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potent source of energy, provided always that a supply ofradium were forthcoming. 11 If, however, the elements

which we have been used to consider as permanent are

capable of changing with evolution of energy; if some

form of catalyser could be discovered which would usefullyincrease their almost inconceivably slow rate of change, thenit is not too much to say that the whole future of our race

would be altered; " that is how Sir WILLIAM RAMSAY

pithily sums up the position.There is truth in his words, for the whole progress of

the human race has been due to enterprising philosophers,speculators, and workers who have discovered means of con-

centrating energy and of transforming one form of it into

another. As discovery upon discovery is made by which

any one power is utilised to control the great natural

forces the consequent achievements will have far-reachingeventualities for humanity. We may well ask, then, is thefuture to depend upon a mighty catalyser, suggested bythe energies of radium ; are man’s attempts to secure for hisuse the natural forces to be for ever unavailing ? What of thetides, the internal heat of the earth, the winds, and solar heat?The answer from scientific men and men of the greatengineering profession is disappointing. In this country, at

least, we are told that it would be impracticable to

attempt to utilise terrestrial heat from boreholes, while

from the tides and the winds small supplies of energy

are obtainable, but negligible in comparison with that

derived from the combustion of coal. Again, nothingis to be hoped for from the direct utilisation of solar heat

in this temperate and uncertain climate, while it appears

improbable that we shall ever be able to utilise the energy.dus to the revolution of the earth on her axis, or to her Iproper motion round the sun. One lesson of all this is

that we must make the most of our coal-a diminishingquantity in all the civilised parts of the earth-for our supplyof energy, and for the means of supporting our population..-Sir WILLIAM RAMSAY, in inculcating this lesson, does not

appear to regard the possibilities of liquid fuel ; otherwisehis wise words cover all the ground. Waste must be

penalised. Smoke, as an evidence of it, must be abolishedeven although it proceeds from the domestic hearth :

energy must be transmitted by cheap channels from its

sources and not manufactured from the raw material at a

million tiny local centres where the conditions are sure tobe clumsy, beyond control, unhygienic, and wasteful. Elec-

tricity seems to be the way out, for, to quote Sir WILLIAMRAMSAY’S words, an invention which would enable us toconvert the energy of coal directly into electrical energywould revolutionise our ideas and methods.

The discovery of radium and similar radio-active sub-

stances has widened the bounds of thought, as Sir

’WILLIAM RAMSAY fittingly points out in a concludingappeal for the study of pure science apart from its appli-cations. While these radio-active substances are in all prob-ability incapable of industrial application, save in the domainof medicine, their study has shown us to what enormous

advances in the concentration of energy it is permissible tolook forward with the hope of applying the knowledgethereby gained to the betterment of the whole human

irace.

The Provision of Meals for SchoolChildren.

THE working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act,1906, for the year ending March 31st, 1910, forms the subjectof a Parliamentary Report, from which we learn that on thedate named the total number of local education authorities

in existence was 327. From 128 of these, in whose areas

I .. school canteen committees" have been formed, the Boardof Education has received full replies to a circular inquiringinto the working of the Act in respect of the followingpoints: The character and composition of the committee;the method of recommendation or selection of the children

for meals; the total number of children fed, with the periodsduring which they received meals ; the number of meals

provided, with the place and dietary ; the method

of serving and the behaviour of the children; and

the cost to the rates, with a statement of addi-

tional sources of incoma-e.g., voluntary contributions

and money contributed by, or recovered from, parents;the average estimated cost of each meal; the charges fixedas recoverable; the number of children whose meals were

wholly or in part paid for by their parents, and the numberwithdrawn owing to unwillingness of the parents to pay ;and the amount which a 2d. rate would have produced forthe period under review. It has not been considered neces-

sary to put the Act into force in 198 of these areas, in manycases voluntary organisations proving sufficient.From the report it appears that during the year 1910

the total expenditure of the local education authorities wasE134,105, distributed as follows : (1) For food, under

Section 3 of Act, .681.728 ; (2) other expenditures, underSection 3, .&bgr;/l.3,6/1.q.; (3) estimated share of office expensesand salaries chargeable to work under Act, .68733. The

expenditure of the canteen committees was met from funds asfollows: Rates for expenditures (1) and (2) above, 6125,372 ;voluntary contributions, .69813; contributed or recovered from

parents (including E225 paid by Poor-law guardians), E906 ;total ;&13S,091. The total figures for 1908-09 were,

expenditure, .672,333; sources of income, .685,690. The

increase in 1909-10 is mainly attributable to London, andis largely due to the fact that the London County Council

expenditure in 1909-10 is for 12 months, whereas in the

previous year it did not begin until within three monthsof the end of the year, so that the returns for that yearcovered only three months. The total number of meals pro-vided was as follows : In 1908-09 : London, 4,546,771 ;elsewhere, 9,671,789. In 1909-10 : London, 7,335,469 ; else-where, 8,766,635. As some authorities, including the LondonCounty Council, have made no returns of the number of

children for whom meals were provided, the averageestimate of meals for each child can be calculated on a

portion only, excluding those areas from which details arenot available. This calculation gives a total of 63-8 perchild. The authorities which provided meals for the

largest number of children were as follows: Birming-ham, 9678 ; Manchester, 7421; Newcastle, 6888; Leeds,6867 ; Sheffield, 5331 ; Bristol, 5240 ; Bradford, 4406.

