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years mankind has been on the march, and during thelast 10,000 years has achieved the beginnings of civilisa-tion. Provided humanity does not blow itself into non-existence by its inability to control the products of itsown inventiveness, the next 10,000 years can achievesome real progress along man’s evolutionary road. Thehealth services can assist that progress by the full useof the " eye that hath kept watch o’er man’s mortality."Physical well-being is in itself no mean goal, but properlyregarded it is but the ,precursor to a fuller mental life.And maybe, to regard the white-paper’s proposals subspecie ceternitatis, instead of from the narrower angle ofone’s immediate interests, will give a more detachedpicture of its real value.

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In England Now- A Running Commentary by Peripatetic Correspondents

WHOEVER talks of the dead hand of officialdom orgrouses about state enterprise being impersonal hasnever read the annual report of the Chief Inspector ofFactories. The most diehard individualist must admitthat here is a human document. Take the discussion ofaccidents due to hair entanglement. After pointingout that to make caps compulsory is useless unless theyare going to be accepted by a majority of those concerned,the report says : " In fact, until some highly popularlady popularises a fashion in hair-dressing which willmake the present puffs and curls unfashionable, I havelittle hope of the cap being a complete protection againstthis type of accident." Even our industrialists are

appreciating the human touch. One large firm hasawarded a prize of 250 for the best design submitted forsuch a cap, while another firm maintains a safety capshop in the works where various designs in differentcolours and materials are displayed, and in which womenand girls can try on as many as they wish and pick thestyle suitable to their taste. Another example of howindustry is gradually being humanised is the tremendousadvance that has taken place in the provision of canteens.There is the story of the ordinary garage with the usualrepair shop, now employing 18 women in each of twoshifts. " A small adjoining house has been rented andthe lower rooms and kitchen brightly painted ; thecanteen has small tables with flowers on each. Upstairsthere is the sanitary -washing and clothing accommoda-tion. The employer’s wife comes daily to the worksand takes an interest in all these arrangements, givinga personal touch that it is hoped will continue in industryafter the war." There is ample evidence in the reportof how the older people are pulling their weight in thiswar. In one district more than half of the ten fatalaccidents occurred to men over 60-the older men are" not always willing to admit that they have in someways lost their sprightliness." But the most impressivetale is that of the employer who had persistently refusedall offers of part-time female labour from the employmentexchange. Finally, however, he had to give way andemploy elderly women, some of them over 70, in hispacking department. " The experiment was entirelysatisfactory and the employer is convinced that thepresent flow of production could not be maintainedwithout what he now describes as ’my old dears.’ "And yet we still refer to the burden imposed on thenation by the increasing proportion of old folk in ourmidst. This story deserves a place on the front page ofevery newspaper in the country. Or what a subject itwould make for one of our more intelligent film producers.

I hope there are not many works managers like theone here recorded, as thinking that no means of ventila-tion was necessary because his workshop was new. Buthow about this example of incompetence ? In an engineer-ing shop in Scotland a battery of small fans was erectedalong the factory roof to provide ventilation ; alternatefans were arranged to blow in and to extract, thus pro-viding an almost complete short circuit between eachpair of fans. Factories that are practically sealedboxes, from the point of view of ventilation, are stillbeing erected. HM inspectors show their understandingof the psychology of those in industry in summing upthe problem of lighting in factories : " Although evidencehas not yet been produced of definite physical disabilitydue to black-out where the artificial lighting is good,there is little sign that public opinion in factories would

be willing to accept the proposition that artificial lighting,even at its best, is just as good as daylight. Whateverthe reason, daylight is preferred and people do not likebeing deprived of its enjoyment. Bearing in mind that’ man only came indoors yesterday’ this is not surprising."It is in the discussion of personnel management that thispsychological insight best shows itself. " A veryexperienced personnel manager recently asked a womanon the floor of a factory what she really wished to haveavailable and the reply was ’ an understanding personto whom we can go and discuss our difficulties.’ Itwould be difficult to get a better definition of the realwelfare work that is now so necessary for the assistanceof the large body of women who are coming into industry,a little nervous of what they are going to meet and alittle confused at what they find." " The wise andefficient personnel or welfare officer seems just the personcapable of dealing from both angles with the young ladywho put on her application for release I dislike workand I hate being pushed -about from pillar to post.’

" Idefy anyone to spot the following masterpiece of humanunderstanding as the penultimate sentence of an officialGovernment report : " We must therefore give everycredit to those of all grades and classes who continueon an even course in spite of the growing strain of worklong continued, with lack of. the usual changes of diet,lack of holidays and even in face of the price of tobaccoand beer." What I cannot understand is why, especiallyin view of the hordes of public relation officers whoseexistence has just come to light, full use has not beenmade of this report to encourage public morale, let theelectorate know what is being done for them by abusedGovernment departments, and make industrial relation-ships run more smoothly.

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I was being shown round a patient’s well-kept gardenby his wife last summer when we came on some cucumbersof unsurpassed magnificence. Seldom outside a showhad I seen anything to equal them ; but my praise fellon stony ground, " I wouldn’t touch them," said myguide, " not with a barge-pole ; I don’t like the way theyare grown-terribly unhygienic-I let the gardener keepthem for his own use." Something warned me not to probefurther, and we passed on to admire the flower beds.My own attempts at cucumber growing having always

been a dismal failure, I cross-examiped the gardener twodays later. After extravagant appreciation of his horti-cultural efforts (see Dale-Carnegie ,on How to WinFriends and Influence People) I delicatelyapproached thesubject of the cucumbers. Instantly he was on hisguard, and shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.I judged that the moment had now come for a littlemild corruption, and he pocketed my half-crown withevident satisfaction. " You won’t tell Johnstone ? "he anxiously inquired. (Johnstone being the proprietorof a local hotel, to whom I suspect he sells the cucumbersand probably other illicit vegetables.) " Of course,"he went on when I had promised to be discreet,’" Iwouldn’t mention this to just anybody, but you being adoctor will understand." " The truth is there’s nothinglike mare’s piss for watering them cucumbers, especiallyif she’s near term." " Farmer Smith’s land-girl savesit for me-she’s a married woman or I wouldn’t haveasked her." This knowledge of endocrinology shook mebadly, and I hastened to ask if he was familiar with thework of Aschheim and Zondek ; but no, he had had thetip from his uncle who had been a gardener in gentle-men’s service for over fifty years. -

Mentioning this later to a Well-Known Obstetrician Ifound him unimpressed-he lives in a flat and takes buta languid interest in gardens-but he directed myattention to an observation by Aschheim that the growth-stimulating properties of pregnant urine were familiarto the ancient Egyptians who utilised them as a test forpregnancy.. A papyrus over 3000 years old containsthe following instructions. " Let the woman take apinch of corn and a handful of good e3,rth and mix themin a shallow vessel. Each morning she must pass alittle urine into the vessel. If the corn sprouts she issurely pregnant."

Well, there it is, if the information provides the basisof a cucumber test for pregnancy--or even’makes twocucumbers grow where one grew before-my half-crownhas been well spent.