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theatrical value of the other (which serves only to focusattention on the players themselves). Turghenev’scomedy of manners, A Month in the Coucntry, providesabundant evidence, if such were necessary, of Mr. EmlynWilliams’s capabilities as a producer. Good as the players sare they could scarcely be so good without much patientand sensitive direction. Hedonists of both sexes andall ages-and their name is Legion just now-would dowell to see this admirable play if only to learn how themad bull of physical passion can be successfully steeredout of the China shop of decent family life by civilisedand self-disciplined persons who don’t lose their heads.

* it *

As soon as you join the Bright Boys of pseudoscientificmediqine you have to play their game of space-pinchingin the Medical Directory. It is a fine healthy game, nowat the height of its season, and consists in acquiring asmuch print after your name as you can in spite of thepublisher’s rules designed to frustrate your efforts.Scoring is by printer’s " ems," partly to make it moredifficult and partly to reduce the start of those with longand multiple names. For this em is, I gather, the widthof the capital letter M in whatever size type you areusing, so that a surname which takes up half a line ofcapitals scores no more than an appointment which fillsthe same space (why not just score by the inch ? Idunno). The number and length of your addresses andtelephone numbers are partly a matter of luck and partlyof investment (as in " Monopoly ") ; but degrees shouldbe taken separately, each in a different year, otherwise thepublishers will lump them all together. Places of educa-tion were, of course, dealt you before the game began.During your postgraduate career it is useless to collectmore than three house-appointments. Mr. Churchill(J. and/or A. ; not W) is firm ; he will only print three.Present appointments (of which again only three arementionable) should be measured carefully with a rulerbefore acceptance. Even then they may prove disappoint-ing when abbreviated. There is, however, one absolutewinner-" Phys. i/c Radio-therap. and Electr. Dept.St. Yuknow’s Hosp." (29 ems, I think). But the worstpitfalls of abbreviation are presented by the (three only)learned societies. For instance, you pay three guineasa year to become a member of the British MedicalAssociation (13 ems), and are fobbed off with " Mem.B.M.A." (7 ems). I can on request furnish you withthe entrance form of a very jolly " Fell. Countyand Town Med.-Chir. oc." (18 ems), which willonly cost a guinea a year. Only three learned papers areallowed; but this is where we really spread ourselves. Wedon’t write about Sunlight for-Ratbites. No,wedeviseafine fumbling rigmarole, such as Some Observations on theEffects of Heliotherapy in Cases of Punctured Woundscaused by Rodents," and score dozens of enis. Havinginvented this grand title, we shall have to write a turgidarticle to live up to it, which is a pity, because we mayhave something worth saying. Worse still, we may not.Years ago when I was in general practice, the ear, hose,

and throat surgeon at the county hospital rang me upone evening and asked if I would mind applying for thepost of clinical assistant to his department. When Iexpostulated that (a) I had never seen beyond the tonsilsin my life, and (b) couldn’t attend the sessions, he repliedthat that was just the point. He wanted to dislodgehis present clinical assistant, who was always gettingin his way and breathing down his neck, and he longedto run his department in peace. My appointment was,in fact, conditional on my never showing my silly facein the department at all. I naturally accepted the office,and performed my duties to the satisfaction of all. I wasunremitting in my non-attendance, and never took aholiday. Soon afterwards I left general practice, andlater moved to the other side of England ; but I neverconsidered resigning my post. Up to now I hav keptthis pretty dark, but competition is so keen these daysthat I cannot allow good ems to run to waste. The onlyquestion is, how best to put it ? " Late Clin. Ass. toE.N.T. Dept." would be an understatement and rathermisleading ; I was better than late. Perhaps the mostsatisfactory modification would be that one they put onodd roads in new housing estates-" Clin. Ass. Ear,lose and Throat Dept. (Not Adopted)." That will be24 ems.

Parliament

ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSEMBDICUS M P

DURING the last few days of the session the Housediscussed woman-power, supplementary pensions, draftregulations for unemployment assistance and a stringof other matters raised by private members on the dayof adjournment. The feeling and atmosphere of theHouse has been dominated by the grand news from thewar fronts, but there has been some effervescence ofirritation here and there. Mr. Brendan Bracken, Ministerof Information, introduced a new note by suggestingthat if anyone believed any of Ribbentrop’s " fizzyrubbish " he should be sent not to a mental specialistbut to a veterinary surgeon. This view suggests agreatly increased scope for the work of the veterinaryprofession in the immediate postwar world.On the first sitting day woman-power was discussed

on the basis of equal pay for equal work and woman’spart in the war effort. As the result of opinionsexpressed in the House and outside it has now beendecided to debate the call-up of the older group ofwomen from 47 to 50 when the House reassembles andthis will apply also to the proposal to conscript boys upto 18 for work in the mines. During the debate GeneralSir George Jeffreys put the case for maintaining thestatus quo of the VAD organisation as against acceptingthe recommendations of the Elliot Committee’s report.The Minister of War replying reaffirmed the Government’s decision to accept the report and said he was sure

that the new system would prove successful in makingstill more effective the work of the VADs. The factthat the Navy and the Air Force are not coming intoline falls into its proper perspective when the numbersinvolved are realised. The Army employs 4500 VADs,the Navy less than 1500 and the Air Force less than 300.The criticism levelled against the abolition of the VADcommandant also loses effect when it is known that thereare only 24 in the whole country. Sir Edward Grigghas promised to do all he can to facilitate the transitionfrom the old to the new conditions.

