gma NATURE 
105 




. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1923. 
CONTENTS. aie 
fee Science oF — of age rH gh Rober 105 
ive Meteorology. By Dr. ue 
Mill ‘ 107 
The Constitution of Matter. . > : + 109 
Bauxite in Ayrshire. By G. A. J. C. 110 
Anderson Stuart: his Relation to Medicine a and to 
the Empire. By Raymond A. aly . It 
Our Bookshelf =a SOE EE s 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Palwontology and Archaic Fishes.—Prof. J. Graham 
Kerr, F.R.S. 113 
Some Interesting Se of Alpha Particles i eo Gases 
(/ilustrated.)—R. W. Ryan and Prof. W 
Harkins 114 
The Age and Area. Hy thesis—J. Adams ; Dr. 
John C. Willis, R&.. 114 
Zoological Ren tata Musca and Calliphora. - 
Dr. C. W. Stiles. 115 
Tesla Spectra and the Fraunhofer Effect in Complex 
Compounds —J. K. Marsh and Prof. A. W. 
Stewart 115 
Distribution of the Or ie Organ-Pipe Diatom (Bacillaria 
paradoxa).—J. W s : 116 
Experiments on Hardness and Penetration. —E. 
ardles ; Hugh O'Neill ‘ 116 
A New Gregarine Parasite of Leptoplana. —Prof. 
B. L. Bhatia - 116 
, Discovery of the Use of Phosphates as Fertilisers. — 
4 Sir E. J. Russell, F.R.S., and A Henderson 
4 Smith + 116 
Soil Reaction, Water "Snails, and Liver Flukes.— 
; C.L. Walton. 117 
‘ The Silent Zone in Explosion Sound-Areas.—Dr. C. 
__. _ Davidson : 117 
4 Time Relations in a Dream, _pr. W. R. G. Atkins 117 
‘The ogee ap in the Spectrum. (With 
i diagrams.) Bot 6. Ww. Richertaea, F.R.S. . 118 
| Natives of Australia. Caen) Sa sepsid 
| H. Ra 121 
Long- Distance Radio Telephony P : . oe Yad 
Obituary 
Brot . B. Haycraft. or oN a 3 » 1294 
John Gavey ‘ F . . 324 
Mr. A.H. Curtis . a : 2,195 
Current Topics and Events . : , 7 et 125 
nomical Column ° ‘ 5 ‘ + 128 
Items 
The Distribution of Life in the Southern Hemisphere) 
and its Bearing on Wegener’s H esis . 131 
The Position of he Scientific Wor 132 
The peeonctiod Concentration of Sea Water. By 
e Structure of Coke. By J. 'W. -. ~ 7% en xc! 
University and Educational amet yh ‘ ‘ SLM SE 
Societies and Academies . 5 oT Ee 
Official Publications Received . . . > S, '236 
Diary of Societies . “eae 136 
Recent Scientific and Technical Books Supp. iii. 





& 
ee) 


Editorial and Publishing Offices : 
MACMILLAN & CO., LTD., 
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 
NO. 2778, VOL. 111] 
The Science and Practice of Pure Milk 
Supply. 
ie 
HE history of our milk supply, especially when 
considered in relation to the corresponding 
history of the milk supply of the United States, illus- 
trates more intimately, perhaps, than any other 
subject the necessity for the man of science to study 
the practical problems involved in the application of 
his discoveries, and for the administrator and the 
producer and trader to acquaint themselves with the 
added responsibilities and increased possibilities of 
improved trade bestowed by science. 
Weare chiefly concerned in NATURE with the scientific 
aspects of the milk problem; but at every stage 
these are interlocked with practical problems requiring 
the expenditure, or more correctly the investment, of 
much money to ensure the health of the community. 
A statement of some of the considerations involved 
will make these points clear. 
The first point we make is frequently overlooked. 
An increase in the quantity of milk available for the 
general public, and particularly for children, is even 
more important than improved quality of the milk, 
though this also is a public health requirement of the 
first grade. In this country far too little milk is 
consumed. Biologists and chemists have demon- 
strated that no other food is so vital to the welfare and 
health of mankind as milk. McCollum, of Baltimore, 
has laid down the rule that every growing child should 
be allowed one quart of milk daily, and Lusk states 
that “no family of five should buy meat until they 
have bought at least three quarts of milk” daily. 
In Great Britain not half as much milk is consumed 
per head as in the United States, and it is to the lack of 
this element in the dietary of children that a large share 
of the common malnutrition and undergrowth, and the 
associated excessive proneness to disease is ascribable. 
There are abundant instances in which the daily giving 
of half a pint of milk to each child attending school in 
poor neighbourhoods has been followed by a marked 
raising of the general standard of health. 
The above statement that an adequate quantity is 
even more important than an improved quality of 
milk, although it truthfully represents a neglected 
aspect of the milk problem, is obviously subject to 
the condition that milk of the present quality must 
be made safe either by pasteurisation on the large scale 
or by bringing it domestically near the boiling point. 
Alongside of educational propaganda in favour of purer 
milk there is needed steady and persistent instruction 
through child welfare centres, in schools, and generally, 
to induce parents to spend on milk the greater part of 
