Awake!, September 22, 1952

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OBJECTIONS TO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS

Unrest Marks the Ballot in Italy

The Army Chanlain’s Role

Popular Misconceptions Regarding Praver

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

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CONTENTS

The Army Chaplain’s Role

Objection^ to Blood Transfusions

Unrest Marks the Ballot in Italy

Blood Transfusion Risks

A Priest Changes Sides

Scriptural Objections

Beds Charge Vote Fraud

Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach in

Blood Extenders—PVP, Dextran

All the Earth—Panama

and Okra

Indonesia Today

My Aching Feet!

‘’Your Word Is Truth1’

Take Care of Your Feet

Popular Misconceptions Regarding

Hurricane Madness!

Prayer

The Banana—Fruit of Antiquity

A Prime Minister for the Gold Coast

The Home of Banana

Watching the World

AWAKE

& “Now it is high time to awake.'—Romans 13:11 &

Volume XXX H Brooklyn, N. Y., September 02, 1952 Number

The Army Chaplain’s Role

IN HIS public declaration before Pontius

Pilate Christ Jesus stated, “My kingdom is no part of this world/* And in his prayer to his heavenly Father on the night of his betrayal he said regarding his followers, ‘‘They are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world.” (John 18:36; 17:16, New World Trans.) In striking contrast with these words of Christ the clergymen of Christendom, though claiming to be his followers, are very much a part of this world, as much a part of it as are big business and big politics. At no time is the unity between business, politics and religion more apparent than when a nation is at war. Political and military strategists direct the conflict, business finances it and religion provides the allnecessary morale, pulpiteers fixing the public mind upon the righteousness of the cause and chaplains doing the same for the soldiers in the army.

But one exception regarding the latter is the little land of Denmark, It is the only European country outside the Iron Curtain that does not provide regular chaplains for its soldiers. Chaplains may volunteer, but that is entirely up to them. The clergy are very much concerned about this state of affairs and it is interesting to note what they have to say regarding the need of chaplains to serve the men in the Danish army. Quoting from “Bev” Sandbaek's Chaplains in War and Peace:

“One of the greatest generals of the last war, Field Marshal Montgomery, made the following statement before the famous battle of El Alamein: T would as soon think of going into battle without my artillery as without my chaplains.* . , .

“After pointing out that the true task of the chaplain is to inspire the army, Hughes [England's chief-chaplain J establishes the fact that it is of the greatest importance for the soldier to feel that his fight is a fight for truth and righteousness. Moreover he says: "There are three main roots around which the religion of the army will grow and shape itself. The first is faith in God's indisputable rulership . . . The second is the belief that God is interested in the fight that the men are fighting. The third is to get the men to believe in God, not as an indefinite, meaningless Being, but as One who demands of them the things Christ advocated.

“ ‘The chaplain must find the way to the heart of the army by explaining the significance of godliness for the soldier. . . . The chaplain, when the coming battle begins to occupy the thoughts of the soldiers, must throw light on the subject of the fight between good and evil. He must speak to the soldiers about the righteousness of their cause, about the presence of Christ, the value of prayer, the honor of sacrifice, the gift of eternal life, all of which will deepen their earnestness and build up the

faith that they are soldiers unitedly fighting for thihgs pleasing to God....

“ 'When the battle is being fought the chaplain should attend to the ones falling; should strengthen those who have lost courage. After the battle the reaction sets in. It affects the men wherever they may happen to be, among the wounded or in the military units. The chaplain must immediately restore the mental balance of the men.’ ”

In an interview with Kristeligt Dag-blad, August 16, 1949, a young English chaplain, E. G. Oliver, told that the soldiers had to attend classes for religious instruction by the chaplain once a week: “These lessons are a part of the training of the soldiers. Just as the army is training the soldiers in various physical ways it also sees to it that they receive elementary training in spiritual things. These lessons are of great value. ... I tell the soldiers how God’s ways are inscrutable and that he has a work to do which they must perform during the war and now after the war in Germany. God wants them to be there and he has a plan in connection with it. It is simply God’s plan that they should be soldiers.’’

Asked if the chaplains mean quite a lot to the soldiers, this young chaplain replied: “Montgomery has put it this way, that he would rather do without his artillery than without his chaplains. I was in the Eighth army in North Africa before and during the campaign in the desert, and we saw many a proof of how important Montgomery, himself a sincere Christian, considered the work of the chaplains. . . . Before every big battle a divine service was held and after each battle we all assembled in commemoration of the dead and to give thanks.”

Quoting another Danish clergyman, “Rev.” Thorkild Claussen, who acted as a chaplain in England, the Kristeligt Dag-blad, January 7, 194S, said: “Montgomery in November 1944 in an order to the army said: ‘I do not believe a commander can inspire big armies or units or single persons to achieve great things unless he has a firm religious conviction himself. All commanders should realize that a well-organized and healthy institution of chaplains is an invaluable aid to victory.’ ”

Protestant chaplains in endeavoring to convince their soldiers of the righteousness of their cause and of the deeds that they are called upon to perform may call to mind what Martin Luther once said:

“The hand that wields the sword (of the authorities) is no longer a human hand but God’s hand, and it is not man but God who hangs, tortures, beheads, kills and wars. ... A soldier must have the conviction and comfort of knowing that he is obliged to do what he is doing, being assured of serving God and able to say: ‘It is not I who strikes or stabs or kills but God and my prince of whom my hand and my body are servants.’ ”—If the Military Can Abide in a State of Salvation, ppi 626, 65B, 661.

According to the “Rev.” Sandbaek, “The need of chaplains when an army goes to war is self-evident. It has been done all the way back to the time of paganism. Some of the oldest ‘chaplains’ known presumably were the priests of Amon-Ra who accompanied the Egyptian armies in the sixteenth century before Christ. The institution thus is seen to be mellow with age."

