International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

786 EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY base o£ any prophylactic action. Infectious diseases of the ordinary type can generally be traced to a large number of circumstantial factors and the influence of surroundings which favour the development of individual cases of such diseases. It is clear that in the prophylaxis of infectious and parasitic diseases we must distinguish between certain measures of a general character that should be followed in the case of any infectious or contagious disease and other steps of a quite different character which should be adopted only in the event of the incidence of specific illnesses. Such measures depend on determined conditions connected with the biology of the individual infectious micro-organisms. These special and particular measures, which it is a matter of the greatest importance to divulge and popularize, are in contradistinction to the general measures, individual and different for each disease. The rules of individual self-defence against disease are of the highest importance for the purpose of preventing another class of illnesses, that is the so called vocational diseases, for which, just as for infectious and parasitic diseases, science is every day providing new means of defence and prophylaxis. This then is the lofty task of cinematography placed at the service of the great cause of hygiene. It must spread knowledge, popularize scientific conceptions, bring theoretical notions within the sphere of practical application. It must teach the rules and regulations which can preserve human life from the dangers and contagions and the insidious perils which cause such misery and suffering among the masses of the people. We should remember in this connection what one of our most distinguished hygienists Dr Vallisi has said : « Hygiene must come down to real hard facts if it wants to be efficacious ». Another learned exponent of hygiene principles, Dr Rubner has also declared : « Hygiene is a subject matter in which theory and practice cannot be separ ated, and it is only of utility in so far as it is capable of effecting its purpose ». In the field of educational cinematography, the greatest share of attention should be given to illustrating the pathogenetic and defensive mechanisms of individual infectious, parasitic and vocational diseases, according to the most recent discoveries of science. These cinematographic illustrations ought to be explained to the people in the simplest, clearest and most comprehensible fashion possible so that everyone may know how useful it is to be in a position to defend oneself or one's family against the threats of a hidden danger. The simplest form of technique which can very well be used in all cinematographic manifestations of this kind should be followed. It should consist in taking examples from every day, ordinary existence, for this is the most simple and most convincing form of demonstration. In other words, the projection ought to show the incidents and contingencies of real life with man in the centre, hygienic man as a model to be followed. In this way alone, can such illustrations become truthful and instructive. To go into details, it should be noted that parasitic and vocational diseases also offer an important field for cinema propaganda. In fact, various diseases produced by external parasites, are, as Prof. Abba has so well pointed out, the consequence of carelessness and self-neglect, when indeed such diseases cannot be laid to the door of bad upbringing and parental neglect. In times past, the ignorance of the people used to include pediculosis among scholastic diseases since it was found to be very common at the school age. In reality, individual hygiene has shown us that the trouble can easily be avoided by simple personal cleanliness of the body and especially the head, as well as of course, of the clothes. Other diseases caused by internal parasites such as ascarides, taenia to mention a few of the commonest, are illnesses which