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at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. He was a founderfellow of the College of Pathologists.

J. R. M. and R. A. S. write:" Apart from the meticulous attention which he paid to

his onerous routine duties as clinical pathologist, Alex wasan enthusiastic and astute research worker. He made import-ant contributions to our knowledge of malaria, the patho-genicity of staphylococci, leprosy, and fluorescence microscopyof acid-fast bacilli in tissues. In recent years his main interestwas cancer research, and his most distinguished work wasconducted in the fields of diagnostic cytology and the dis-semination of tumour cells. He was a brilliant technicianand devised many elegant methods for investigative work; atthe time of his death he was developing others. An out-standing quality of his techniques was their delightful sim-plicity-a typical example was the removal of leucocytes fromblood with a magnet after allowing them to ingest fine particlesof iron.

" Alex Kuper had very many friends in all parts of the worldand all walks of life, but it is doubtful if he fully realised theaffection which so many people felt for him, since, despitehis exceptional talents, he was a very humble man. His rangeof interests was almost as wide as his circle of friends, and hecould converse knowledgeably and wittily on archaeology,pottery, the theatre, and indeed almost any subject. But

perhaps the part of his character for which he will be mostremembered was his intense feeling of compassion towardsthose less fortunate than himself. Few of his friends will nothave memories of his kindness and generosity both to them-selves and to others, and we have all suffered a great personalloss. He will be sadly missed."

ALEXANDER GRIGOR McCALLUMM.B. Glasg.

Dr. A. G. McCallum, who was in general practice atStreatham for forty years, died on July 14 at the age of 67.He was born in Cambuslang, went to Glasgow Academy,

and graduated M.B. from Glasgow University in 1925. Thenext three years he spent as medical officer at Peckham HouseMental Hospital and Northumberland House Mental Hos-pital, and he always retained a keen interest in mental illness.In 1928 he joined the late Dr. J. N. Plews in his south-westLondon practice. During the 1939-45 war he served in theR.A.M.C., and on demobilisation he came back to the jobof reviving a derelict practice. He was chairman of a Ministryof Pensions’ medical board.He is survived by his second wife, and his three daughters.V. B. R. writes:" Dr. McCallum’s scrupulous ethical standards and his

old-fashioned approach to the whole care of his patientsbelonged to an earlier age, and he was never really able toadapt himself to a changing world. But no-one was a more

loyal colleague nor kinder to younger doctors. Other medicalmen, who deeply appreciated his clinical judgment, discre-tion, wisdom, and complete integrity selected him as theirfamily doctor. His friends might well not agree with all hisideas but they could never fail to respect and love him.

"

Although he conceived it his duty to take a Territorialcommission, nothing was further from his retiring, sensitivenature than the robust life of mess and camp. He never felthimself to be a good mixer and was always glad to get awayto books and music, and no-one kept up his reading morethoroughly. His small, crabbed handwriting (the only smallthing about him) will be remembered affectionately by thoseof us who learned to read it, as will the gentle, courteousScot himself."

Dr. J. C. W. METHVEN, a former deputy chairman of thePrison Commission and medical adviser to the Home Office,died on Aug. 6 at the age of 83. He was also for some timeassistant commissioner in charge of borstal institutions.

Notes and News

KEEPER OF THE KEY

WE have not yet managed to come to terms with the rapidincrease in the number of old-age pensioners. Dr. MonnicaStewart’s book 1 relates how, until very recently, the few whoreached old age and became sick or frail were looked after bycustodians in a converted workhouse. Now, however, with atleast four times as many old people as in the days when mostof our hospitals were built, living standards have risen rapidlyand more is expected of our hospitals. Amenities are slowlyimproving, but they are often deplorably lacking, as MissNorton 2 has shown. To raise the standard demands an increasenot only in hospital facilities, but also in housing, residentialcare, domiciliary services, and education for retirement. Thiswill not be achieved without a change in the mental outlookof the entire community. Dr. Stewart claims that this is infact slowly taking place, but that too many still see the geriatri-cian as existing solely to provide custodial care when otherdoctors have had to admit failure.Another aspect of the problem is reablement which, Dr.