Not all the clergymen in Denmark are of the same opinion as Sandbaek as regards the need of chaplains in the Danish army. The argument is a fertile one. However, ministers of Jehovah God, his Christian witnesses, in Denmark as everywhere on earth, find their time occupied without involving themselves in such controversies. They maintain neutrality from them while preaching God’s kingdom .-Matthew 24:14.

fry “Awake!1* correspondent In Italy

ATHOLICS, communists, fascists and royali&ts rushed to the polls during Italy’s local elections of May 25, 26,1952. Political unrest was in the air in a land where unrest is no longer unusual. Since the April, 1948, national elections the power and influence of the clerically backed Christian Democratic party had been steadily on the wane. Not the least of the government’s trouble lay in the miserable Italian peasants’ cry for land. As a climax to a long-standing grievance the peasants had resorted to violence and thus forced some land away from Italy’s feudal barons by way of government decree. (See Awake! August 22,1952.) But this only turned the peasants’ gratitude to communism, which had inspired the violence; whereas many land barons, in anger, had turned to monarchist or neo-fascist parties of the extreme right. The 1952 elections came upon the government at a most unfavorable time; but, what was more important, Christian Democrats were somberly pondering the consequences of defeat now upon the national elections of 1953. Realizing the real fight for next year was starting now, they waged a bitter battle, striking hard with their usual big gun, the Catholic Church. The Roman Civic Committee’s official bid to the Catholic electorate of Rome declared:

“Every citizen, man or woman, able to vote is seriously held to vote under the penalty of mortal sin. Anyone who gives his vote to lists that contain candidates of

Communists and associate parties commits mortal sin, and furthermore, by order of a decree of the I Holy Office, remains excluded from the Holy Sacraments, The faithful are strictly held to give their vote only to lists and to candidates that guarantee to respect religion, Catholic morals, both in public life as well as in private, and the education of the youth.” The government also dug out its favorite slogan, that it had saved the land from communism, assumed the role of savior and thereby hoped to minimize its mistakes and shortcomings. Still, the Catholic Church was astute enough to realize its party could no longer win alone. So the Christian Democrats formed an apparenta-mento with other smaller center parties, thus pooling their strength. The communists formed a similar coalition with the socialists of Pietro Nenni. At this it seemed that the lines of major political rivalry, as they have been known in Italy since the war, were drawn. But a prime surprise was in store, a surprise ushered in to the militant beat of drums and martial music.

‘The “surprise” was Italian fascism— “neo-fascism” they call this version—the fascism of 11 Duce in only a slightly new dress. 'While the familiar bucket-jawed profile is missing, many of the current leaders are the very men who stood behind their former chief and listened to him stir up the popular spirit of Italian patriotism. The spring election provided a suitable springboard. General Graziani, once convicted as a war criminal, was back. The

familiar crowds gathered in Rome’s public squares were back too, now cheering the cries that Italy would never be slave to either America or Russia. Thousands of young men educated in fascist schools supported the movement. Fascist songs of war were sung boldly on the streets of Rome during these political rallies. Inadvertently, through their joint failure to satisfy the people, both the Christian Democrats and communists contributed to the unexpected boom for fascism.

A Priest Changes Sides

Amid growing tense hostilities events took a sensational turn, On April 25, exactly one month before the elections, 17 Paese, a Rome newspaper with communistic tendencies, reported an interview with “Padre” Alighiero Tondi, "one of the most noted and influential members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and of the Roman ecclesiastical world, a professor of the Gregorian Pontifical University.” Here this well-known priest and Jesuit announced that he had. quit the priesthood and Catholic doctrine and would adhere henceforth to communism’s ideology and politics. “Padre” Tondi explained that he had abandoned the Catholic Church because in all his years of study among the Jesuits he had never received any scientific proof of so-called “Catholic truth".

“The Church," said Tondi, “represents the historical arrangement of man’s ne’ed to believe, as long as scientific impossibility to dominate natural and social events lasts. But this era must end. That is why communism has appeared to me finally as the only truth, proven in the light of the most rigorous science." He went on, “The history of the Church is a fabric where, side by side with admirable sacrifices, but rare, separate from the prevailing theory, endless misery stands out. Bloody battles, religious wars, common wars, protestants, Waldenses massacred, popes who sent for foreign armies, prison, force, anything to maintain their power. Documented facts. A political technique that disclaims the kingdom of this world with words, but vice versa acknowledges it with facts, at any cost.”

This renegade priest defined Catholic politics thus: “An internal tyrannical politics, unjust, above all unhelpful and selfish. The popular masses, disinherited, caressed with words: capitaiism, with facts. Enormous scandals. Powerful frauds. In Rome, the capital of Catholicism, an immense multitude of people reduced to living conditions of animals. Social reforms conceived in bad faith, promises unfulfilled or fulfilled cunningly at the service of the powerful. Sand in the eyes. Government positions given to unprepared persons, to a clique of traffickers in public wealth. . . . Result: scandal and discontentment everywhere." This denunciation of Catholicism by a former prelate provided a political bombshell of no small proportion. Though the clerical party tried to mitigate Tondi’s resignation by branding him a hypocrite, the communists and allies gave the matter wide publicity, using it to spur their campaign.

Tension and animosity built up right to the time of balloting, from Sunday morning, May 25, to 2 p.m. the following day. The three major blocs appeared on virtually every ballot in the country, while the total number of individual parties thus embraced, of course, ran far higher. In Rome alone there were sixteen different parties represented.

Reds Charge Vote Fraud

Outstanding was the number of priests, nuns and members of religious orders present at the polls. Invalids and bedridden persons were taken out of hospitals and even mental institutions so that they could go to the polls and vote the way the nuns and nurses of the Catholic Church had instructed them. One instance reported a sick person who died while voting. Taking a back seat for a time was the familiar resort to prayers and miracles. These religionists apparently regarded their right of suffrage a more potent means of defeating their political opponents.

In their zeal for victory, the communist press charged Catholic nuns with voting through the names of deceased persons and by means of electoral certificates not belonging to them. In Italy there is no truly independent newspaper, al] are influenced by one or another political faction. Hence, the above information appeared only in communist papers or those leaning markedly that way. There was, of course, no mention whatever of these charges in the Catholic-controlled press. The neutral observer is left with these two extremes in news sources when making his conclusions. A circumstantial bit of evidence decidedly against the church, however, is the obvious political activities carried on by priests prior to the elections. Their almost frantic desperation adds damaging weight to the charges of fraud.

