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Anthropology is the science of man and it is a study not only of what man looks like but how he behaves. It is customary to divide the subject into physical anthropology, which makes a comparative examination of the physical characteristics of human beings, such as their size, shape and colouring, and social and cultural anthropology, which looks at man's beliefs and behaviour and his relationship with his fellows.

Long before calories and joules were used to indicate energy values in relation to food, popular belief had it that some foods could increase man's output of labour, his physical strength and endurance, even his fertility. The nature of the foods varied over the years. From earliest times, flesh foods have inspired men to “gird their loins” and “put on armour”, but too long at the feasting tables produced sloth of body and spirit. Hunger sharpens the wit, which makes one wonder if that oft‐quoted statement of poverty and hunger before the Great War—“children too hungry learn”—was quite true; it is now so long ago for most of us to remember. Thetruism “An army marches on its stomach” related to food in general and relating feats of strength to individual foods is something more difficult to prove. The brawny Scot owes little to his porridge; the toiling Irish labourer moves mountains of earth, not from the beef steaks he claims to consume, but for the size of the pay‐packet at the end of the week!

One of my favourite quotations is the opening of Robin Jenkins's novel, Happy for the Child: “Pages 256 and 257 were missing. Shocked, the boy slowly and in fear became aware that the book in his hands was merely a destructible contrivance of gum and paper, and that in spite of it round him in the little kitchen crowded the familiar baleful furniture …..” For me this captures and expresses vividly the sense of complete absorption, the feeling of total immersion one can experience in reading, and it springs to mind immediately as a first response to the Editor's suggestion that I should jot down some notes and comments on “books that have particularly attracted me” in my reading over the years.

The general quality of milk supplied by the cows will also affect the question, and in this connection it may be noted that Mr. Lehmann stated to the Departmental Committee that Dutch cows do not produce a milk so rich in fat as these of Switzerland; an examination of the figures given tends to corroborate this view. Dutch milks appear to require concentration to a higher degree in order to provide as large a proportion of fat as Swiss or Norwegian made milk.

Educators are responsible for supporting the learning of all students, and those identified with learning disabilities. School organizations support educators by creating systematic processes that identify needs and support special education teams in their consideration of appropriate supports. Assistive technology (AT) is a critical consideration for students with learning disabilities by promoting access for a meaningful and inclusive education. This chapter offers recommendations for educators in the development and inclusion of educational structures that recognize and champion the practices of AT, the differences from education technology, as well as AT considerations, to directly support the needs of students with learning disabilities.

WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new constitution, it is the first in which all the sections will be actively engaged. From a membership of eight hundred in 1927 we are, in 1930, within measurable distance of a membership of three thousand; and, although we have not reached that figure by a few hundreds—and those few will be the most difficult to obtain quickly—this is a really memorable achievement. There are certain necessary results of the Association's expansion. In the former days it was possible for every member, if he desired, to attend all the meetings; today parallel meetings are necessary in order to represent all interests, and members must make a selection amongst the good things offered. Large meetings are not entirely desirable; discussion of any effective sort is impossible in them; and the speakers are usually those who always speak, and who possess more nerve than the rest of us. This does not mean that they are not worth a hearing. Nevertheless, seeing that at least 1,000 will be at Cambridge, small sectional meetings in which no one who has anything to say need be afraid of saying it, are an ideal to which we are forced by the growth of our numbers.

A FRIEND of mine, pulling out a book on the Spanish Inquisition from my shelves, remarked casually that, after all, our own age was by far the bloodiest in history. Why bother about the Holy Office? The wars of religion and the Inquisition made only local blots if compared with the general soaking of the earth by modern statesmen, not for God's sake, but in the holy name of Security, Honour, or some other conception. He continued to run a close eye over my books, and at length included the lot, it would be more accurate to say he dismissed the lot, with a wave of his spectacles, which he had unhooked from his face. He chuckled, as sometimes an old man cruelly does when sending to limbo what younger people still desire to cherish.

WE are pleased to devote this Special Number of THE LIBRARY WORLD to a discussion of Irish libraries and librarianship. Our contributors are all distinguished members of the profession in Ireland, none more so than Dermot Foley, to whom we are greatly indebted for having convened this issue.