Stewart feels, is successful only when the patient and hisrelatives are given positive encouragement and guidance. Thismeans that the patient has to be understood as a person. Auseful chapter describes monthly discussions at the Edgwaregeriatric unit when patients and relatives meet the hospitalstaff to consider their difficulties. Both sides learn fromeach other, to their mutual advantage.Her experiences have led her to a very advanced and

outward-looking view of the purpose of the hospital. It mustnot be merely a repair shop, important as this function is: itshould also be " the dynamic centre of the socio-medicalservices and the active sponsor of preventive health work inthe community... It should be patient centred, planned as atherapeutic community, the varying types and gradations ofpatient care being provided within a single continuum ofsocio-medical knowledge ... It must function as a centre ofpositive health and be a giver as well as a saver of life."

Anyone who has worked in a good geriatric unit, particularlywith a day hospital, will know that these are not empty words.Dr. Stewart has a message for us all. She presents a verypersonal account of the day-to-day problems she encounters,and if her book creates a better attitude to old people and theirneeds, whether in or out of hospital, we shall all be in her debt.

CHILDHOOD SEPARATION

James and Joyce Robertson, who made the well-known filmsA Two-year-old Goes to Hospital and Young Children in Hospital,have completed two further notable short films 3 as part oftheir study of the effects of the brief separation from parentsinvolved in fostering. The children in question were fosteredwith the Robertson family, and the filming became part ofordinary living before and during the fostering experience.Kate, nearly 21/2, was fostered for 27 days and Jane, 17 months,for 10 days. Each film catalogues clearly the various phases oftension, rejection of visiting parent, demandingness, aggressive-ness, apathy, and weeping. The "manic defence" of the olderchild during the early days is especially interesting in terms ofadult psychopathology. What is so striking is the demonstrationof morbid symptoms even where brief separations are made aspainless as possible-foster-parents known to the child before-hand, careful preparation, company of familiar toys. Noevidence of continuing harm was noted, but the films certainlyprovoke thought. They will interest many who work with, orsimply are interested in, children.1. My Brother’s Keeper? By MONNICA C. STEWART. London: Health

Horizon. 1968. Pp. 151. 25s.; $4.2. Norton, D. Hospitals of the Long-stay Patient. Oxford, New York:

Pergamon Press. 1967. Pp. 130. 35s. ($6.) See Lancet, 1968, i, 517.3. Kate, 16 mm., black and white, sound, 33 minutes. Jane, 16 mm., black

and white, sound, 37 minutes. Obtainable from James Robertson,Tavistock Child Development Research Unit, Tavistock Centre,Belsize Lane, London N.W.3.

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WATER BOARD DIGS DEEPER

A SUFFICIENT and wholesome supply of water is essential forthe health of a community, and as the population increases innumber and standards of living improve so there is an ever-increasing demand for this vital commodity. For some yearsthe plans of the Metropolitan Water Board have includedestimates of the demands of " Water London " up to 1985 andeven to the end of the century. More water means more

storage reservoirs and the covering of valuable agricultural landwith water. Clearly the obvious solution is to build deeperreservoirs and store greater volumes of water on the same

space. To dig deeper creates new problems related to thephysical and biological properties of masses of river-derivedwater. In summer, the water in reservoirs deeper than 30 ft.tends to form layers-a warmer, highly oxygenated upper layer(an ideal breeding-ground for algx) separated from a colderlower layer by a

" thermocline ", a slice of water only a fewfeet in thickness through which the temperature drops rapidly.In the upper layer algal metabolites can flavour the water(" weedy ", " geranium ", " cucumber ", " decayed vege-table ") but, more important, profuse algal growths are a

nuisance, making filtration more difficult : the bottom layer maybecome unusable on account of biological decomposition pro-ducing a foul-tasting deoxygenated water. Thus at a time ofyear when demand is greatest, large amounts of stored waterwould be unavailable. The Board’s scientists and engineershave been working on these problems for more than thirtyyears and, by improvements in design of reservoirs and byclose attention to day-to-day reservoir management, each suc-cessive new reservoir has been constructed to a greater depth.The latest step is the transfer of water by pumps from the lowerlayer to the upper layer. Total turnover would be impracticableand probably produce other complications, but in experimentscarried out at King George VI Reservoir (52 ft. in depth) atStaines it has been shown that subsurface mixing with the aidof pumps can lower the thermocline by 15 ft. in five days, waterbeing raised through it at a rate of 20 million gallons a day.The benefits of this research (which has been covered in thebiennial reports of the director of water examination of the

Metropolitan Water Board) are being applied in two new 70 ft.deep reservoirs in the Windsor area. Between them they willhold some 15,000 million gallons in areas about half that of thelong-standing Queen Mary Reservoir at Littleton.