Final results of the vote indicated victory for the Christian Democrats by the proverbial skin of their teeth. Without the alliance of other center parties they would certainly have gone down. Tabulations in Rome gave 384,020 to the center bloc, 314,243 to the left-wing bloc, and an astounding 206,819 to the extreme right, the monarchists and fascists. Out of twenty-four capitals where blocs were formed, thirteen remained in the hands of the center, six, including Naples, went to the monarchists and fascists, and in five the communists won out.

So much alarm was caused by the showing of the neo-fascists and their allies that immediately after the elections their legality was contested in Parliament. For once the Christian Democrats and communists agreed and they teamed together to approve a bill declaring their common foe illegal. However, in view of the large and apparently growing support for the movement attested in its vote, it remains to be seen as to how effectively the law will be enforced. Their attitude indicates that neither the Christian Democrats nor the communists realize the blame which through their own failures they must share for fascism’s rebirth in Italy. Italy is a current outstanding example of the multiplied failures of monarchies, democracies and police states to establish lasting order, harmony and contentment. Italians are painfully aware of this, which they show by resorting in turn to first one and then another alleged human remedy.

But men of faith and good will toward God here need not continue in frustration. Real Christians do not seek favors from politicians, nor do they mix religious teachings with political speeches. Nor are they upset by world upheaval. By study of their Bibles they know we are at the end of the Devil’s corrupt system of things. (2 Corinthians 4; 4) All efforts to save or prolong it must in the end prove vain. Jehovah’s witnesses are engaged in preaching God’s theocratic government worldwide. And this righteous kingdom requires no elections or political parties to keep it in power. Italians now have opportunity to demonstrate their faith in this government and reliance upon it. For this they need not the ballot, but -the Bible. The formula does not include hatred, coercion or violence. They need only hear the Bible, believe it, and preach it.

present era may be'property termed not only the ‘‘’machine age" but also the ^synthetic age". We have synthetic rubber, .synthetic fibers, synthetic food flavors, etc. An d now we are also getting synthetic plasmas. Foremost among these are PVP, dextran and ttn okra derivative.. Under the heading "New Mastic Primes Human Heart.1?" the Popular JJetesc® monthly, for July 1951, had the following to say regarding polyvinyl pyrrolidone, made from acetylene and known as PVP:

U “In Philadelphia. General Hospital I. watched the golden fluid [PVP] trickle from a transfusion bottle into the arm of a patient who Jay deathly still. A. 50-year-o'ld woman, . weakened by Internal Weeding, had been brought to a state of total collapse with no discernible pulse or blood pressure. As the fluid surged through her veins she stirred and opened her eyes. After <15 minutes and about wo . quarts of fluid, her blood pressure was close to normal, and she sat up and talked, cheerfully with the doctors.”

‘i? In Germany, where PVP was developed, this synthetic plastic, plasma was given to more than .800,000 persons during the last war and is credited with saving the lives of thousands of soldiers, ft has been successfully administered to nearly a millton persons in. Europe and has been so successful that it continues to be standard treatment for emergency cases not ‘ only In Germany, but also tn France, Italy, Belgium and other countries. The PVP solation is naw being used throughout the Philadelphia General Hospital at on®-seventh of the cost of plasma. All together some 50 hospitals are employing It, and in several hundred cases not one unfavorable result has been noted.

U’ Further testimony along the same line was given by the New York Sunday Mirror, March 25, 1951, which told that “Science’s Synthetic Plasma” can. sustain the life of a patient, who has only 15 per cent hemoglobin, whereas 30 per cent is the minimum required, to keep alive patients receiving regular plasma transfusions. Of 75 infanta treated for extreme gastrointestinal disturbances, .40 were quickly cured where human plasma had had nd effect And according to the manufacturers

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PVP, this product wapj»ara to have other valuable properties ,, , . gives promise of detoxifying dangerous drags .. . and to increase 'the efficiency of drags including antibiotics, anaesthetics and others”.

"W Speaking at the 170th meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society, a Dr. Everett L Evans said that dextran, is cheaper to purchase and just as effective as plasma fa the emergency treatment for burns. Where j.2 to 20 pints of blood plasma are needed at times to heal a patient, only three or four pints of dextran have the same effect. *We tried it tm 59- severely burned patients and found it just as good as plasma.’—-Boston Post, May 25, 1951.

1 Xs “Common Vegetable Substitute for Blood." t Thu® the Milwaukee Sentinel, January 28, / 1951, headlined an artiefe which, told of a 1 product made from okra having all the ad. vantages of blood plasma without any of its f disadvantages. It Is free from the hepatitis i virus which can cause serious aftereffects to . those taking human plasma. It can be stored, r in powder form in Just a fraction of the space i a similar amount of plasma would require » and it will keep indefinitely at any tempera-r tore without losing- any of its life-giving qual-5 ities. This is In striking contrast with human • plasma which must be kept under constant f refrigeration, and even then, becomes useless when it has been kept too long. Further, • plasma, from okra can. be made tor a frac-f tlon of the cost of obtaining human plasma, even when this is obtained from nonprofit

• organizations.

; T “According to the experts responsible for the new discovery, someone with no medical \ training could learn within three days how to ( give transfusions. Victims suffering from a / loss of blood could be given a' transfusion 1 right at the scene of aeeldent by a policeman ( or rescue squad, thus eliminating the often / fatal delay caused by a trip to the hospital l for blood or plasma transfusions," the article f declared.

/ T Nor w'uld we overlook the time-honored

saline solution, which according to a Massachusetts surgeon has never failed him once in more than 20,000 operations.

the big toe is a natural protection to the bone, 9o that by the wedging and flattening process the bones of the toe are not deprived of this natural protection. The same applies to the other toes. The soles of our feet were protected even before we were born, by bestowing upon them a thicker skin, and a cuticle or outer skin, stronger than that of the rest of the body. This outer skin becomes sensibly thicker in those who go barefoot; and, by a curious provision, instead of wearing away, as in the case in inanimate substances, if they are exposed to friction the soles become thicker and harder.

