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MR. JONATHAN HUTCHINSON, the eminent consultant, has just put forward a statement of the utmost importance with respect to the probable existence of a direct connection between the consumption of arsenic‐contaminated food and the occurrence of cancer. He points out that certain modern “improvements” in processes of production have led to the contamination of various food‐products with small amounts of arsenic, and observes that “if, as seems proved, the continuous use of arsenic in small medicinal doses can predispose the skin to multiple cancer there seems no reason for doubting that it may do the same for the other tissues, and for the mucous membranes and the viscera,” while there must necessarily also be “the constitutional tendency, the appropriate age, and, in some cases, the local irritation.” Mr. HUTCHINSON refers to the recent successful tracing of the Manchester outbreak of “peripheral neuritis” to the use of arsenic‐contaminated beer as an example of what may be caused by the habitual ingestion of minute doses of arsenic. It is a remarkable fact that the increase in the occurrence of cancer may be looked upon as almost synchronising with the increasingly extensive adoption of those “improved” modern methods of manufacture, not only of beer but of other food‐products, which open the door to arsenic‐contamination; together with the great increase in the use of arsenic in medical prescriptions.

From a recently published letter addressed to a well‐known firm of whisky manufacturers by Mr. JOHN LETHIBY, Assistant Secretary to the Local Government Board, it is plain that the Board decline to entertain the suggestion that the Government should take steps to compel manufacturers of whisky to apply correct descriptions to their products. The adoption of this attitude by the Board might have been anticipated, but the grounds upon which the Board appear to have taken it up are not in reality such as will afford an adequate defence of their position, as the negative evidence given before the Select Committee on Food Products Adulteration and yielded by the reports of Public Analysts is beside the mark. The introduction of a governmental control of the nature suggested is not only undesirable but impracticable. It is undesirable because such a control must be compulsory and is bound to be unfair. It would be relegated to a Government Department, and of necessity, therefore, in the result it would be in the hands of an individual—the head of the Department—and subject entirely to the ideas and the unavoidable prejudices of one person. It is impracticable because no Government or Government Department could afford to take up a position involving the recommendation of particular products and the condemnation of others. No Government could take upon itself the onus of deciding questions of quality as distinguished from questions merely involving nature and substance. A system of control, in order to be effective and valuable alike to the public and the honest manufacturer, must be voluntary in its nature in so far as the manufacturer is concerned, and must be carried out by an independent and authoritative body entirely free from governmental trammels, and possessing full liberty to give or withhold its approbation or guarantee.

The action taken by the Council of the British Medical Association in promoting a Bill to reconstitute the Local Government Board will, it is to be hoped, receive the strong support of public authorities and of all who are in any way interested in the efficient administration of the laws which, directly or indirectly, have a bearing on the health and general well‐being of the people. In the memorandum which precedes the draft of the Bill in question it is pointed out that the present “Board” is not, and probably never was, intended to be a working body for the despatch of business, that it is believed never to have met that the work of this department of State is growing in variety and importance, and that such work can only be satisfactorily transacted with the aid of persons possessing high professional qualifications, who, instead of being, as at present, merely the servants of the “Board” tendering advice only on invitation, would be able to initiate action in any direction deemed desirable. The British Medical Association have approached the matter from a medical point of view—as might naturally have been expected—and this course of action makes a somewhat weak plank in the platform of the reformers. The fourth clause of the draft of the Bill proposes that there should be four “additional” members of the Board, and that, of such additional members, one should be a barrister or solicitor, one a qualified medical officer of health, one a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and one a person experienced in the administration of the Poor‐law Acts. The work of the Local Government Board, however, is not confined to dealing with medical, engineering, and Poor‐law questions, and the presence of one or more fully‐qualified scientific experts would be absolutely necessary to secure the efficient administration of the food laws and the proper and adequate consideration of matters relating to water supply and sewage disposal. The popular notion still exists that the “doctor” is a universal scientific genius, and that, as the possessor of scientific knowledge and acumen, the next best article is the proprietor of the shop in the window of which are exhibited some three or four bottles of brilliantly‐coloured liquids inscribed with mysterious symbols. The influence of these popular ideas is to be seen in the tendency often exhibited by public authorities and even occasionally by the legislature and by Government departments to expect and call upon medical men to perform duties which neither by training nor by experience they are qualified to undertake. Medical Officers of Health of standing, and medical men of intelligence and repute are the last persons to wish to arrogate to themselves the possession of universal knowledge and capacity, and it is unfair and ridiculous to thrust work upon them which can only be properly carried out by specialists. If the Local Government Board is to be reconstituted and made a thing of life—and in the public interest it is urgently necessary that this should be done—the new department should comprise experts of the first rank in all the branches of science from which the knowledge essential for efficient administration can be drawn.