BOOKS AS BONDS

SPECIALISTS in their ivory towers are sometimes in danger ofisolation from the solid truths of general medicine. An impor-tant focal point for unity in medicine is the library, where thereis not only a meeting of ideas but also of readers. A thoughtfulreport from Oxford proposes the integration of all the medicallibraries in the region. If this plan, with its wide range ofservices, comes to fruition, readers in the Oxford region will begreatly privileged.

B.U.P.A MEDICAL CENTRE

Britain’s first health screening and diagnostic centre is tobe set up in London at a cost of El 00,000 following an agree-ment between the British United Provident Association andthe Institute of Directors. It will be run in conjunction withthe Institute of Directors’ Medical Centre and will be availableto B.U.P.A. subscribers referred to it by their own doctors,to patients referred for screening or diagnosis by any doctor,and to users of the Institute of Directors’ centre. Automationtechniques, linked with computerised record keeping, will beused. Screening will take an hour and will include detailedbody measurements, X rays, cardiograph, blood count andchemistry, and tests for cancer of the breast and uterus.

Each division will be supervised by a consultant. The costto the user of the screening service is expected to be lessthan E20.

1. An integrated Medical Library Service for the Oxford Region. Reportof a joint working party. Obtainable from the Secretary of theMedical School, Osler House, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. 7s. 6d.

University of Newcastle upon TyneDr. J. N. Walton, neurologist at the Newcastle General

Hospital and physician in neurology to the Royal VictoriaInfirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, has been appointed to apersonal chair in neurology.

Dr. Walton, who is 45, was educated at the Alderman WraithGrammar School, Co. Durham, andat the Medical School, King’s College,Newcastle, in the University of

Durham, where he graduated M.B.

with first-class honours in 1945. Heheld house-appointments at the RoyalVictoria Infirmary before serving fortwo years in the R.A.M.C., spendingmost of his military service in hospitalships. He became medical registrarin the Royal Victoria Infirmary in1949 and took the M.R.C.P. in 1950 andthe M.D. in 1952. He was appointedresearch assistant to the universitydepartment of medicine before hold-ing a Nuffield Foundation fellowshipin the departments of neurology andneuropathology at the MassachusettsGeneral Hospital for a vear from

October, 1953. After holding the King’s College fellowship inmedicine in the M.R.C.’s Neurological Research Unit at the NationalHospital, Queen Square, he returned to Newcastle as first assistantin neurology in 1956. In 1958 he was appointed to his present posts,and in 1965 was made lecturer in neurology in the university. He waselected F.R.c.P. in 1963, and in the following year he delivered theGoulstonian lecture. In 1966 he spent a month as visiting professorof neurology at the Albert Einstein Medical College, New York.Since 1966 he has been editor-in-chief of the Journal of NeurologicalSciences and chairman and secretary of the World Federation ofNeurology’s research group on neuromuscular disorders. His

principal research interests are in neuromuscular disease.

University of LeedsDr. R. W. Smithells has been appointed professor and head

of the department of pxdiatrics and child health.Dr. Smithells was educated at Rugby School and St. Thomas’s

Hospital, London, from which he

graduated M.B. in 1949. He wasmedical registrar at St. James’sHospital, Leeds, and psediatric regis-trar at the United Leeds Hospitals,before taking his M.R.C.P. in 1956.After holding a senior registrarshipat Guy’s Hospital, London, he movedto Liverpool on being appointedconsultant pediatrician at Alder HeyChildren’s Hospital and universitylecturer in child health. In Liverpoolhe initiated a central register of allbabies born there with congenitalmalformations. He is especiallyinterested in malformations in infantscaused by thalidomide, and he hasbeen concerned with the progress and

training of thalidomide children on Merseyside. His published workincludes articles on the early diagnosis of congenital abnormalities,chromosomes and the clinician, and thalidomide and malformationin Liverpool. He is secretary of the Pasdiatric Research Society.