Man was left to look after and care for his transportation system—his feet. However, many prefer to pay more attention to the tires on their automobiles than they do to their feet. They squeeze their feet into tight-fitting shoes, wobble on stiltlike heels, pound their soles on concrete sidewalks, tramp over rough surfaces, trudge up and down stairs with heavy loads, and run, jump, and dance until their feet scream for mercy! They stub their toes on furniture, stumble on curbstones, allow them to get icy cold or fiery hot, neglect them when they are wet and abuse them when they are dry until they cannot stand on them any longer. Exhausted, they sink down into an easy chair, ease off the shoes, and gently squeeze the toes and feet in the palm of the hands and moan, “Oh, my feet are killing me!” But are they? The painful truth is that we are killing our feet.

Lack of Proper Care

Only with neglect come pedal ills, the commonest of which are: callouses, coms, ingrown toenails, bunions, weak arches, athlete’s foot, arthritis and hammer toes. The American Medical Association once counted forty-six additional ailments which keep America footsore. “These insidious foot-derived ills have been known to twist personalities, transforming normally happy people into trigger-tempered malcontents." Almost any foot trouble can incite secondary ailments.

Among the ills associated with unhealthy feet are: “Besides headaches, low back pains which may keep a patient bedridden for days, constipation, loss of appetite, sluggishness, over-ail fatigue, insomnia, blurred vision, premature wrinkles on the forehead, and abdominal discomfort caused by poor posture which may compress the deep blood vessels.” (Redbook magazine, September 1949) Of course, not always is pain or swelling in the feet due to mechanical derangement Such conditions can be caused by arthritis or by diseases.

However, most foot disorders originate in faulty footwear or at least footwear unsuited to the individual In American industry it was found that “one of every four men and two of every three women are wearing shoes that are too tight". Dr. Walsh remarked that women hold a two-to-one lead over men in wearing the worst possible shoe for their work. “Far too many women—housewives and others— teeter on five-inch heels six to eight hours at a time. I know no better device for slow mutilation of the foot,” said a well-known New York podiatrist

High heels raise havoc with the human body. “By raising one pier, i.e., the heelbone,” says Mr. Holden, “we are always walking upon an inclined plane; we alter the natural bearings of all the other bones; we throw more pressure than Nature intended on the toes; hence distorted feet, crooked toes, bunions, coms, et id genus omne!” By destroying the natural play of the internal mechanism of the foot we strike a damaging blow to the general health of the entire body. “It's a pity," said Norman Lake, one of Britain’s foremost orthopedic surgeons, “that the public cannot be induced to believe that a shoe

with a lower heel or the Cuban type, with a height of one and a half, or at most two inches, can be made to look quite smart and neat. The foot is a long-suffering structure which stands up remarkably well to abuse, arid requires prolonged and forcible measures to change its configuration. Yet over the years, high heels do produce distortion, so that the wearer often reaches middle age before being compelled to seek relief.”

Appearance and style govern the selection of a shoe today, and not comfort and good sense. What often happens is that a customer sees a shoe in the store window, likes its style and insists on buying it even though it is not suited for his feet. “And that,” said Dr. Benjamin Kauth, podiatrist and director of the American Foot Care Institute, “is of the chief reasons why many people wear ill-fitting shoes. ... Of course, the fact that almost everyone has one foot slightly larger than the other makes for some trouble. But if you get a size to fit your larger foot, you probably can avoid the difficulty because the other isn’t likely to suffer.”

Take Care of Tour Feet

The acquisition of an intelligently-chosen pair of shoes is not by itself a positive assurance of healthy feet. While we cannot grow crooked toes EtrEAght, we ean 'dwow aside the wedge-toed, high-heeled, unyielding shoe that is directly responsible for the distorted muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones of the foot, plus the corns, bunions and ingrown toenails.

Coms are usually caused by ill-fitting or badly shaped shoes. The way to get rid of a com or corns is to get rid of the shoe that is causing the friction, and the com will most likely disappear of itself, Hie carving off of dead skin with a razor or applying corrosive acids is risky business; but even if accomplished without infections or bums, relief may be only temporary at most.

Bunions are the result of shoes that are too short or shoes that have a tendency to pile all the toes to a point and press the bones out of shape. The latest and most successful remedy for bunions and hammer toes is, according to Selwyn James, “the traction technique, a course of mechanical wkitki ■sVx'eVtYi Yrje a’ununnifljy bent toe gradually and painlessly back to its normal anatomical position.” However, says he, “some bunions are sq far advanced that the palliative treatment, which emphasizes relief of pain rather than correction of the defect, is the only hope . . . Surgery for bunions, once common and often fruitless, now is seldom prescribed.” Macfadden’s Encyclopedia of Physical Culture suggests that “using a soft shoe such as kid, or modifying its shape with a bunion stretcher so that it fits the bunion, in conjunction with the other measures suggested, will reduce the pain and disability to the minimum. Wrapping a cold, wet cloth about the foot for the night, and covering this with a larger dry towel held snugly in place with safety pins, will reduce inflammation”.

Our feet work harder than the jaws, hands or any other muscle-and-bone-: held part of our body. They need rest. Give ■Mrwjni a recuperate. ^Batne Ynem

in warm water mixed with a handful of bicarbonate of soda 2nd Epsom salts. If they perspire, dust them with boric acid powder. House them in comfortable shoes—shoes in which you can wiggle your toes. If you would be kind to your feet, wear high heels only to occasional dress affairs. Run barefooted up and down the ocean beach or walk around the lawn when the dew is still on the grass. This will cause the relaxed muscles to become alive again. Cherish your transportation system and it will serve you well as long as you live.