Replying to the debate as a whole Sir William Jowittsaid that the rate of sickness and discharge in the women’sservices has been greater than in the men’s-and thisapart from cases affected by pregnancy. This higher rateis perhaps partly due to insufficient examination ofcandidates on entry and it may lead to a larger pro-portion of pension claims than in the men’s services ofcomparable employments. The rate of pensions, boththe basic rate of 10s. a week and the supplementaryrates which have recently been increased by 2s. 6d. aweek, is still a running sore in Parliamentary debate.Mr. Tinker was among the members of all parties whoput forward a claim for an increase of supplementaryrates to £1 a week after payment of rent. The Houseis uneasy at the idea of the retired workers of the com-munity being paid at a rate on which it is a struggle tolive under present conditions.

FROM THE PRESS GALLERYThe Art of Teaching

IN a teacher’s s postcnpt to the debate in the Lords onthe white-paper on education, Lord MoRAN said thatfor twenty-five years he had been dean of a Londonmedical school. Every year there came to that school60 or 70 new students, and for the next five, six or sevenyears he watched them using the education they hadalready been given, applying it to the new task ofbecoming a doctor. The results on the whole weredisconcerting. Many of the boys lacked reasoningpower, and many were without curiosity. A studentwithout curiosity, Lord Moran affirmed, was not astudent at all. He agreed with what was said in thewhite-paper about the importance of the teacher, and itseemed to him that all they were doing would come tonothing unless they could find teachers of quality, forthe teaching art was important and difficult. In theeducation of the medical student, for instance, theykept adding to the curriculum ; they never took away.They asked the student to memorise a mass of facts,instead of teaching him how to handle them. Before

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they sent the student away they so contrived to educatehim that he could not educate himself. He had nopower of growth. Lord Moran had come to ask nothow much a man knew when he qualified, but whetherhe wanted to learn, and if he knew how. It was easyto ask a, boy a question and decide whether he knew thefacts ; it was more difficult to shape a question so as tomake him think for himself. The great thing neededwas to find out during the war which were the menwhom they wished to recruit for the teaching profession.

It was commonly said that the stern fervour of thesetimes of war changed men so that soldiers were madeout of indifferent material. He did not believe thatwas true. War had no power to transform ; it onlyunmasked and left men as they were themselves. Thepeople with the battalions now on active service knewwhich were the men of character. Was it not a pitythat we should not have some record of these men ?Otherwise when demobilisation took place the just andthe unjust would be thrown on the labour markettogether with nothing to distinguish them.The relation between teacher and pupil was every-

thing. Lord Moran was once asked what qualities in aman made a successful dean of a medical school, and hehad answered : " If he is a sort of man who goes tosee the fifth team play football on a muddy field in adownpour of rain and likes doing it, so that at the endof the game the players come to him and talk to him asone of themselves, then all other things will be givenunto him." If we were to get this comradeship betweenteacher and pupil we must remember that you couldtalk to a class, but you could only teach boys and girlswhom you knew. Public schools had another advantagebesides moulding character which had been lost sight of.They brought together the pupil and the teacher afterthe day’s work was done. This was brought home toLord Moran in the early part of the war. Usually thephysicians and surgeons attached to London teachinghospitals visited them three or four times a week, butwhen their students were scattered among half a dozenhospitals outside London, two or three of these teacherswent to live and mix with groups of 30 students or so.As to the content of education, Lord Moran agreed withthe parent who said that he did not mind what his boywas taught as long as he was well taught. At theRenaissance men became aware of the beauty all aroundthem, felt a desire to instil this love of beauty intoothers, and used the classics for this purpose. Evennow we would not quarrel with that, but science, thebusiness of’the stars, and things of that kind, interestedthe average boy more than any other subject. Science,it had been said by a member of their Lordships’ House,was organised curiosity, and was it not the alpha andomega- of teaching to arouse and inspire curiosity andhold the attention of the boy ? He therefore welcomedthe extension of residential schools in England so thatmore might profit from them.

