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second ground is frankly contrary to public policy.Admittedly the illnesses of adult life are unlikelyto occur, but it is precisely this period in which theseeds of them are laid. The transition from schoollife to industrial life is sharp. School meals beingno longer available, alimentary errors begin toarise and need correction. Instead of enjoying along mid-day break, two free days a week, andmany weeks of holiday in the year, the apprenticemay be working longer hours by day and attendingcontinuation school by night with only the

Saturday afternoon and Sunday to himself, andhe is lucky if he gets a week’s holiday in his firstyear of employment. These new demands requirea readjustment of body and mind, and even ifactual illness during this period is less frequent,of which we should require statistical evidence,there must be many occasions, particularly amongthe girls, when the doctor’s help is needed.We understand that the Insurance Acts Committee

will, if the Ministry persists in its proposal to cutthe rate for adolescents, summon an emergencyconference of local medical and panel committees.We hardly think it will come to that, for the

Ministry of Health would have no support fromthe public in saving money at just that period oflife when preventive care would have the mosteffect. Has the Minister forgotten that the NationalInsurance Act of 1911 was " an Act to providefor insurance against loss of health and for the

prevention and cure of sickness " ?

A DIRECTORY OF WATER

THE water-supply attracts little public attention,except when drought has given rise to a shortageof water or to a fear of shortage. There are in this

country 1011 bodies with statutory powers, generalor special, for supplying water, and some 1080

companies and persons are supplying water withoutsuch powers. The Duke of NORFOLK, for instance,provides the town of Arundel, which lies underthe shelter of his castle with its domestic supply.This and much more can be learned from the

magnificent directory produced by the BritishWaterworks Association which contains a com-

prehensive survey of water resources based onanswers to a questionnaire sent to all the bodiesresponsible for supplying it. It even includesinformation about water undertakings at suchdistant places as Capetown, Singapore, and

Penang ; at the last-named junks and tong-kangscan get a thousand gallons for 80 cents, whilstother vessels pay$1.10. The response to inquiryhas no doubt not been equally complete every-where, but one can open the book with a goodhope of finding at least the date of establishmentof a particular supplying body, its powers andlimitations, the conditions and charges to house-holders and special users, as well as the sourceand character of the supply, whether hard or soft,and the means of storage and purification. The

1 British Waterworks Directory with Statistical Tables. Fifthedition. General editor : G. P. Warner Terry, Barrister-at-Law,Assoc. Surv. Inst., F.S.S. : assistant editor : Leonard W. F.Millis, B.Sc. (Econ.), F.S.S. British Waterworks Association,in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. 1936. Pp. 734. £1 1s.

practice of water undertakings in charging fornon-domestic supplies varies. In many placespharmacists are charged extra, in some cases

specifically for bottle-washing ; in a few, surgeriesare specially rated. Varying rates are charged forhorses and cattle per head, whilst one authorityis so astute as to increase the charge for places ofworship by 2s. 6d. for baptistries. An emigrant toAuckland, New Zealand, may be relieved to findthat he need not take his base-exchange softenerwith him since the water is of only 1-1 degreestemporary and 2-3 permanent hardness on Clark’sscale. Some informants seem to have gone astray ;it seems unlikely, for instance, that Ipswich watercontains only 22-4 grains of temporary and 6-1 ofpermanent hardness per 1000 gallons, when itcomes from borings in the chalk.A new and important feature of this edition of

the directory is the information about the chemicaland bacteriological character of many suppliesgiven in response to a questionnaire drawn up bythe late Sir ALEXANDER HOUSTON and his suc-cessor, Lieut.-Colonel C. H. H. HAROLD. HereHOUSTON’S influence is shown in the coloured

paper chosen so that this part may be referred toreadily. While some authorities reduce the value ofthe analytical data supplied by omitting the numberof samples examined or the period over which

they are collected, the mass of data is very valuable.It includes such things as pH value, conductivity(unit undefined), plumbo-solvency, cupro-solvency,and iron content ; many authorities are to be

congratulated on the candour with which theyhave admitted the ability of their water todissolve lead. A health resort notes considerablevariation in the character of its water from allsources during the year, but does not supply anybacteriological data although the chemical datasuggest that the water is of fairly high purityexcept from the most doubtful of three sources.The water from boreholes in Colchester contains30 parts of chlorions per 100,000, and whendiluted down with spring water the proportion isstill about 21 parts. The volume should interestnot only those whose business it is to supplywater but all who are contemplating residence orindustrial undertaking in districts of which theyhave little personal knowledge. Mr. W. TERRYand his co-editor are to be congratulated on thismonumental work ; its weight (4 lb. 7 oz.) may betaken as symbolical of its value.

WE regret to learn the death at Hereford, in hiseighty-third year, of Dr. Theodore Cash, F.R.S.,emeritus professor of materia medica in the Universityof Aberdeen.

Dr. E. H. Kettle, F.R.S., director of the depart-ment of pathology at the British PostgraduateMedical School, professor of pathology in London

University, and consulting pathologist to St. Bar-tholomew’s Hospital, died in the early morning ofTuesday, Dec. lst.

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WARNBFOBD HOSPITAL, LEAMINGTON.-The com-mittee of this hospital has been promised an anony-mous gift of 1O,000 towards the new maternity blockscheme.