By “Awoke!" correspondent In Fl|i

THERE was much activity in the capital city, Suva. Hundreds filled the main thoroughfares to cheer anti bid 800 specially trained jungle-fighting Fijian soldiers farewell as they departed for Singapore to aid the British in ridding Malaya of the Communist bandits aftd terrorists. None of the cheering and weeping crowds thought of a coming disaster that would befall Suva in less than three weeks, None would have believed, if it were told them, that the very wharf that they were standing on would be wrecked and many of their homes would be no more.

g The Fiji islands lie within the tropical climate and are therefore subject to hurricanes. On the morning of January 28,1952, the weather was very bad. But the city of Suva was a scene of people traveling to work either by bus, car, cycle, or, as most do, by foot. All had suspicion of an approaching hurricane, but the majority, as usual, felt sure that it would bypass Suva. It did not! When it struck, it struck with all its fury. Many dashed from their places of work and business to their homes. Some wore alpnost blown into the air, while others had to give up with sheer exhaustion trying to fight against the wind blowing at over one hundred miles per hour! Some were further ensnared to go home when the lull of twelve minutes came during the 41 eye” of the hurricane. Then the wind changed its course. The velocity of this hurricane went well past one hundred and fifty miles per

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were told them, that the very wharf that they were standing on would be wrecked and

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ried away! Buildings rocked. Sheets of corrugated iron were blown about the streets of Suva as if they were pieces of paper. Huge trees were uprooted and tossed over like matches. Roofs were removed from houses and business premises as one's hat is tossed into the air. Ships were tossed about. Wharves were smashed. After two hours of madness all was quiet.

People came out of their hiding places fearful at heart, dreading what they might see. The whole countryside was converted virtually into a wilderness; Instead of appearing as we are In the height of the summer season, now it appeared like wintertime. All the tall trees were either blown down or stripped bare. Much of the lush foliage In many areas was no more. Dead cattle, trees, and masses of debris brought down by the rivers into the sea revealed much damage outside the Suva area. Reports came through of the extensive hurricane damage in the northeastern and eastern parts of the island.

In one sugar-cane-growing district, seventy-five per cent of the houses of Indian tenant farmers were destroyed; much growing cane was damaged and the sugar mill was battered. The Fijian losses to the storm throughout the island were very great. In one province enormous damage both to village and food crops was done. Over 850 houses were destroyed! Food crops were destroyed, In native vegetables there was a loss of 880,000 dalo, 47,500 yams and 200,000 tapioca plants, also 465,000 banana trees were destroyed! In aft-other province devastation was caused, not so much by wind as by flood waters and landslides. A dam broke and demolished three villages.

The Yasawa islands form a sixty-mile chain of tropical islands said to be among the most picturesque In the South Seas. This is where the hurricane struck first. Its beauty was temporarily marred. In the two northern islands of the group, ten villages were demolished and 1,700 Fijians found themselves homeless In two hours!

_Otb£TjDarts_Ol_ih£ earth^may bewail their five per cent of the houses of Indian tenant farmers were destroyed; much growing cane was damaged and the sugar mill was bat-tragic as such elemental upheavals are, they but illustrate in a fragmentary way the potential forces at the disposal of the great Jehovah God, Creator of the elements. How will this world’s structure fare in the face of his unleashed fury at Armageddon? How suddenly and devastatingly will that unparalleled storm change the appearance of this planet? Where then will survivors find the only refuge? Only in Jehovah God, who even now invites would-be. survivors to learn of him through his Word before it is too late.

THE BAHAMA ■

FRUIT OF ANTIQUITY

IT IS a sweet, delicious fruit. Both livestock and humans love it. When fed to livestock, it is fed green, because in this stage it contains approximately the equal nutritive value of grass and grain. When fed to humans, it is left to ripen, or certain species are cooked and then served. Chinese herb doctors have brewed medicine from its roots. It has long been used by Indians for its soothing effect on bruises, swellings, sores and open wounds. Its green skins are a valuable source of chlorophyll. The merchants of the Far East wove mats from its stalk fibers, and its pulp can be used to make paper. Mothers and markets have used its leaves to wrap hot foods. Its leaves also provide perfect shelter from the hot sun during siesta. Its fruit now contributes to the economy of about a third of all American republics. It has been “the sole incentive to the construction of bustling towns and ports out of jungle and swamp, thousands of miles of railways, the first regular shipping service between Central and North America, the first hemispheric radio network. It also touched off revolutions, almost started a war, and entangled the U. S. in murky imperialistic intrigues”. Legend dates its beginning in the garden of Eden. It is called the “fruit of wise men”. In India it is called Kadali; in China, Pachiao; in Spain, platano; and in America it is called banana. The botanical name for it is Musa sapientum, which means “fruit of wise men”, and alludes to Theophrastus’ statement that the wise men of India used a certain fruit for food, which seems to have been the banana.

To authenticate this conclusion, Fillipo Pigafetta, who published in 1591 A Report on the Kingdom of Congo and of the Surrounding Countries^ from the writings of Duarta Lopez, said: “A great quantity of fruit is found here, named 'banana’ by the natives, which I believe to be the same as Musa of Alexandria which it resembles both in form and flavor.” Sir Harry Johnston, in his “Comparative Study of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu Languages”, gave many distinct names for our fruit, including bana and banting and said that the latter name—banane—is the origin of the European word “banana”.—Earliest Evidence of Banana Culture.

The Portuguese were great navigators, who carried economic plants around the world. It is generally believed that they originated the name “banana”. Samuel Pure has wrote: “Amboyna bringeth forth oranges. . . . coquos, bananas and other fruits?* (Purchas, Uis Pilgrimages London, 1613) However, the original Spanish name for banana is platana, from which the name plantain is derived. Henry Yule and Arthur Burnell have this to say regarding the plantain plant. “The name plantain is no more originally Indian than is banana. It, or rather pZdtano, appears to have been the name under which the fruit was carried to the West Indies, according to Oviedo, in 1516. . , . Bluteau says the word is Spanish, We do not know how it came to be applied to Musa, . . . The rapid spread of the plantain or banana in the West, whence both names were carried back to India, is a counterpart to the rapid diffusion of the ananas (pineapple) in the Old World of Asia. It would seem from the translation of Mendoca that in his time (1585) the Spaniards had come to use the form plantano, which our Englishmen took up as plantan and plantain/’—Earliest Evidence of Banana Culture,