London and Sunderland made no return of children;but, as regards the largest number of meals provided, the

697

figures are: London, 7,335,469; Bradford, 957,739 ; Bir.

mingham, 575,036 ; Sunderland, 509,402. The sums recover-

able by the authorities from parents were about as last year-viz., from 2d. to 3d., while there was little change in

the amounts so recovered. In other respects the returns

show comparatively little change from those forming thebasis of the earlier report.From the public point of view, as well as from that

of our readers, the most interesting thing in the reportis that the Board of Education lays stress on the

intimate connexion of the provision of meals with medical

inspection. Unless the provision of meals is coordinated

with the work of the school medical officer as a branch of

the school medical service it may degenerate into a systemof doles, administered in a haphazard fashion on merelyeleemosynary and sentimental lines. It is only thus that, inthe opinion of the Board, wasteful and reckless expenditurecan be prevented, and full value in increased vigour and moreeffective education can be obtained for the expenditure.Even when the large scale of the operations under the Actmakes it impracticable for the medical officer to examine allchildren recommended for meals, he can at least take a

large part in the selection of children, and by concentratingattention on doubtful cases, or those in which actual neglectis suspected, can help in the establishment of a properstandard. By visiting kitchens and dining centres from

time to time, also, he can advise in the choice of food andtest the results of different dietaries ; thus he can see that

special attention is given to the more delicate children, andwill have an opportunity of judging the extent to which

individual children are benefited by the meals. Discovery ofthe main causes of malnutrition will suggest a remedy, andan important part of the ’’ following-up " system of treatmentwill be supplied. As to machinery for selecting those to befed, in 70 cases the school medical officer, and in 39 theschool nurses, made the recommendations. Further light onthis subject can be discovered in the medical officers’ reportsof Dec. 31st, 1910. The excellent work of Dr. D. FORBES,school medical officer of Brighton, is quoted. In that town

all children for whom an application for meals was made,amounting in 1910 to 1633, were weighed and measuredand in special cases they were thoroughly examined. Of f

this number those recommended for meals on account of

deficient physique, deficient weight in relation to height,tuberculosis or anaemia, amounted to 45 per cent. of

the boys and 42 per cent. of the girls. Other medical

officers whose commendable work is cited are Dr. C. F.

STOViN of Ilford, Mr. G. FoGGIN of Newcastle-on-Tyne,Dr. C. MURRAY of Preston, and Dr. RALPH P. WILLIAM of

Sheffield. From a series of comparative tests the last-

named officer speaks highly of the great superiority of theporridge breakfast. As regards the opportunity afforded

by the provision of meals for the inculcation of lessons incleanliness, courtesy, and good behaviour, it is apparent, the

report says, that little attention has been paid to these things.Dirty and ragged tablecloths, unnecessary noise, deficientefforts to teach orderly eating, and even actual disorderlyconduct, bolting of food, rudeness, and improper use ofthe utensils, are commented on, though great excuse is

admitted by the Board, because with limited attendants

the mere serving of the food leaves but little leisure

for exerting a humanising influence. In many cases, too,those in attendance can hardly be considered capableof giving lessons in deportment, as is obvious when we

read that in one instance "nine charwomen of a rather

low type attend to 470 children." Contrary instances

are, however, referred to, in which much better conditions

prevailed as regards not only the serving of the food, butthe discipline, manners, and cleanliness of the children.

The report points, as the reason for citing these adverseinstances, to the fact that "it is more useful, though lesspleasant, to supply warnings than models." The results

from a medical point of view will find a place in the reportsof the school medical officers.

The Risk of Plague at Home.THE reports and papers on suspected cases of human

plague in East Suffolk and on the epizootic of plague which

certainly attacked rodents in that district during last autumnand winter will possess the deepest interest for all epidemio-logists, and they may have historical value subsequently, forwhat the more or less immediate future may have in store, both

as regards rodent and human plague, cannot be prophesied.Many of the points dealt with in these papers are alreadycommon knowledge owing to the interest which the occur-rence excited at the time, but the facts are now for the firsttime set out fully and in a manner which reflects credit uponthe Medical Department of the Local Government Board.The epidemiological and administrative sides of the outbreakare dealt with by the late Dr. H. T. BULSTRODE with the

clearness and thoroughness that might be expected from that

greatly lamented sanitarian ; while the flea fauna of the

rats and rabbits, together with the species of the rats found,are reported upon by Dr. C. J. MARTIN and Mr. SYDNEY

ROWLAND of the Lister Institute. The pathological and

bacteriological side of the epizootic was undertaken for theLocal Government Board by Dr. G. F. PETRIE and Dr.

G. H. K. MACALISTER, also of the Lister Institute. Dr. A.

NEWSHOLME, medical officer of the Board, presents the

papers to Mr. BURNS with some introductory remarks. There

are some excellent maps showing the distribution of the

human and rat cases of plague, which render it easy to

follow the narrative.

The first thing which strikes the reader on lookingat the map accompanying Dr. BULSTRODE’S generalreport is the relatively extensive area over which the

suspected human cases were observed between 1906-07

and 1910. But these cases are divisible into three

or, at most, four separate groaps ; two of probable pneu-monic plague and one of probable bubonic and septicsemioplague. There is, too, the very instructive circumstance

that rats dead of plague were actually found on both sidesof the estuary of the Orwell, not far from the localities in

which the suspected human cases occurred. Clearly, asDr. BULSTRODE points out, rat plague had probablybeen prevalent in some degree in this neighbourhood from1907, and perhaps earlier, and it is a matter of great interest

1 Reports to the Local Government Board on Public Health andMedical Subjects. New Series, No. 52. Published by His Majesty’sStationery Office. Sold by Wyman and Sons, Limited, Fetter-lane, E.C.,or purchased through any bookseller. London. 1911. Price 1s. 3d.