Some 200 Die From
Alcohol Poisoning
m ■
CHAPEL HILL—During 1*70
soma 200 persona In North
Carolina died aa a result of
alcohol poisoning, according to
figures released today by Dr.
Page Hudson, the state's chief
medical examiner here.
"We're not talking about contaminated
liquor," Dr. Hudson
said. "We're talking about death
as a result of one great bout
with drinking. . .too much liquor
at one time.
"Here In North Carolina we
are recording an uncommonly
high number of such deaths.
The number Is running five to
twenty times higher than the
rest of the nation, depending
upon which state you compare
with.
"During 1970 we recorded
93 such deaths through November,
and only about half of North
Carolina's counties have medical
examiners (medical doctors)
who report these findings."
The other counties in the
state have coroners.
"Alcohol Is - the most common
fatally poisonous drug In
North Carolina," Dr. Hudson
said.
On North Carolina's highways
alcohol was related to
75 per cent of all fatalities in
single - car crashes, yearend
figures show.
Dr. Arthur McBay, chief toxicologlst
for the medical ex
•miner's attlot, said that of
the 2M operator a killed daring
the year In single car crashes,
143 (04 per cent) were under
the Influence of alcohol, >6
(11 per cent) bad been drinking,
and 55 (25 percent) were
sober.
Dr. MeBay explained that his
toxicology laboratory analysed
the bloods of 455 automobile
drivers and pedestrians killed
on North Carolina highways
during 1970 (December estimated).
Of the 143 persons killed In
multiple-vehicle crashes, 49
(34 per cent) were under the
Influence, 10 (11 per cent) had
been drinking and 78 (55 per
cent) were sober.
A startling 09 per cent of
those pedestrians (over age 15)
killed during the year, according
to McBay's statistics, were
either under the influence of
alcohol or had been drinking.
He said that the blood of the
88 pedestrians examined by his
office showed that 57 (05 per
cent) were under the Influence,
four (Tour per cent) had been
drinking and 27 (31 per cent)
were sober. . ■ '' ''
Touching a pig on New Year's
Eve is good luck In Hungary
where Budapest restaurant parties
sometimes turn Into a wild
scrabble when a live pig Is turned
loose at midnight.
Art, Too, Shows 'Illumination'
To Light Up Christmas Scene
By ANNA MANG
Illumination.
The very word seems to
belong to Christmas, the
season of light. Like the star
that guided the wise men,
Christmas illuminates the
spirit of man.
In an arttotic sense, Illumination
has another meaning
that is also linked to
Christmas: The decoration
of books and manuscripts
with colorful illustrations, initial
letters and borders,
"lit" by gold or, occasionally,
silver.
The Star
Under the Star whose radiance
brightly shone,
There stood a stable cold and
dark and lone.
Within, a traveling couple did
find rest
And a manger held a baby in
its nest.
The animals did bow their
heads and nod,
And angels hailed him "Lord,
the Son of Godt"
And in the fields were sheperds
watching sheep,
Who came to watch the blessed
baby sleep.
Three men came bringing tributes
from afar,
Guided by this one, bright, Holy
Star.
-ANDREA LINDA THOMPSON
Rt. 1
Warrenton, N. C.
Like all the arts, the ancient
art of illumination was
often employed by man in
his efforts to capture some
portion of the wonder of
Christmas, to retell and to
picture the story of the Nativity
and related events.
"The Annunciation," "The
Nativity," "The Adoration of
the Magi," "The Flight into
Egypt" — these and other
scenes from the well-loved
Christmas story appear again
and again in the hand-lettered,
individually-illustrated
books known as illuminated
manuscripts.
When it Began
In the early Christian era,
illuminated manuscripts
were generally the products
of monasteries and cathedral
schools. The first examples
of illumination appeared,
however, centuries before the
birth of Christ.
The Egyptian "Books of
the Dead," manuscripts intended
for tomb burial to
serve as guides for the deceased
in the afterworld, offer
examples of gold-lit vignettes
dating back to 1350 B.C.
These "books," written on
papyrus scrolls, envisioned
afterlife as a continuation of
life on earth. People and animals
were pictured, along
with decorative lettering
showing swirls of gold and
sometimes silver.
To Spread Learning
The coming of Christian
ity brought a continuing
concern with religious subjects
as the text for illumin
ft ted manuscripts Monasteries
of Egypt and Syria were
early dedicated to the creation
of art, the development
of crafts, the spread of learning.
In the Western world, these
aims gained impetus with
the founding of the Benedictine
monasteries In the sixth
century A.D. Artists and
craftsmen worked devotedly
to preserve sacred texts
through their hand-copied,
hand-illustrated, elaborately-bound
vellum manuscripts.
Prom time to time, secular
texts — scientific treatises,
for example — were also copled
and illustrated.
How It Grew
Just as the celebration of
Christmas gathered together
many customs and rituals of
earlier holidays, so too the
monastery artists drew upon
techniques evolved by preChristian
craftsmen.
influence of classic Greek
and Roman style is evident
in the early Illuminated manuscripts
of the Christian era.
This gradually gave way to
the decorative, abstract Byzantine
style.
With the approach of the
Renaissance, more natural,
realistic techniques came Into
use, in illumination as In
other forms of art.
Treasured Today
In the preparation of Illuminated
manuscripts, a master
artist often set the style
for copyists and assistants to
follow, since even the decoration
of an initial letter
could be a major project.
A single letter might occupy
an entire page, and a
complete scene or miniature
painting might be contained
within the boundaries of, for
instance, an initial "C" or
•D."
Some manuscripts, in fact,
represent the work not only
of more than one artist but
of more than one generation
of artists.
Today, illuminated manuscripts
are treasures of libraries
and museums, and
rightly so, for throughout a
thousand years of Christian
history, the art of Illumination
brought an extra dimension
of beauty to manuscripts
that are, in themselves,
precious works of art.
Say you saw it advertised in
The Warren Record.