The Home of Banana

Where did the banana come from? The Encyclopedia Americana says that the Jfuaa sapientium is “apparently native of India”. Paul Pop^noe’s “Origin of the Banana” says, “There seems little reason to doubt that the banana was one of the first foods of man, and that it was one of the first plants cultivated.... If man appeared in the Indo-Malayan region, as is widely believed at present, it seems natural to seek for the origin of the banana in the same region.” (Vol. 6, page 273, June 1914) However, the earliest history of the banana is mostly legendary. The banana plant is referred to in the Koran as the paradise tree, the fruit that Adam and Eve wpre forbidden to eat in the garden of Eden. This legend applies mainly to the species called the Musa paradisiaca, or the fruit of paradise. Whereas the Musa sapientium, “fruit of the wise men,” derives its name from the legend that sages of India relaxed in its shade and ate its fruit.

The first evidence of the banana is found in the southern part of India in the low, warm, moisture-filled land of that country. Ancient writers of the East mention the banana in their sacred writings. George C. M. Birdwood, in his work The Industrial Arts of India, tells us that the banana plant is “sacred to the Patrikas .. . and is especially worshipped on the third Sanskrit Shravana or Hindi Savon”. Also, the banana is mentioned in the early Epics and in the Pali Buddhist canon. Portions of these writings date back five or six centuries before the Christian era. In the Buddhist books of monastic rules, of the first or second century B.C., a drink made from the banana is mentioned as one of the eight fruit and honey drinks granted to Buddhist monks. The banana is referred to in Sanskrit poetry and in the Pali literature. It was also used to decorate the streets and form great arches on special festivals. Not only is it favorably mentioned for its delicious flavor and decorative beauty but also for its medicinal value.

In the Susruta-samhita, antedating the fourth century, we read of its medicinal uses: “As an alternative [for depilatory measure], the burnt ashes of the stems of plantain leaves” should be used. And in chapter 20 of the same writings, “The fruits of a plantain tree should not be simultaneously eaten with Tala fruit, milk, or whey.” It is also recommended as favorable to the healing of ulcers, and dysentery where the stools are lumpy and with mucous. Meng Hsin wrote, “When eaten raw, it quenches thirst and lubricates the lungs. After it is cooked by steaming, dry it in the sun until it bursts, then grind the pulp to powder. Thus prepared, it is taken to stimulate the circulation of the blood and to strengthen the marrow of the bones.” It is said to soothe the deranged bile, to be a remedy for haemoptysis, to improve the appetite, and lukewarm banana juice as an eardrop is a remedy for earache.

Both the ancient Greeks and Chinese laud its goodness. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and a student of Aristotle, spoke highly of the banana tree: “There is also another tree which is very large and has a wonderfully sweet and large fruit; it is used for food by the sages [Brahmins] of Lidia who wear no clothes?1 Yang Fu, an early Chinese author who lived at the end of the Han Dynasty, wrote the works Records of Strange Things. He recorded strange and unusual things that he came across when he moved to southern China. He gives his description of the banana plant in these words: “Pachiao has leaves as large as mats. Its stem is like a shoot. After boiling, the stem breaks into fibres and can be used for weaving' cloth. "Women weavers make this fibre into fine or coarse linen which is known now as chiaochih linen. The center of the plant is shaped like a garlic bulb and is as large as a plate. There the fruit grows and has a reddish skin like the color of fire and when peeled the inside pulp is dark. The pulp is edible and is very sweet, like sugar or honey. Four or five of these fruits are enough for a meal. After eating, the flavor lingers on among the teeth?’ With that we leave the historical writings regarding the banana plant and turn to archaeological findings.

It is quite impossible to locate any roots and stems of the banana plant of any historical value owing to the quick decay in the warm moist climate. However, in Buddhist temples of India and in stone are sculptured details of the banana plant. The beautiful edifice the Stupa of Bharhut, discovered by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1873, has numerous representations of the banana tree carved in rock. Maisey's book on the ruins of Sanchi shows banana trees in the garden of Indra, pleasure garden. In the cave temples of Ajanta not far from Bombay banana plants often appear as frames for religious pictures. In the Mughal and Rajput paintings, dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, banana plants are seen. Stone representations of the banana are quite prominent in Java. Some of these sculptures in Buddhist monuments date back to A.D. 850.

Most authorities agree that south Asiatic people branched out from Java to the isles of the Pacific as far east as Hawaii. From India others migrated westward, to Africa, to the Canary Islands, and across the Atlantic to Brazil. These took with them the fruit they loved—the banana. It was not until sometime after Columbus that the banana finally made its way to America. Gonzales' Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes wrote the first history of the “new world”, published in Toledo in 1526. In his writings he mentions the fruit which is called ‘Platanos’ which was brought “from the Island of Gran Canaria in the year 1516 by the Reverend Father Tomas de Berlanga ... to this city of Santo Domingo whence they spread to the other settlements of this island and to all other islands peopled by Christians. . . . They say that this plant passed thence to the Indies and that to America it came from Levant and from Alexandria and East India”. With the landing on the American shores, the banana’s trip around the world was almost complete.

Almost—you say? Yes, Its final trip must be from the many plantation farms to the millions of homes, restaurants and ice cream parlors around the world to satisfy banana lovers. From the dawn of civilization to this day the banana has not lost its popularity. Ask yourself, What is better than a bowl of1 cereal with bananas? Or a banana cream pie? Or a banana split? Or just a plain banana? Only another banana, is the answer of many.

Objections to _ Blood ^Transfusions

Based on Both Medical

Scriptural and

Grounds

LATE in April, 1952, the public press of San Antonio, Texas, featured on its front pages the news that a hospitalized Jehovah’s witness refused to take blood transfusions. Briefly, the facts, as reported by the San Antonio Ligh t of April 27,1952, were:

“A gravely injured San Antonio milkman Saturday steadfastly refused to take the blood transfusions doctors say he needs to survive. The patient, Fred Newhouse, 24, of 1622 San Francisco St., suffered a broken leg and serious internal injuries in an auto accident three weeks ago. Newhouse, father of a young son and daughter, was injured April 4, when his milk truck was in a collision with a bus." The account of his refusing to take blood transfusions not only appeared in the press throughout the United States but also in other parts of the world, such as the report of it with a picture of Newhouse and his wife reading the Watchtower magazine published in the Aftontidningen (April 29, 1952), a Stockholm, Sweden, daily.

