4o8 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS— I. 



SECTION I.— PHYSIOLOGY. 



Thursday, September 2. 



Presidential Address by Dr. E. P. Poulton on Heat production, nutrition 

 and growth in man — some new views (lo.o). 



Contributions of physiology to the health of the individual and the community 



Prof. D. Burns. — Introduction. 



Human progress is marked by a series of triumphs of man over so-called 

 ' natural forces,' so that he leads an ' unnatural ' life, eats food more sophisti- 

 cated but more pleasant than that provided ' naturally,' and is protected 

 against those rigours of ' Nature ' which otherwise would weed out the 

 unfit. This raises various problems some of which have to do with the 

 adaptation of the individual to his environment. The mal-adapted indi- 

 vidual cannot stand the strain of modern life. Other problems are associated 

 with the relation of the individual to the community. The preservation of 

 the less fit with no restraint on their breeding causes the community to carry 

 an increasing load at the bottom of the biological scale, while the slowing 

 down of the birth-rate, a universal concomitant of higher civilised com- 

 munities, affects the fitter classes. 



If civilisation, as we know it, is to survive, some logical plan of living 

 must be evolved. No plan can be evolved unless we know just exactly 

 what we mean by a healthy life and a healthy community. As physiology 

 is that branch of science which deals with the functions of the healthy 

 individual and is especially interested in the mechanism of adaptation of 

 organism to environment, it ought to contribute authoritative information 

 on these vital problems. 



Dr. A. L. Bacharach. — -Some applications of animal dietary experi- 

 ments to problems of human nutrition (11.45). 



Mrs. C. M. Burns. — The physiological cost of reproduction (12.15). 



In view of the interest taken in the campaign for a fitter nation, it is 

 advisable to know what is the most suitable {a) age for initial reproduction ; 

 {b) rate, and (c) extent of reproduction, in relation to the health of mother 

 and child. For this purpose the health records of 16,500 children over the 

 first five years of their lives, and of 30,000 women under the care of the 

 Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme over a similar period were studied 

 by the courtesy of the Medical OflScer of Health for the County of Durham. 

 The women came into the investigation at the birth of a child. Many had 

 other children during the period of study, i.e. they represented the actively 

 reproducing section of the community. At least 98 per cent, belonged to 

 the classes normally covered by State insurance, or were living under the 

 social conditions characteristic thereof. Under relatively homogeneous 

 social conditions great variations occurred in the chance of life in diflFerent 

 biological groups. The age of the mother, the position of the child in the 



