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have met the remainder of the cost of adaptation andequipment. The college hope that this will be the firstof a series of similar centres in different parts of thecountry.Current trends are such, Mr. MACL1OD said, that we

cannot look for a further substantial increase, for someyears at least, in the total nursing force. It was thusmore important than ever to make the best use of thosenurses we have. The job analysis team had given us somevaluable pointers, and the standing Nursing AdvisoryCommittee are planning a series of experiments to testsome of their conclusions. Another important line of

approach was to ensure that each nurse is professionallyas well equipped as possible for, her task ; and here, hesaid, the new centre had a valuable contribution to make.

1. University Grants Committee. University Development:Report on the Years 1947 to 1952. Cmd. 8875. H.M. StationeryOffice. Pp. 93. 3s. 6d.

FIRST FIVE YEARS OF THE N.H.S.

LAST Sunday, July 5, was the fifth anniversary of theNational Health Service ; and Mr. lain Macleod, theMinister of Health, and Mr. James Stuart, the Secretaryof State for Scotland, both marked the occasion withletters to the chairmen of the various bodies connectedwith the service. Mr. Macleod paid tribute to volunteeradministrators in these words :

" It is a great and remarkable tradition of this country torely for local administration on the selfless voluntary work ofthousands of men and women willing to give their time andeffort to serving their fellows, and on the continuance of thiswork the National Health Service must inevitably depend."Figures issued for England and Wales and for Scotland,

covering the years 1948-53, include the following :

THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM

THE University Grants Committee, in its latest report,!regrets that little seems to have been done to lightenthe medical curriculum, in accordance with the recom-mendations of the Goodenough Committee.

" Indeed, there is a tendency on the part of some univer-sities to require all students to devote their first year tothe subjects for the first 1%1.B. examination, whatever stan-dard they may have reached in science at school.... wedoubt the wisdom of abolishing the exemptions previouslyallowed in the circumstances of the present time. Not

only does it protract for a substantial number of studentsan already long curriculum, but it increases the pressureon already overcrowded science laboratories and adds tothe labours of already overburdened staffs."The committee also draws attention to the paradox

that " non-teaching " hospitals commonly provide moresuitable teaching material than do " teaching " hospitals ;and it hopes that in hospitals which have professorialunits with adequate numbers of beds and we regretthat this is not always yet the case the full-timeprofessors will help to check the tendency to undue

specialisation.

In England Now

A l·icn.n i7zc Commentary by Peripatetic CorrespondentsSmoking" in places where food is being prepared for human

coils lilt) 1) tion is made an offence under the by-laws issued by theDoncltster Corporation today.-(2’irizcs, June 23, 1953).

At one tittie during the recent campaigns it was ourlot to be at the call of other units who sent transport tocollect us. If tlw driver was dirty, unshaven, or, worstof all, hung a cigarette on his lower lip without regardto our company, it needed a lot of subsequent blancoto remove the impression that our hosts of the day werea scruffy lot. We do not care for conductors in omni-buses or students in outpatient departments who smoke.This is no doubt mere feudal prejudice, a whim of old-fashioned cumeelfo. We have heard that the Hollanderssmoke in church and we admit ourselves to sucking ourcherry briar in places and circumstances which wouldhave made our forebears snort. Nevertheless we thinkthat smoking is an indulgence for leisure and, possibly,for thought. Conventions, by a well-established paradox,make life not more difficult but easier. Smoking byall in every public and private place is to be deprecatedbecause it is evidence of lack of self-control, an approachto the life of the bum and the beachcomber. (EvenD.D.T. has not removed all the disadvantages of anchor-less vagrancy.)And now we are told that smoking in places where food

is prepared is unhealthy. We wonder why. Thepsychological damage caused by finding a cigarettestub in the bombe surprise is easily cured by the swingeingdamages which any jury will award to the injured party.Tobacco contains nicotine, and nicotine is a quite deadlypoison ; but there can be barely enough in that stubto kill an aphis. But the stub is soiled with the oraljuices of the late owner and these juices contain bacteria.Aye, that they do ; and so does everything on thedinner-table which does not reach there piping hot. Butthe smoker may have had Vincent’s angina, or syphilis,or tuberculosis. And so may the last chap who drankfrom your tankard of xxxxx. (There are admirablemethods available for sterilising the drinking vesselsat the bar, but observation suggests that they are littleused.) It is a filthy habit anyway. We suspect thatthis is a residue from a time when tobacco was chewedmore frequently than now. It is a cheap and satisfyingway of taking one’s nicotine (probatum est). Its socialdisadvantage lies in the initial stimulation which nicotinegives to the secretion of saliva which in turn leads tofrequent and copious spitting. Now qualitatively thereis probably no gross difference between the dampnessof the cigarette stub and the contents of the gobbet ;but, illogically, we would prefer to have our food preparedwithout such large quantities of saliva-or worse. Butnow the slow grinding of the molars on the quid hasbecome so rare outside gaol and the seaport townsas to cause comment, and as a hazard of the food tradewe should guess it to be negligible. Smokers seldomspit except to relieve their emotions.

In short, we doubt if smoking among those who preparefood has any direct bearing whatsoever on the healthof the community, but we will support the action of theDoncaster Corporation to the end. We like to thinkof the kitchen, large or small, as a spotless and tidy place,staffed by cooks to whom decency and cleanliness aresecond nature. When we are disillusioned, as we some-times are in the course of our official duties, it is not therisk to health that comes first to mind but a revulsionfrom untidiness, slackness, and a disregard for cumeelfo.The dirty overalls, the driver’s macintosh left on thetable where the sausages are being made, the smokinglout who stirs a cake mixture with one hand and scratcheshimself with the other, make us not sick but furious.Our aunt would call it " not nice," and she is deadright.

* * *

I’ve started my holiday at last. Yesterday it seemedimpossible. My special maternity case went into labour.My hysterectomy developed a postoperation pneumonia.My fifteen-month-old’s tuberculin test was stronglypositive, its legs were covered with erythema nodosumnodules, and the T.o. was on holiday. And above all my