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Christian theologians and official church organisations frequently admonish members and believers to allow their economic decisions to be governed by concern for economic justice, the common good, or service to one′s neighbour. Friedrich Hayek, on the other hand, claims that today′s large population and living standards have been made possible by a shift from a morality of serving the known needs of neighbours to one of following abstract rules of the market. Elaboration and development of Hayek′s thesis shows that (1) individuals are probably unable to be efficient when they try to help others, (2) one may be able to serve 30 or 40 neighbours by seeking justice but larger numbers will be better served by following the rule of “buying cheap and selling dear”, and (3) many people would suffer economic hardship if the social teachings of theologians and the pronouncements of official organisations were taken seriously by Christians.

Nicholas Georgescu‐Roegen’s analysis of the factory system is used to show how an expanded market makes possible increasing returns in manufacturing, which can in turn lead to the kind of cumulative growth process envisioned by Allyn Young. The analysis is then extended to take into account Nicholas Kaldor’s admonition to pay attention to the fact that manufacturing is a process that uses inputs that are the products of nature. It is found that the inability to use the factory system in agriculture limits the extent of increasing returns in manufacturing. Increasing returns in manufacturing and an accompanying pattern of cumulative growth require a continuing infusion of exogenous technological innovation in agriculture.

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.

NOT for a long time have books and libraries featured in the correspondence columns of The Times and other newspapers as regularly as they have in 1960. Earlier in the year Sir Alan Herbert's lending rights' scheme had a good run, and we have clearly not yet heard the last of it. Indeed, a Private Member's bill on the subject is to have its second reading in Parliament on December 9th. More recently, the Herbert proposals have had a by‐product in the shape of bound paperbacks, and a correspondence ensued which culminated in Sir Allen Lane's fifth‐of‐November firework banning hard‐covered Penguins for library use.

EVERY librarian in his inmost heart dislikes newspapers. He regards them as bad literature; attractors of undesirable readers; a drain upon the limited resources of the library; and a target against which the detractors of public libraries are constantly battering. From the standpoint of the librarian, newspapers are the most expensive and least productive articles stocked by a library, and their lavish provision is, perhaps, the most costly method of purchasing waste‐paper ever devised. Pressure of circumstances and local conditions combine, however, to muzzle the average librarian, and the consequence is that a perfectly honest and outspoken discussion of the newspaper question is very rarely seen. In these circumstances, an attempt to marshal the arguments for and against the newspaper, together with some account of a successful practical experiment at limitation, may prove interesting to readers of this magazine.

