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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1445 



is gathered here an international group of 

 chemists from nations that were on opposite 

 sides during the great war. 



On my last day on the other side of the 

 Atlantic I spent a few hours in Quebec. There, 

 many years ago, two great generals fought 

 each other on the Plains of Abraham. Those 

 generals both died in the battle and there on 

 the front of the Parliament House I saw the 

 statues of Wolfe and of Montcalm standing 

 side by side. In that Parliament House meet 

 the representatives of a nation part of whose 

 people still speak French and part of whom 

 speak English. Those two statues are, to me, 

 prophetic of that which must come if Europe 

 will not destroy herself. We are learning 

 during these days the help which comes from 

 talking over our scientific problems together. 

 There is almost no limit to the advances which 

 the world may make if nations can be willing 

 to live together at peace. I have a great hope 

 that states will learn those same lessons of the 

 value of international cooperation and helpful- 

 ness that scientific men learned long ago. Let 

 us hope that our meeting may contribute a 

 little toward that end as well as do something 

 for the advance of chemistry. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE 



The British Medical Journal reports that 

 the thirty-third congress of the Royal Sani- 

 tary Institute, which was held at Bournemouth 

 from July 24 to 29, was attended by some 500 

 persons, including delegates from the British 

 dominions and colonies and from many foreign 

 countries, as well as by representatives of gov- 

 ernment departments, county and town coun- 

 cils, and other public bodies. The president 

 of the congress was Major General J. E. B. 

 Seely, M.P., who in his presidential address 

 protested against economies at the expense of 

 the public health, and said that the three very 

 important principles which lay at the basis of 

 the congress were, first, the vital necessity of 

 the health of the people to the maintenance of 

 the British Empire; second, that national 

 health required the organization of all the 

 various agencies; and third, that the health 

 policy of the nation should not be merely the 



prevention of disease and premature death, but 

 the increase in human capacity and happiness. 

 Great advances had been made in the provision 

 of cleaner towns, better sanitation, good water 

 supplies, food control, drainage and sewerage, 

 but not enough had been done for the educa- 

 tion of the people in a healthy way of life. 

 The housing problem could be solved only by 

 steady and persistent work in every district 

 over a number of years. Curtailment in the 

 school medical sei-viee had been spoken of in 

 the interests of economy, but he considered 

 that that service was not only saving the lives 

 of hundreds of children, but was laying tihe 

 foundation for a healthy nation in years to 

 come. Meetings for the reading and discussion 

 of papers were held in five sections: Sanitary 

 Science, Engineering and Architecture, Mater- 

 nity and Child Welfare, including School Hy- 

 giene, Personal and Domestic Hygiene, and 

 Industrial Hygiene. In the Section of Sani- 

 tary Science a discussion was held on methods 

 of securing continuous treatment of persons 

 infected with venereal diseases, in which papers 

 were read by Dr. J. Johnstone Jervis, Dr. 

 W. E. Facey, Mr. Kenneth Walker, and Dr. 

 Joseph Gates. In the Section of Maternity and 

 Child Welfare including School Hygiene, pa- 

 pers were read by Dr. John Robertson on the 

 regulation of the distribution of milk and food 

 at maternity and child welfare centers, and by 

 Dr. D. C. Kirkhope on certain preventive and 

 curative aspects of the school medical service. 

 Papers were also read on different aspects of 

 maternity welfare by Mr. Aleck W. Bourne, 

 Dr. R. Veitch Clark, and Dr. R. J. Maule 

 Home. In addition to the meetings of the sec- 

 tions, a number of conferences were held of 

 sectional representatives, such as sanitary 

 authorities, medical officers of health, engineers 

 and surveyors, veterinary inspectors, sanitary 

 inspectors and health visitors. The popular 

 lecture, on "The value of clean fresh air," was 

 delivered by Professor Leonard Hill, F.R.S., 

 who said that physiologists could help greatly 

 to point the way to a happy and healthy life, 

 but ignorance and custom enveloped the people, 

 and it was problematical whether our civiliza- 

 tion might not stifle itself like older civiliza- 

 tions and die out. The discipline and the laws 



