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in insects, synthetic pheromones have been developedwhich far outperform the natural substances. Hippo-crates attributed abortifacient powers to the sense ofsmell. In mice, this appears to be the case. An ol-factory contraceptive would be no mean achievement.

HOW MUCH FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH?

ALTHOUGH the British Government intends to

hold down the growth-rate in public expenditure to anaverage 2-6% per annum for the first half of the 1970s, ’-there will be wide differences in the rates at which thebig-spending Departments are to expand (or, in somecases, contract). In these projections the socialservices emerge relatively favourably, with 4-8% foreducation, 4-7% for health and welfare, and 2-1% forsocial security at today’s benefit-rates; less satisfactoryis the standstill in allocations for housing. But the

white-paper is not a policy statement, it is clearly aTreasury document; and, as one visiting observerhas reminded US, 2 health plans in Britain tend to be tiedto money, not based on firm health objectives. In thefinancial year starting April 1, 1971, the health andwelfare services in the United Kingdom will getE2300 million (at 1970 costs) divided between hospitals,executive-council services, community health, andwelfare foods. To start with, hospitals will get E4 forevery El spent on community health, but this " willgradually change in favour of community health andwelfare services as the policy develops of providingcare in the community where this is more appropriatethan hospital care ". This intention, a vague promiseto develop family-planning and domiciliary services,and a reflection of the promised cutback in welfare-foodexpenditure (in the allocation of E10,500,000 for thispurpose in 1972-73, compared with E41 million lastyear) are the only health-policy statements to be found.

In his October budget the Chancellor of the Ex-chequer announced, without giving his reasons, thatthe grants-in-aid to the research councils were to becut. Not everyone saw this as much of a threat at the

time,3 but almost hidden in the latest white-paper isconfirmation that real growth in the research councilsis to be slowed down and more than a hint that medicalresearch may be worse off than the others by the timethe decade is half over. The Secretary of State forEducation and Science allocates grants within the" science budget " (mainly, the five research councils)on the advice of the Council for Scientific Policy. Onlya handful of people know how this body reaches itsdecisions. Average growth in the science budget forthe period 1970-71 to 1974-75 is to be 4-7% at 1970prices, falling from 5-2% next year to only 3-8% infour years’ time; this contrasts with 9-3% in thefinancial year now drawing to a close. Individualallocations are not projected beyond next year, butin 1971-72 the M.R.C., with a fifth of the total, is toget only an eighth of the increase to be distributed-a mere E600.000 of "real money", giving it thesmallest growth of the five. If the C.S.P. continues to

suggest this sort of differential it is not difficult to

1. Public Expenditure 1969-70 to 1974-75. Cmnd. 4578. H.M.

Stationery Office, 1971. Pp. 74. 9s.2. See Lancet, Jan. 30, 1971, p. 247.3. Br. med. J. 1970, iv, 759.

see that by 1974-75 the M.R.C., with so much un-alterably tied up in two big centres and in the largerunits, may have to tread rather cautiously in choosingprojects for shorter-term support. The C.S.P. is

reviewing the science budget to see if some of theresearch projects belong more properly in industryand if there is any duplication of effort. Some M.R.C.projects-basic biology and psychology, for example-inevitably overlap the work of other research councils,but demarcation in psychology and related specialtieshas already been settled,5 the M.R.C.’s support formolecular biology is internationally respected, andfew of its projects can in any way be regarded as moreappropriate to the industrial research laboratory. Ifthe C.S.P. comes to the same conclusion the futurefor medical research might seem less gloomy.

FIFTY YEARS OF CULTURE

THE National Collection of Type Cultures, estab-lished in London in 1920, exists to provide authen-ticated strains of bacteria for scientists in the United

Kingdom and elsewhere. At first it accepted all kinds ofbacteria, but since 1947 the Collection has held onlybacteria of medical and veterinary interest. The presentholding is about 3000 cultures distributed among777 species and 71 genera. To mark the 50th anniver-sary of this renowned piece of bacteriological history,Dr. S. P. Lapage, who succeeded Dr. S. T. Cowanas curator of the Collection in 1965, and his colleaguesheld an open day last week. Though, since 1949, theN.C.T.C. has been housed in the grounds of the CentralPublic Health Laboratory, Colindale, the precisenature of the liaison is a little obscure. Explaining thedifficulty of determining who belonged to whom,Sir James Howie, director of the Public Health

Laboratory Service, left no doubt, however, that thearrangement was eminently satisfactory from the

point of view of the P.H.L.S.When the Collection began under the directorship

of Dr. (later Sir) John Ledingham, its quarters werethe Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in ChelseaBridge Road. For its first 21 years its curator was Dr.R. St. John Brooks; and until 1949 Miss MabelRhodes, who attended the 50th birthday celebrations,was assistant curator. Under their painstakingguidance the Collection expanded rapidly; and in1934 freeze-drying was introduced, after Dr. Brookshad seen the Sordelli technique in Buenos Aires. WhenDr. Cowan took over in 1947 the total number ofcultures was about 5000, and the work of maintenanceand distribution in postwar conditions was heavy.In the next few years groups of organisms not ofmedical or veterinary interest were transferred to otherinstitutes in this country. By 1949, the time of themove to Colindale, the number of cultures distributedyearly had reached 6500, and it has not varied greatlyfrom that figure since. Nowadays the N.C.T.C.continues to serve an army of scientists, for whom itis an almost-taken-for-granted source of unobtrusivedependability.4. Nature, 1970, 228, 400.5. Social Science Research Council. Annual Report for 1969-70. See

Lancet, 1970, ii, 404.