Dr. COLLINRIDGE, the Medical Officer of Health to the City of London, had occasion recently to call attention to the diseased condition of certain imported meats, and it is most disquieting to learn that some of these were apparently sent out from the country of origin under official certificates.

The substitution of an imitation of some kind for the article actually asked for or desired by the purchaser is a particularly mean form of deception which is practised nowadays to an almost incredible extent. It is astonishing and mournful that so many persons should be concerned in the deliberate initiation, fostering, and carrying on of so shameful a system, and that others are to be found who in speech and print seem willing to lend to it either their countenance or condonation. One must suppose that there exists a form of moral obliquity or distortion—at first accentuated and ultimately rendered incurable by the acquirement and contemplation of illegitimate gains—which makes the sufferer incapable of grasping the fact that the proceedings in question are utterly degrading and iniquitous. However this may be, the circumstances are such that a strong endeavour ought to be made to get the public to appreciate them, and to expose and, as far as may be possible, to punish those who are guilty, at any rate of the worst types of fraudulent dealing referred to. The Daily Mail and, in a lesser but important degree, the Daily News, have rendered excellent service by directing attention to the matter. The articles which have been published up to the present in these newspapers have been reprinted in pamphlet form under the title of “ The Fraud of the Label,” and a study of this brief but telling exposé may be strongly recommended to all and sundry. A most appropriate quotation from Sir WALTER SCOTT'S “Kenilworth ” appears on the title page: “ Some … plainly admitted they had never seen it; others denied that such a drug existed … and most of them attempted to satisfy their customer by producing some substitute … which, they maintained, possessed in a superior degree the self‐same qualities.”

The king's speech on the occasion of the opening of Parliament contained the announcement that further measures are to be proposed during the present Session for dealing with the adulteration of dairy produce. It may be hoped that among other things this statement foreshadows an intention on the part of the Government to deal in some way with the drugging of milk and milk products—for the purpose of establishing somewhat more effective legal checks upon the abominable practice referred to than any which are at present applicable. As anything in the nature of comprehensive legislation appears to bo out of the question, we must be thankful for what we can get; and while many improvements in the law are required to enable other forms of sophistication and adulteration of dairy produce to be more effectively controlled, the amendment which is of primary importance is one which will take the direction indicated above, since the public health is directly and far more seriously affected by the ingestion of food containing “preservative” chemicals than by the use of merely impoverished or “faked” products—injurious and dangerous as some of these may nevertheless be particularly to infants and invalids.

RANGE in any given vehicle of transport is generally understood to be the distance that it could travel without requiring to stop for any supplies necessary to maintain its normal performance.

This article examines the influence of centrifugal buoyancy on the hydrodynamic and thermal behaviour in fully developed flow through an orthogonally rotating duct of aspect ratio 2:1. A series of computations have been performed at rotation numbers ranging from 0 to 0.2, for constant‐density flows (no buoyancy) and also for different levels of outward and inward buoyancy. The resulting comparisons reveal that for a Reynolds number of 32,500, rotational buoyancy effects become significant at Rayleigh number values greater than 107. In outward flows, buoyancy is found to strengthen the effects of the Coriolis force on the mean motion and, by raising turbulence levels, buoyancy also enhances wall heat transfer along both the pressure and the suction side of the rotating duct. In inward flows, it is found that strong buoyancy can reverse the direction of the Coriolis‐induced secondary motion, which causes a strong rise in wall heat transfer along the suction side and a similarly significant fall in heat transfer along the pressure side. The computed effects on heat transfer are in qualitative agreement with the findings of a number of experimental studies. For both inward and outward flows, at a constant Reynolds number, the modifications of centrifugal buoyancy on the side‐averaged levels of heat transfer correlate reasonably well with the rotational Rayleigh number.

The problems of a wider distribution of literature to all classes, ranging as they do from the most highly elaborated systems of organised libraries, to the sending out of boxes of books to rural communities, are matters for discussion well within the scope of a professional library journal; and as our attitude towards the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust Conference appears to have dissatisfied some of our regular correspondents, we wish it to bo understood that we think it wise to encourage both educationists and librarians, extremist or otherwise, to say what they have to say in our columns, so that our readers may judge impartially as to the merits of their respective arguments. It is from this standpoint that we have great pleasure in publishing Colonel Mitchell's reply to “Notes on the Conference by a Borough Librarian.” As Secretary of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, Colonel Mitchell's views are of importance and should be read by librarians and educationists alike with keen interest.