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will suffice. Dr. Blair Bell attributes failure of the

interposition operation to sepsis, and his experi-ence of this operation has been far happier thanthat of most operators. It is evident that this

operation will have to be reconsidered in the treat-ment of prolapse, and we have no doubt thatconsiderable discussion will arise upon its meritsin uterine prolapse. The principles enunciatedwith regard to vaginal repair are now wellestablished, and most operators of experiencewill agree with them. Dr. Blair Bell rightly laysgreat stress on the preparation and after-treatmentof his cases, and we agree that skilful nursing isessential for the ultimate success of the operation.

THE TRAINING OF BLIND STUDENTS.

AN important memorandum has been issued bythe Board of Education, who consider that the timehas now come when some further endeavour shouldbe made to secure provision of better and moreextended facilities for students formerly in attend-ance at special schools, and in especial for trainingblind students. With this end in view, they havedecided to modify and substantially to increasetheir grants in aid to training institutions. The

primary object is to provide an essentiallink between the special school which providesprimary education up till the age of 16 and the

workshop ; but provision is also to be made for theneeds of blind perbons who, owing to the age atwhich they became blind or other circumstances,have not attended a special school, but who arecapable of benefiting by attendance at a course oftraining. In determining the trades for whichinstruction and training can best be provided, theBoard advise that careful consideration be givento probable openings for employment, either inthe field of professional employment or in theopen markets of industry and commerce, locallyor otherwise, or in special workshops, or in homeindustries. To meet the needs of these students

they recognise that a large proportion of them canonly be provided for in residential institutions, andby offering largely to increase the grants it is hopedto enlist the more active cooperation of localeducation authorities. The new regulations in thefirst place ’provide for the payment to a localeducation authority of a grant of one-half of thenet expenditure on: (a) approved courses at recog-nised institutions provided by the authority,and (b) payment of fees of students attendingapproved courses at a recognised institution notprovided by the authority. Secondly, it has beendecided to continue to pay grants direct to aninstitution not provided by an authority in respectof students for whom no fee has been paid by anauthority, and to increase these grants to a

maximum of .E8 10s.- a year, with an additionalB8 a year for any student who is resident in theinstitution. These grants will be retrospective sofar as the financial year commencing April 1st. 1919.is concerned.

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VISIBLE GROWTH.

GARDENERS and reformers have this in commonthat they would both like to see their work growbeneath their eyes. Hitherto they have had to restcontent with inferring growth from the fact thatthe objects of their care appear longer or broaderafter an interval of days or weeks. Even the gourd,which grows up in a night, shows no change to

the most watchful eye. Under the microscopesome of the lower forms of life may seem almostto grow, the pullulation of yeast cells being afamiliar example. It is, of course, only a questionof magnification and accuracy of perception. Con-tinuous growth is there, if we were only able toperceive it. ’To Sir Jagadis Bose we owe thedemonstration of the growth in the higher formsof vegetable life within a period of minutes. His

crescograph, brought to perfection after years ofpainstaking study in the Research Institute which hefounded at Calcutta, exaggerates the motion of thegrowing tip of the vegetable shoot a milliontimes or more, rendering it plainly visible to a

roomful of ordinary people possessed of no specialpowers of observation. Obviously accidental move-ment, due to warmth or other physical factors,similarly exaggerated by enormous magnification,bas to be reckoned with. But Sir J. C. Bosewas able a few days ago to satisfy six Londonprofessors of exact sciences of the actuality of thegrowth by means of apparatus set up in the physio-logical laboratory of University College, London.Each step in the process of growth became visible.The inventor has used his instrument himself toshow the stimulating effect of sunshine and thedepressing effect of ether on vegetable growth. Thusa physical reagent has been found for the presenceof life in a body, and the vividness of that lifeunder various experimental conditions can now beassessed in terms of linear measurement. The

discovery may enable us to get nearer to the

knowledge, which we so ardently desire, of thenature of life itself.

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ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.

THE 152nd exhibition of the Royal Academyappears to have received from critical pens afavourable endorsement. Speaking only for a

limited section of the public we are not surprised.The exhibition marks, in our opinion, real progress,not so much in technique-concerning which wehave no qualification to speak-as in the qualitieswhich so many of the pictures possess. Numerous asthe exhibits are it is an open secret thaftbey arethe result of arduous selection among manycompeting canvases. If there are a good manyefforts on the walls which might have wellremained outside the show, many of these only failbecause other examples are better, and there isa far lower percentage of the quite commonplacepicture deliberately painted to meet what issupposed to be public demand. The fact is that

public taste has been considerably educated of late,and it is possible that the general upheaval ofsocial circumstances produced by the war has com-pelled a large number of people, for the first timein their lives, to look at the world in which they- live,and thus to see things as they are and not as theythink they should be. This is undoubtedly exactlywhat has happened with therapeutics, and it isnatural that it should occur also in the world of art.There are few paintings of particular medicalinterest, and we do not observe any story picturesdepending for their appeal upon what the artistconsiders to be the pathetic or dramatic side ofmedical work. We welcome with emphasis thedisappearance of this kind of picture. Of well-known artists, Mr. Sargent is a notable absentee.Sir William Orpen, Sir John Lavery, and Mr.Clausen lend particular distinction to a very satis-factory exhibition. To Sir William Orpen’s beautifuland dignified presentation portrait of Sir Clifford