Disease is good for you.

We have all been conditioned over the years by every form of audiovisual aid to believe that Guinness is good for you, and indeed we see an extensive field trial of this beverage being carried out daily by many of our friends, and so it may seem somewhat of a paradox to find a paper entitled 'Disease is Good for You'. I, however, would like to support the unorthodox idea and show that some diseases that afflict mankind can be beneficial. I shall endeavour, for example, to show that the world was a more exciting place with more originality when the bacillus of tuberculosis and the spirochaete of syphilis were given free range. We must ask ourselves if the easy and rapid and effective treatment of tuberculosis and syphilis, which in the case of the latter disease has prevented that late, interesting and stimulating complication known as general paralysis of the insane (G.P.I.), has made the world a less exciting place in which to live. Is the absence of these diseases the cause of so much mediocrity among artists, politicians, and leaders in business and society? They no longer display the flair and originality they used to have. They are a pedestrian group playing for safety rather than success. Perhaps my title is too broad. Certain diseases must be excluded the incurable diseases, the painful ones, the debilitating ones, all of which make a man an introvert rather than outward looking. In this connection I must mention an occasion when some years ago I was talking to Sir Stanford Cade London's leading cancer expert at that time. He produced from his pocket photographs of two politicians who had come under his care. One of these he pointed out to me was a British Prime Minister of Ulster descent, who, he said, although involved in major political problems probably had as his main personal worry and anxiety whether he would be able to swallow his own saliva; it will be remembered that Bonar Law at that time was suffering from a cancer of the throat. The other picture was that of Neville Chamberlain holding a famous piece of paper in his hand with a promise of 'peace in our time', and yet, said Cade, Chamberlain was probably more worried as to whether his colostomy would suddenly act at the wrong moment. Cade bad operated on him not long before for a cancer of the rectum. Anthony Eden never knew when his cholangitis with high fever would confine him to bed just at a critical moment when he was faced with an important international decision. A book has just reccntly been published in Switzerland describing in detail the ill health of many of the great world leaders e.g., Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini: there are many similar examples and there will always be the problem of when one's health and one's ability to do the job come into conflict. Who is to tell the doctor, for example, when he is no longer capable? The