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The web of a frog’s foot was fastened under a micro-scope and the circulation in the capillaries noted.Ozone was then applied to the part and after aminute there was an obvious acceleration of capillaryflow followed by a slowing. To decide that this wasnot due to the current of air playing on the part,we tried the experiment with an air current alone;after several minutes no change was noticed, but onthe resumption of the ozonised air the change wasquite noticeable.Ozone fills a long felt want as a local stimulant to

indolent tissues. By increasing the local blood-supply,especially where cicatrices are starving the area,chronic infection is overcome and the cells are suffi-ciently nourished to promote healthy healing. It isespecially useful in cases which do not yield to

ordinary methods.Major Stoker also drew attention to the effect of the

.inhalation of pure ozone in cases of gassing. Hewrote (THE LANCET, 1918, 1, 550) : ’’Ozone pro-duced by silica tubes and properly administered isabsolutely non-irritating, and seldom fails to giverelief or cure, being a powerful agent in the forma-tion of oxyhaemoglobin, increasing it when inhaled by3 per cent. It is a complete germicide, and renderssputum and wound discharges microscopically aseptic.... It is a strong heart stimulant." In gassed caseshe established that ozone (1) relieved the cough,dyspnoea and pain; (2) assisted the expulsion of theglutinous mucus from the air-passages; and (3)stimulated the heart’s action.

I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

Chemical Club, Whitehall Court,S.W.1.

J. R. QUAIN.

MEDICAL NEWS

University of CambridgeDr. J. S. Mitchell has been elected to the Elmore medical

research studentship.On May 25 the following degrees were conferred :—Af.D.—O. A. Trowell an d W. T. Cooke.1VT.., B.Chir.-R. H. Taylor.

Society of Apothecaries of LondonDr. Margaret Venters and Dr. Sidney Hill Waddy have

satisfied the examiners for the mastery of midwifery.British Pharmaceutical Conference

This conference will be held in London at the house ofthe Pharmaceutical Society, 17, Bloomsbury Square,W.C.1, instead of at Bath as had been planned. It will beconfined to two days, June 11 and 12.

South African Institute for Medical Research

Dr. E. H. Cluver, secretary for public health and chiefhealth officer for the Union of South Africa, has beenappointed director of the institute in succession to the lateSir Spencer Lister. He will take up his new duties on

July 1 when Dr. J. H. Harvey Pirie, the acting director,retires. Dr. George Buchanan, superintendent of theroutine division of the institute, has been appointeddeputy director.

Colonial Medical Service

The Secretary of State for the Colonies has appointedSir Wilson Jameson as his medical adviser, in succession tothe late Dr. A. J. R. O’Brien. The appointment is apart-time one and Sir Wilson Jameson will continue hisduties as dean of the London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine.

Cooperation in Scottish HospitalsMr. Thomas Johnston, M.P., regional commissioner for

civil defence in Scotland, presided over a meeting held inEdinburgh under the auspices of the Nuffield ProvincialHospitals Trust with the object of promoting the coördina-tion of health services in Scotland. Lord Nuffield’s giftwill form the nucleus of a central fund for financing ascheme of regionalisation and for making grants to regionalboards in aid of hospitals. There has admittedly been ashortage of accommodation for the general sick in Scotlandand in the past the work done by voluntary and local-authority hospitals in their respective spheres has beenhampered in many areas by the absence of generalcooperation. Real progress in the development of thecountry’s hospital services must depend upon cooperativeregional schemes. Such regionalisation now in prospectunder the trust will open a new era in hospital admini-stration. The various schemes for achieving this are to beexamined in detail by representatives of the Scottishbranch of the British Hospitals Association and all localauthorities, while the Department of Health for Scotlandis to keep in touch with their deliberations.

V.D. Centres for SeamenThe list of treatment centres in the chief sea and river

ports throughout the world where seamen can obtaintreatment for venereal diseases has been revised and

copies of the new list may be obtained from the StationeryOffice (price 6d.).

Royal Sanitary InstituteThe sessional meeting of this institute that was to have

been held at Hastings on June 15 has been indefinitelypostponed.

Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans ofMedical Men

The annual general meeting of the society was held onMay 15 with Mr. V. Warren Low, the president, in thechair. On Dec. 31 there were 62 widows and 4 orphans inreceipt of grants. During 1939 grants of t3225 from theordinary funds and 1493 15s. from the Brickwell fundwere given. The total membership of the society was289. During the year 6 members were elected, 3 died and1 resigned. The number of widows in receipt of grantsthis year was such that no funds were available for thecustomary Christmas present to be given. Particulars ofthe society may be had from the secretary, 11, ChandosStreet, London, W.1.

Mobility of Civil Nursing ReserveAll trained nurses, assistant nurses, and nursing auxi-

liaries in the Reserve who have been allocated as ’’ mobile "

members for whole-time hospital work outside London,but are not yet so employed are now to be regarded asavailable for service, if need arises, in any casualty hospitalin England and Wales. Until now, mobile members,although they have volunteered for service whereverrequired, have been allocated to a particular hospital inthe first instance. In future they will be called up asrequired by the regional nursing officers of the Ministry ofHealth. In general they will be required to serve only inthe civil defence region where they are registered, but itmay be necessary to draw upon a regional " pool " ofnursing personnel to meet the urgent needs of anotherregion.

"... The unconscious always has the great funda-mental disadvantage of not being capable of scientificproof; in accordance with its definition it cannot con-

sequently be brought out into the daylight of consciousness,and cannot be investigated by means of empirical observa-tion, but only indirectly inferred. It has therefore becomethe great waste-paper basket into which everything is putthat cannot be placed elsewhere, and through this con-ception modern psychology has suffered a confusionwhich has opened the floodgates to the most impossibleinterpretations. For a scientific investigation of thepsychological the unconscious is really nothing but a wayout of a dilemma."-Prof. J. A. LOESER, Animal Behaviour,London, p. 173.