Pressure Tactics

The San Antonio press also featured large photographs and banner headlines telling of murder threats received by the mother-in-law of Newhouse in the event he died. Another front-page banner headline told: “Jehovah Witness Loses Sick Pay” because of his refusal to accept the advice of his physicians to take blood transfusions. Another told of the efforts of the parents of Newhouse to have him declared insane so that they could force blood transfusions upon him. Let it be said to the credit of his physicians that they refused to co-operate in such a base scheme. The parents, not to be deterred, hired a psychiatrist to interview their son. His report was, “If he’s crazy, then all the doctors are crazy too.”

The clergy jumped into the fray. First of all the Methodist clergyman of his parents tried to convince Newhouse to take blood transfusions. A number of others from various faiths were appealed to. They likewise interviewed him, all with the same result. Two advertised sermons on the subject, one of which was entitled “Should a Dying Man Refuse His Mother’s Blood?” which itself was based on a large headline of one of the local papers. Scores of letters were received from well-meaning citizens of San Antonio, all trying to persuade Newhouse to take blood transfusions.

However, in spite of the insistence of his physicians that he absolutely needed blood transfusions to pull through, in spite of his ‘preferring death to the blood of his own mother’, Newhouse kept on improving without taking any. A week later the San Antonio Express noted that there was “slight improvement”. The following week the San Antonio folk learned that “Hurt Witness Makes Gains” and some days later the San Antonio Light had a picture of

Newhouse with the headline “Bloodshy S. A. Witness Better”, On May 24, 1952, under the heading, “Texan Who Spumed Transfusion Recovers,” the Denver, Colorado, Register had the following to say:

“Fred Newhouse, who refused to accept blood transfusions because of his religious beliefs, Friday hailed his recovery from critical accident injuries as a victory for his faith. Newhouse, who belongs to Jehovah’s Witnesses sect, was critically injured when his milk truck and an auto collided a month ago. He said blood transfusions meant ‘spiritual death’, which he feared more than physical death. Thursday Newhouse was sent home from the hospital, Tt wasn’t necessary to violate God’s law to get well/ he said. ‘Nature takes care of itself. Blood transfusions aren’t so necessary as they’re played up to be. I think this proves it.’ ” At the last reports he is still improving and gaining weight.

The foregoing case of Fred Newhouse is unusual only in the amount of publicity it received. Awake! has at hand many letters telling of similar pressure tactics and recoveries even though blood transfusions were not resorted to. About a year ago the Bridgeton, New Jersey, Bulletin gave a brief report of one of such cases under the heading; “Refuses Blood Transfusions on Religious Grounds, Girl Recovers from Operation.”

In passing, however, let it be noted that what the Denver Register had to say about Fred Newhouse’s claiming that his recovery was a victory for his faith is based upon a misunderstanding on its part. Whether or not Jehovah’s witnesses pull through because of failing to take blood transfusions is beside the point as far as they are concerned. What counts as victory for them is maintaining integrity by being obedient regardless of the cost, and even though the world may not understand. They know their Bibles too well to expect physical well-being at the present time as a reward for keeping Integrity.

Blood Transfusion Risks

Why make such a fuss about one of Jehovah’s witnesses refusing to take blood transfusions? People are free to reject other types of treatment, are they not? Surely in view of the contradictory claims of the allopaths, homeopaths, osteopaths, naturopaths, etc., etc., it is the height of presumption to demand that a certain treatment be taken—or else. Christian Scientists deny the very fact of disease. A patient may be wasting away with cancer, present a horrible sight to the eyes, emit the most repulsive odors and be in such pain that he moans or screams all the time, and yet; according to this system of belief, it is only a matter of adjusting his thinking, denying the evidence of his senses. Yet Christian Scientists are not ridiculed in the press, pressure tactics are not employed to force them to resort to more realistic methods of treating cancer or other diseases.

Actually, blood transfusions have become a fad in medical circles; it is the fashionable, modem thing to do. We are not saying that; that is what enlightened medical opinion in Great Britain thinks, as quoted by the Hawick News (Scotland), December 21, 1951:

“Spate of Blood Transfusions. How Many Patients Benefit? asks Medical Journal. Since the beginning of 1946 the amount of blood used in our hospitals has increased by more than double, and says an editorial tin the Medical Press on Wednesday, ‘if things continue at this rate it would seem as if a time must soon come when one fraction of the population will be living on the blood of the remainder.1

“The article asks: ‘How much of all this blood is given on carefully estimated, verifiable clinical indications, and how much

given as a routine because it is the thing to do? Is it because a young medical officer might be afraid of being accused of slacks ness or negligence if he failed to institute a transfusion?

“ ‘Again, how many patients genuinely derive benefit from it? and again (let us ask the question in a whisper), how many patients derive not benefit but harm? It is clearly impossible to say, but the fact that, by and large, the vast majority of patients in hospitals recovered long before these potted transfusions had become the fashion—and even before the antibiotics were available—strongly suggests that a little less blood all around might do surprisingly little harm.

