride from the blood circulation is sheer nonsense. not worthy of any one clalml , scient- ific knowledge. If he will take the trouble to discuss matters with on average mother opposing fluorida- tion, he will learn quite a lot from her about the harmful effect of the ingested fluorine upon the health of her children. resulting from the deposition and accumula- tion of the poison not only in the skeleton but also in every othdr organ in the body.

In the course of my latest in- vestigetlon of the effect of the In- ested fluorine on the urinary sys-

rn, it was independently found by two reliable analytical chem- ists. one in London. England. the other in New York City. that stones removed by operation from kid- neys and bladders of patients liv- ing in New York City, whose drink- ing water in practically fluorine- free, contained variably large amounts of the poison up to 1790 parts per million. My paper on "Urinary Calcull and Fluorine" is In the press awaiting publication in a medical journal In the near future. These lar quantities of fluorine wore ved from "nor- mal" food. practically every art- icle of which is contaminated hav- ing been treated by fluorine-been lug preservatives. sprays, Insect-

icides. Ida. rodenticldos. chemical f fillers. and so forth.

These being true. coolly vari- oblo facts of the situation. is Dr. Ifacllfllan still in favour of in- creasing amount of II no bated It

gardens and landscaping. It reach- ed its peak in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. when roy- ally and the landed gentry delight- ed in large formal gardens and found no lack, of labor to main- tain them.

The old " legionaricl, homesick for faraway Mediterra- nean scenes. introduced toplgry deslln into England. and put con- quered Britons to work molding laurel. box and yew into outlines of bears. birds and boats.

The practice declined after the Romans left, but was revived in "knots" of flower--bed edging: In the 15th century. In the spend- thrift era of Charles 11. English garden lovers dotted their spac- ious grounds with living urns. globes and pyramids. and human and animal figures.

The shrubbery decorations be- came so fantastic by the early lath century that satirist Richard Steele published a "Catalogue of Greens,” offering "Adam nnd Eve in yew. Adam a little slut. tered by the fall of the tree of knowledge. . .Eve and the serpent VEFY flourishing."

HOUNDS CHASE STAG

In France, the famous garden; of Versailles charmed Louis XIV and his court with all manner of topiary work. from intricate dwarf- bush mazes to u hedge-carved pack of yeyhounda pursuing a stag.

Spanish topiary gardeners usu-

which by itself is sufficient to Produce signs and symptoms of chronic fluorine poisoning, by ad. ding more of the poison to the

drinking water?

I am, Sir, etc., LEO SPIRA. M.D.. Ph.D.

New York City (The bibliography of the Report of the United Kingdom ' ission, which made extensive studies of m10l'ld8U0n. fails to list a single reference to Dr. Splra's work al- though the majority of his puperg were published in England. In 1952 the National Research Council published a 565 page book with 2,016 references entitled "Survey of the Literature of Dental Car- ies." One chapter of 90 pages was devoted to "Flourine and Dental Caries,” and the background of fluorine was carefully presented. None of Dr. Splra's numerous pap- era was mentioned in this biblio-

graphy.-Ed.G.l

I OUR 'YES'l'ERl5AY5 PIC Th Guardian like TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

(hloy '1. 10!!)

His Honour Lieutenant Governor Dalton hao received a telegram non: sir Henry Thornton. Presid- ent of the Canadian National Rail- woys. inviting Mrs. Dalton to act as sponsor for the new car ferry "Charlottetown". which be hunched at Lauson--Quebec. on May nth.

Reports from the North shore regarding the opening of the lob- ster season are -very encouraging. For the first two days good catch- es were made. The price is low but the quantity of the catch helps to make up for the low price.

Farmers in Bedequo were busy hauling potatoes 'last week. Hav- ing their trucks out and the . lck drying up of the roads soon c car- ed the 1930 potato crop up.

TEN YEARS AGO

(May 7, 1940)

With the lifting of permit con- trols for the shipping of table stock potatoes from the Maritim- es. Island shippers will no longer be under the constraint of ship- ping one car to Halifax or Sydney for every car they wish to ship to Upper Canada markets.

The weatherman is sure in a freaky mood, this spring. Just when farmers might. be thinking the soil would be ready for crop- ping. Jack Frost arrives in good form. Last night four inches of ice was made on tubs of water.

High winds and rough seas have retarded lobster fishermen in Georgetown and vicinity in their efforts to place all traps. Reports indicate t b are not up t0 185i year but nevertheless they are consid ed good. ?'TZ":j'

"ally accented geometric rather than animated themes. Wlih sweeping patterns forming herald- .1: symbols, and circles, triangles. aud scrolls recalling Moorish mos- sin.

The Dutch, in contrast. turned their clippers to more individual creations. Their small, subdivided gardens. said one critic. were 85 filled with oddly shaped shrub! 33 a mid-Victorian parlor with furni- ture.

From Europe. topiary design spread to the American colonies only in modified form. as exempli- fied by the neat and graceful lines of cropped bushes and hedges adorning the restored gardens of Willlamsburx.

In modern times, however. more fanciful embellishments have re- curred. One New Jersey Topiar- ius, working his hobby on a grand scale. has produced an ocean liner accompanied by tugboau, a man riding a bicycle. a windmill, stage- coach, nnd a baseball field com- plete with players.

Such garden sculptures call for akill, time and patient labor. Ne- glected. they are soon reclaimed by nature. Then the squirrels root- ed in the lawn and the peacock parading the hedgetop fade into I green blur. while the fox finally escapes the hounds as all are swallowed by the growing bush.

Changing EGYPT

I The ancient land of the Pharaohs is getting a now Iook. With modern sky- scraper apartment houses. smart business blocks and o ocenlc driveway on the banks of the Nile, it is becoming more wcsfemlzod ovory day. Road of this amulng trons- fonnaflon In THE STAN- DARD today. Get THE STANDARD - on sale now, complete with m , ' , I2- paga novel and 20 pages of comics. ,only ten cents.