NA TURE 



15, 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1923. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



153 

 155 



Prevention of Venereal Disease .... 

 Physics and its Applications. By Dr. G. W. C. Kaye 

 The Thermal Decomposition of Wood. By Dr. 



Joseph Reilly 



Clinical Pathology 



Argumentum ad Communem Sensum 



Our Bookshelf 160 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Mass-spectrum of Copper.— Dr. F. W. Aston, 



F.R.S. . . 



Polar Temperatures and Coal Measures. — Dr 



Vilhjalmur Stefansson .... 

 The Trichromatic Theory of Colour Vision. — Prof. 



W. Peddie 



Distribution of Megalithic Monuments. — W. 



Perry 



The Concentration of Haemoglobin in Blood 



Corpuscles.— Prof. A. E. Boycott, F.R.S. 

 Effect of Plant Extracts on Blood Sugar. — Dr 



William Thallinner and Margaret C. Perry 

 Scientific Names of Greek Derivation. — Sir Sidney 

 F. Harmer, K.B.E., F.R.S. ; Prof. F. Jeffrey 



Bell 



The Scattering of Light by Anisotropic Molecules. — 



Prof. C. V. Raman 



The Doublet Separations of Balmer Lines. — Prof. 



J. C McLennan, F.R.S 



" Guide to the MoUusca." — C. Tate Regan; The 

 Reviewer ....... 



The Temperatures of the Stars. {Illustrated.) By 

 Herbert Dingle ....... 167 



Man and Scottish Animal Life. By Dr. James Ritchie 169 

 Obituary : — 



Mr. S. S. Hough, F.R.S. By J. J. . 



Sir Henry Howorth, K.C.LE., F.R.S. . 



Dr. Louis Bell 



Current Topics and Events ..... 



Our Astronomical Column ..... 



Research Items ....... 



The Electron in Relation to Chemistry . 

 International Conference of Phytopathology and 

 Economic Entomology ...... 



Sir William Thistleton-Dyer. Tribute from British 

 Botanists ........ 



University and Educational Intelligence . 

 Societies and Academies ...... 



Official Publications Received ..... 



The Ether and Electrons. By Sir Oliver Lodge, 

 F.R.S 



157 

 158 

 159 



162 

 162 



163 

 164 

 164 

 164 



165 

 165 



166 



170 

 171 

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173 

 176 

 177 

 179 



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183 

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185 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



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Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number: GERRARD 8830. 



Prevention of Venereal Disease. 



THE report of the Committee of Inquiry on Venereal 

 Disease recently published ^ has been awaited 

 with interest. It is a short report, as reports go, and it 

 is an unanimous report, a result ardently desired by all 

 those who have the matter at heart. The conflict of 

 opinion on how best to root out venereal diseases from 

 the community will still be remembered. It was 

 voiced mainly by members of two societies, the National 

 Council for Combating Venereal Disease and the Society 

 for the Prevention of Venereal Disease, and was pro- 

 minent both in the lay and medical press. The tone 

 and publicity of the discussions seemed at the time 

 regrettable, but it certainly aroused wide interest and 

 helped to spread a knowledge of the main facts about 

 the diseases, and in the end led to the calling together of 

 this committee, the report of which, we believe, will 

 give a fresh impetus to the attack on tliis world-wide 

 infection. If the report should succeed further in 

 uniting the fighting forces in this country, and make 

 the two societies, which have in truth a common aim, 

 join forces, this would be a crowning achievement. 

 Both have expressed officially or otherwise their 

 acceptance of the report. The co-operation of the two 

 bodies would be so greatly for the good of the cause 

 that we trust mutual goodwill will surmount any diffi- 

 culties that remain. 



The committee was a medical body appointed to 

 consider the medical aspects of the subject under the 

 chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of Lord Trevethin 

 and Mr. Tomlin, K.C., respectively. Morals and 

 medicine have always been hable to become entangled 

 together, and on the subject of these diseases it is 

 particularly difficult to avoid confusion in the public 

 mind. The terms of reference to the committee made 

 it very clear that the medical aspects only were to be 

 considered. The terms were as follows : 



" To consider and report upon the best medical 

 measures for preventing venereal disease in the civil 

 community, having regard to administrative practica- 

 bility including cost." 



The committee evidently realised that, in considering 

 only medical measures for the prevention of venereal 

 disease, it was not dealing with the whole problem^ of 

 prevention. This is clearly set out at the beginning of 

 the report — " having regard to the nature and origin of 

 venereal disease the committee feel that . . . medical 

 measures alone can never operate as an absolute pre- 

 ventive of disease, but their success must always depend 

 largely upon the attitude towards them of the com- 

 munity and the co-operation of the community in 

 securing their largest effect." How dependent a public 



• Ministry of Health : Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Venereal 

 Disease. Pp. 15. (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1923.) 3rf.net. 



NO. 2805, VOL. I 12] 