QUESTION TIME

White-paper on Health ServicesCaptain PETER MACDONAM) asked the Minister of Health

when he proposed to issue his white-paper containing hispreliminary proposals for implementing the health scheme ofthe Beveridge report ; to what extent this would affectinterests other than the medical profession ; and whether hewould give an assurance that these interests, such as thehospitals, dentists, pharmacists, optical practitioners andothers had been accorded the same facilities for consultationwith his department as representatives of the doctors.-Miss F. HORSBRUGH replied: The Minister hopes it willbe possible to publish a white-paper about the time whenthe House reassembles. This would then serve as a focusfor full discussion by all concerned, including many interestsbesides the medical profession, and it has always been theMinister’s clear intention to give ample opportunity for this.

Supply of Nurses and MidwivesSir RALPH GLYN asked the Minister of Labour whether he

was in a position to make a statement regarding the supplyof trained nurses and midwives as a result of the registrationrecently carried out by his department.-Mr. MALCOLM

McCoRQODALE replied: Just over 400,000 persons haveregistered under the Nurses and Midwives (Registration forEmployment) Order, 1943. Of these approximately 270;000were engaged at the time of registration in some form of

nursing or midwifery work. About 130,000 were not engagedin such work, and it is expected that most of these, on accountof age, family responsibilities or for some other reason, willprove not to be available to return to the nursing or mid-wifery services. Interviewing both of persons registeredrecently and of those who came forward in response to therecent publicity appeal began at the appointments officesof the department in June and during June and July nearly2000 nursing and midwifery vacancies have been filled.

Accommodation for Unmarried MothersDr. H. BuooKE asked the Minister whether he was aware

of the present acute deficiency of antenatal and postnatalaccommodation for unmarried mothers ; and whether he hadplans on an adequate scale for remedying this, either byfinancial assistance to volun+ary organisations willing toestablish hostels, or otherwise.--Mr. BBOWN replied : Ihave made’special arrangements to provide for certain classesof case transferred by the Government away from theirown homes. Assistance to voluntary organisations can begiven by welfare authorities, with whom I intend to com.municate on this matter in the light of recommendationsmade by my advisory committee, to whom I referred thisquestion for special consideration.

Tuberculosis in Scotland ‘

Mr. H. McNEIL asked the Secretary of State for Scotlandhow many acute tuberculous patients were waiting for hos.pital accommodation on July 1, 1943 ; and how many addi.tional beds had been made available for such patients betweenMay 1 and July 1, 1943.-Mr. T. JOHNSTON replied : AtJuly 1, 1943, the number of pulmonary tuberculous patientswho had been waiting for hospital accommodation for tendays or more was 1007. As regards the second part of thequestion, precise figures are not readily available for the datesmentioned, but between the beginning of April and the

beginning of August 244 new beds have been occupied, andnursing staff has been obtained for 65 additional beds whichhad not been in use owing to lack of staff. A further 130beds are ready for occupation as soon as nursing staff can beobtained, and a still further 330 new beds will be availableimmediately certain adaptations are completed, providednursing and domestic staff is available. Proposals to coverthe remainder of the waiting-list by release of further emer-gency hospital service beds are being urgently examined.

Mr. McNEIL: Were these 244 beds included in the 300which the Minister promised when making his annual report,or are they additional to the 300 ?-Mr. JOHNSTON : Someare included, but between the beginning of April and thebeginning of August 244 beds were made available.

Miniature X-ray SetsMr. G. MUFF asked the Minister of Supply whethet he

would speed up production of the miniature X-ray apparatusneeded for the diagnosis of tuberculosis ; and how manyof these machines had been handed over to the Ministry ofHealth in the past three months.-Mr. CHARLES PEAT

replied : Production is-being speeded up as much as possible.having regard to the demands for X-ray apparatus for warpurposes. Four sets have been delivered to the Ministry ofHealth within the past three months, and three more areexpected to be delivered very shortly.

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Status of Physiotherapists in the ArmyMajor Sir JOCELYN Luans asked the Secretary of State’for

War if, in view of the fact that allied and Dominion nursesand physiotherapists were given officer’s status, while Britishphysiotherapists were given a lower rank, thus causing dis-satisfaction and a drift to other branches, he would take actionto remove this inequality.-Sir JAMES GRIGG replied : TheFinancial Secretary received a deputation of physiotherapistslast week. Their representations are now being considered.

Accommodation for Hop-pickersMr. W. J. THoRNE asked the Minister of Health how many

of his inspectors visited and inspected hop-pickers’ huts andcamps.-Miss HoRsi3puGH replied : The primary responsi-bility for the inspection of hop-pickers’ camps rests with thesanitary authorities of the districts concerned. Before theoutbreak of war two medical officers of the ministry wereengaged on this work throughout the hop-picking season.Under war conditions this close supervision is not possiblebut in each civil defence region concerned, one of the ministry’sregional medical officers visits the camp areas for some daysm each season and as far as practicable keeps in touch withconditions.