“ ‘Up to comparatively recent times there was scarcely an illness, in an adult at any rate, which was not treated more or less automatically by blood letting. Were our ancestors clinical fools, or did they merely delude themselves? If, as we believe, they were deluded, is it reasonable to suspect that we in turn may similarly tend to delude ourselves? Fashions—in medicine no less than in feminine attire— are extremely persuasive. It is, at any rate, tempting to speculate what will be the verdict of our successors on the present spate of blood donation.’ ”

“How many patients derive not benefit but harm?” is a most pertinent question in this matter of blood transfusions. The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 24, 1951, gave a case history of a death caused by a blood transfusion, under the heading “Atrophy of the Liver from Serum Hepatitis”. A British newspaper, The Star, January 28, 1952, under the headline “Transfusion Death: A Protest”, told of a Hadleigh, Essex, father protesting the verdict of “Misadventure" in the death- of his son as a result of a blood transfusion. Quoting from this article, “ ‘Two to three per cent of blood taken by the Transfusion service is infected,’ said Dr. J. W. Lacey today. ... ‘It cannot be helped. There is no known technique whereby blood can be taken without risk of infection. It is a fact which must be accepted.’ Asked by the coroner, Mr. J. H. Jeffries, what could cause the infection, Dr. Lacey replied: ‘Incomplete sterilization of citrate solution in the bottle; the bottle being infected when blood was taken or during the period of matching.’ ”

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 25, 1952, contained the story of a University of Washington student who, taking part in medical experiments, died from , a blood transfusion. Among other things it stated: “Young Leedon submitted to a transfusion with blood which had been held under refrigeration longer than usual. The blood when first frozen was free from bacteria but after being warmed to body temperature and injected was found—Brill [the coroner] said he was told—that somehow it had acquired bacteria in fatal quantities.” The father of the student did not blame anyone, that is, no one but God. Said he: “God does things in strange ways. .,. My son was a devout Catholic. I think his death was foreordained. We are certain of it. We know.” What blasphemy! Blaming God for a death resulting from doing something which he expressly forbids in his Word!

Then there was the item in the Boston Sunday Advertiser, July 15, 1951, which, under the heading “Doctor Solves Maine Illness", told how a doctor, by doing some personal detective work, solved the mystery of why 14 patients, all ailing from jaundice, were entered in a certain hospital in one month. Each one had received contaminated blood by means of a transfusion.

Further note the light thrown on this subject by Dr. T. R. Van Dellen in the New York Daily News, March 5,1952, in an article entitled “Doctor, Too, Takes a Risk

with Germs”. “More than 95 cases of liver infection, hepatitis, have occurred through* out the country among workers handling blood or blood products in the laboratory. The condition is now considered an occupational hazard of physicians, nurses and technicians, but professiortal and technical workers were not the only ones to suffer.

“There were 63 cases among students . and 122 among animal caretakers, janitors and dishwashers. Another authority says that, of those engaged for more than one year in washing glassware that had contained blood, 50 per cent became infected with the virus. Even clerks developed the sickness traceable to the laboratory, indicating it was not necessary to touch contaminated articles. Here the organisms were airborne.”

The Danish newspaper, Berlingske Tid-ende, of February 15, 1952, told of the Supreme Court of the land awarding 3,000 kroner compensation to a patient who had contracted syphilis due to receiving a contaminated blood transfusion. Another Danish newspaper, the Aftonbladet, December 7, 1951, had the following to say regarding the danger of contaminated blood transfusions: “A group of well-known specialists have made a rather sensational statement to all their colleagues. They enjoin a series of precautions to prevent the so-called ‘serum jaundice’ due to inflammation of the liver transmitted to patients receiving blood from a donor whose blood is infected with virus causing this disease.

“This specific form of ‘artificial* inflammation of the liver has made an appearance in the hospitals in recent years and caused great concern amongst doctors as to how it can be prevented. This has resulted in a number of precautions enjoining strict hygenic measures during examinations and treatment of patients in hospitals and the fact is emphasized that the use of human blood carries the risk of transmitting inflammation of the liver.”

To what extent the blood, the stream of life, may become a stream of death by being a carrier of disease may be gathered from the report in the New York Times, March 16, 1952, regarding a Mrs. E. W. Kidwell, microbiologist, who presented to the New York Microscopical Society “the results of nine years of study of the blood as an index to the resistance of the whole body. She found that bacterial toxins, viruses and many of the body’s own constituents damage the blood in disease and so pave the way for arthritis, poliomyelitis, cancer, ulcers and heart disease”. And just recently it has been discovered that “the polio virus apparently gets into the blood first, before it enters the nerves and destroys them”.

More testimony along this line is given by a Dr. R. E. Lincoln, of Medford, Massachusetts, who wrote the Chief Medical Director of the United States Veterans’ Administration a letter which was placed in the Congressional Record at the instance of Senator Tobey, and which, among other things, states: “I have irrefutable evidence that every day, throughout the country, many veterans are being administered, by blood transfusion, a dose of red liquid cancer.” A Dr. J. E. Hett of Windsor, Ontario, professes to have likewise demonstrated that cancer is produced by a virus in the blood stream. While such statements may seem radical to orthodox members of the medical fraternity, would any of them be able to state dogmatically that cancer could not be caused by a virus? And if it is, may it not be just as difficult to destroy as the hepatitis virus?

Scriptural Objections

As we have seen in the Newhouse case, the clergymen are ever eager to attack the position of Jehovah’s witnesses in the matter of blood transfusion. A typical exampie is that Of one “Rev.” Joseph B. Mohr, whose sermonette, “Are Blood Transfusions Wrong?" appeared in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call of May 3,1952. According to him “it is regrettable that the doctrine of the infallibility of the Bible has been interpreted by many to mean that the Scriptures in all their parts, even their pre-scientific parts, are of equal value to us today, and equally binding. ... Jesus regarded human life and welfare on a higher plane than oxen and laws concerning the blood of animals".

So God’s laws of “pre-scientific” times do not apply to us today? In other words, scientists today know more than God did four thousand years ago. The idea this “reverend” is trying to put across is that had God known anything about blood transfusions at that time he would not have placed his ban upon blood. But may it not be just the other way around? That in forbidding the use of blood God was looking into the future to our day, and foreseeing the harm that would come from the use of blood transfusions, had this in mind as an added reason for forbidding any use of it? Who can definitely assess the amount of harm being done by blood transfusions today? Incompatibility and certain viruses make themselves known at once, but other viruses may take longer, and smaller differences in blood causing other forms of contamination may be weakening humanity more gradually and may account for the increase in degenerative diseases such as heart and kidney ailments and cancer. We cannot dogmatically speak either way at this time.

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