The body design of the lorry was then modified to be of the “cupboard” type, with the refrigerant in the storage chamber for the goods. A revolutionary step was taken by the introduction of solid carbon dioxide as refrigerant. This material is made by supercooling liquid carbon dioxide by its own evaporation until a “snow” is formed and then compressing this “snow” to a specific gravity of 1·5. The solid block so formed has a greater refrigerating effect per pound than ice, and a much lower temperature (=108° F.). It evaporates without passing through the liquid stage and on account of this property it has been called “Dry‐Ice” in America and “Dri‐Kold” in England. It is clean in use, but relatively expensive (about 2d. a lb.), and its low working temperature is a disadvantage, as it makes difficulties in controlling the temperature of the refrigerated space. Its use has eliminated all corrosion and enabled the insulation design and body building design to be simplified and made more efficient. The presence of carbon dioxide gas in the refrigerated space is often a disadvantage; when this occurs the solid carbon dioxide has to be held in a separate container and the heat from the refrigerated chamber led to it by conductor plates, or by a secondary refrigerant, or by a moving air stream. The high price of solid carbon dioxide and the difficulty of controlling the temperature with it have led many engineers to seek other solutions of the problem of refrigerating vehicles. The use of a small compressor outfit, which has its own motive power (either internal combustion engine or electric motor) or is driven from the axle of the vehicle, has been developed and has a following. The small size of these units causes inefficiency and uneconomical running, and the possibility of breakdown, with consequent loss of refrigerating power and spoiling of the load, is a nightmare to the operator. Most recently of all a return has been made to the eutectic tank method. This method suffered from the necessity of removing the tanks on the return of the empty vehicle and replacing them by a fresh set which had been freezing in a special equipment. This took time and two sets of tanks were needed besides the freezing equipment. Now the tanks are fixed in the vehicle; they have internal pipes which, when the vehicle is docked, are connected to a main refrigerating system, and flooded with liquid ammonia. This ammonia is evaporated by the compressor and freezes the eutectic solution which in turn refrigerates the vehicle when it is on the road. The system has the advantage of a stable, readily‐controlled temperature, absence of all mess, and the reliability and cheap running costs of a fixed large capacity refrigerating plant. The amount of eutectic used is such as to provide about 36 hours refrigeration on the road, so that no breakdown can result in the loss of the load. Mr. Milner Gray, in a section of his lecture in 1939 to the Royal Society of Arts on “The History and Development of Packaging” has already pointed out how social and economic changes in recent years have affected the distribution of foodstuffs. Smaller families and residences, and the increased pace of living have made popular the packaged food unit, which is easily purchased, handled and stored. The lecture dealt with the subject from the point of view of the designer of artistic packages, but the food manufacturer is obviously concerned with the effect of the package itself on the food it contains. It is a matter of commercial necessity for the large food factories of to‐day (with sales areas covering the whole of the United Kingdom) to ensure that their products shall reach all their customers in a satisfactory condition. The period which elapses between the goods leaving the factory and their reaching the customer varies, but the package must be such that the quality of the foodstuff is maintained for the desired period or “life” of the goods. A packaged foodstuff may be made or marred by its wrappings. Generally speaking, the main causes of spoiling in manufactured foodstuffs are mechanical damage, temperature effects, insect infestation, putrefaction, moisture‐exchange (dependent upon weather conditions), flavour contamination, and chemical changes such as development of rancidity and metallic contamination. The package can be constructed to give reasonable protection against all these factors, and a few illustrations will be given of how this is done. A package must necessarily be strong enough to prevent physical distortion of the product wrapped, but the question of functional designing of packages is not germane to the present lecture: the general principles of the strength of bulk containers was explained in lectures to the Royal Society of Arts by Mr. Chaplin and his colleagues from the Container Testing Laboratory at Princes Risborough. Prevention of insect infestation from outside sources is, of course, simply a matter of proper closure and choice of materials. Prevention of putrefaction, or spoiling by micro‐organisms is one of the chief purposes of a food wrapping, and bound up with the question of prevention of access to the food of putrefying organisms is that of prevention of infection of the food by organisms which might not themselves spoil it but which are harmful to human beings if eaten with the food. Medical Officers of Health have been concerned with the latter aspect for many years, and the present public demand for milk in individual containers, such as cartons or bottles, and for the large quantities of bread sold in sealed wrappers is no doubt due largely to their education of public opinion. Wrapped bread is usually sold in a sealed waxed paper packing, which, in addition to keeping the bread clean, also delays drying of crumb through moisture loss. The baker must, however, guard against the actual spoiling of his bread through wrapping. If the bread is packed too warm, mould growth in or on it may be promoted by the high moisture content of the atmosphere inside the waxed wrapper which is impermeable to moisture vapour. This impermeability has other effects, which will be considered later. Various proposals have been made to prevent mould growth on foods inside wrappers by impregnating the latter with compounds which volatilise slowly and inhibit the development of moulds and micro‐organisms. Compounds of the type of chloramine T (liberating chlorine in a damp atmosphere) have been patented for treating bread wrappers, while iodine, diphenyl and many other compounds have been proposed for treating wrappers to be placed round fruit. Some years ago a wrapper marketed to prevent meat spoiling was found to depend on the liberation of formaldehyde. Wrappers of these types cannot, however, be used on account of the danger of infringement of the Foods and Drugs Regulations if the foodstuff should absorb any of the volatile compound. The loss or gain of moisture by manufactured foodstuffs are two very important causes of food spoiling. Sponge cakes, under ordinary conditions of storage, soon become dry and unpalatable, while boiled sweets and toffee can be kept in good condition for a considerable time by the use of a suitably selected wrapper. Different types of wrappers allow the passage of moisture vapour at different rates, but for practical purposes they can be considered as either permeable or practically impermeable to moisture vapour. The rate of passage of moisture vapour through a wrapper has not necessarily any connection with the “airtightness.”

GLASGOW was later by about one hundred and thirty years than some of the Scotch towns in establishing a printing press. Three hundred years ago, though Glasgow contained a University with men of great literary activity, including amongst others Zachary Boyd, there does not appear to have been sufficient printing work to induce anyone to establish a printing press. St. Andrews and Aberdeen were both notable for the books they produced, before Glasgow even attempted any printing.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

THE National Reference Library of Science and Invention may be said to be devoted to three R's— reference, research and referral. The purpose of this article is to illustrate this theme, with a picture of the services and activi‐ties of the Library, and to indicate when it can be of help to other libraries. However, it is necessary first to outline briefly the origins and present stage of development of the Library, for despite the amount of publicity it has had, the NRLSI remains relatively little known or little understood compared with the other library departments of the British Museum.

DULLNESS can be the aftermath of conferences, but Scarborough may be an exception. Some of the heat engendered at the Annual Business Meeting has indeed already evaporated, but its implications remain. They are these: that, while the examination system of the L.A. is to remain as it is for another two years, some revision is imperative; and the relations of the L.A. with the Association of Assistant Librarians must be so arranged that the latter can continue a distinctive existence. As for the examinations, resentment was felt not so much at the age‐limits, although these were the gravamen of the criticism against them, but against the undue severity of the Intermediate Examination, which, we are told, has delayed and impaired the careers of many quite capable young people. The severity, great as it seems in the two subjects, is increased by the requirement that both must be passed together. Only students exceptionally possessed of the examination faculty can do this, and we have the spectacle of several who have passed in each subject two or more times and yet have never been able to pass them together. The sanity of the requirement that they be passed together lies in the fact that it prevents cramming. Will anyone tell us the remedy?