406 HEALTH PROBLEMS IN COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 



Mr. W. A. Martin, in his evidence, drew attention to the 



fact that the costs 



of medical attendance was generally very considerably higher in the case 

 of the farmer than in the case of the urban resident- 



It Stands to reason that it must be so if the doctor has to 

 travel lo, 15, 20, or 30 miles to make the visit. 



In conclusion, I claim that an important Society such as this 

 ought to know the conditions and realise the needs of this country, 

 and should tise its powerful influence to have things put right. 



This is not a question of party politics. It is not even a 

 question limited to the medical profession. It is a broad (|ues- 

 tion, of importance to the whole community ; and the future of 

 South Africa depends in great measure on how this sui)ject is 

 treated by those in power. 



Let me repeat that the hard-working, non-indigent toiler on 

 the land, the man who produces food for the country and the 

 Empire, requires public assistance in time of sickness. It is not 

 medical inspection, it is not supervision that is wanted, but prompt 

 help towards recovery. The men, the women, and the children 

 who live far away from the towns, those w^io are so often in 

 terms of rhetoric called " the backbone of the country," are left 

 to fend for themselves in all times of difficulty. We have adver- 

 tisements for '' Inspectors of Noxious Weeds '' ; much is done to 

 eliminate diseases of cattle, of horses, of mules. Sheep inspectors, 

 instruct about the dipping and treatment of sheep, anrl the 

 question may once again be asked: "How much, then, is a man. 

 better than a sheep?" 



The Origin of NoviE. — The Rev. A. L. Cortie, S.J., 



F.R.A.S., communicates, in a recent issue of Monthly Notices 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society,''' the results of a series of 

 observations of the spectrum of Nova Aquil^ made at Stony- 

 hurst College Observatory. In the course of his paper he com- 

 ments on the fact that the stages in the transition of the spec- 

 trum, from that of an enhanced metallic line s])ectrum to that 

 of the bright band spectrum of a nebula, are not sharply marked 

 or separated. " This," he says, " would seem to indicate a 

 possible explanation of the appearance of a new star as due to 

 an explosion in a star which was already situated in a nebula, 

 probably a dark nebtila originally, w'liich itself was put into 

 luminous vibration by the explosion which took place in its 

 midst." Father Cortie suggests that possibly the gradual con- 

 traction of the nebula on the star may have been the originating 

 cause of the explosion. The existence in the ]\Iilky Way of such 

 dark nebulre has been abundantly proved l)y photogra])hs, and in 

 the case of Nova Persei, in 1901, the surrounding nebula was 

 revealed telescopically as well as spectroscopically. 



* 79 (1919) 171-176. 