University of LondonDr. L. J. Bruce-Chwatt, senior lecturer in the department of

tropical hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and TropicalMedicine, has been appointed to the chair of tropical hygiene atthat school.

Dr. Bruce-Chwatt graduated M.D. at the University of Warsaw in1930, and subsequently obtained postgraduate degrees at the StateInstitute of Hygiene in Warsaw and at the Institut de MedecineTropicale in Paris. His research work at the Institut Pasteur and atthe Hopital Saint Louis in Paris was interrupted by the war. Heserved in the Polish Army in France and then as major in theR.A.M.C. in Africa, where he was malariologist with No. 7 MalariaField Laboratory until 1946. He obtained his D.T.M. & H. at the

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London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and from 1946 to1958 was senior specialist (malariologist) to the Federal Governmentof Nigeria and director of the federal malaria service. As a RockefellerFoundation fellow he obtained the M.P.H. at the Harvard School ofPublic Health in Boston. In 1951 he was awarded the North PersianForces memorial medal for research in tropical medicine, and in 1953he was appointed o.B.E. He retired from the Overseas MedicalService in 1958 and became chief, research and technical intelligence,in the Division of Malaria Eradication of the World Health Organisa-tion in Geneva. He resigned from this post last year to take up hispresent appointment at the London School of Hygiene and TropicalMedicine.

The title of professor of experimental pathology has beenconferred on Dr. 1. M. P. Dawson in respect of his post atWestminster Medical School.

Dr. Dawson was educated at Oundle School, Clare College,Cambridge, and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. In 1944 hetook the Conjoint qualification, and he was a demonstrator at theBland-Sutton Institute before taking his M.B. in 1945. He was

appointed resident M.o. at Haslemere General and E.M.S. Hospital,but before the end of the year he joined the R.A.M.C. with which heserved in Burma and Malaya until 1947. After a short time as a

registrar at the Bland-Sutton Institute he entered general practice.In 1949 he took the M.R.c.p., and in the following year he becamea junior assistant pathologist at the University of Cambridge and atAddenbrooke’s Hospital. He moved to Leeds in 1952 on beingappointed university lecturer in pathology, and he took his M.D. in1955, being awarded the Raymond Horton Smith prize. He returnedto London two years later to take up his present post as reader inpathology at Westminster Medical School, where he is head of thedepartment of clinical histochemistry and cytology, WestminsterHospital, and subdean of the medical school. Last year he waselected F.C.PATH. He is the author of Medical LaboratoryInvestigations (1958), and of various papers on pathology and

histochemistry.The title of professor of oral medicine has been conferred on

Dr. Roy Duckworth in respect of his post at the London Hos-pital Medical College. The title of reader in respiratory medi-cine has been conferred on Dr. J. H. West in respect of hispost at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, the title ofreader in virology on Dr. A. J. Zuckerman in respect of hispost at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,and the title of reader in cardiology on Dr. Edgar Sowton inrespect of his post at the Institute of Cardiology.

University of CambridgeThe following degrees have been conferred:M.D.-J. C. T. Church, R. B. Hedworth-Whitty.M.B., B.Chir.-R. A. Best, Michael Joffe, M. A. Osen.M.B.-J. R. Norman.

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaDr. E. J. M. Campbell has been appointed professor and

chairman of the department of medicine.

Society of Apothecaries of LondonMr. H. R. Thompson has been elected master, Dr. Peter

Bishop senior warden, and Mr. G. T. Willoughby Cashelljunior warden.

Ministry of DefenceBrigadier J. P. Baird, F.R.C.P., has been appointed director

of Army medicine and consulting physician to the Army insuccession to Major-General R. J. G. Morrison, F.R.C.P.;and Brigadier J. M. Matheson, F.R.C.P., has been appointeddirector of Army surgery and consulting surgeon to the Armyin succession to Major-General P. R. Wheatley, F.R.C.S.

Alliance of Two Charities

The alliance of the Central Council for the Disabled and theNational Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases has beenannounced. A joint council will be created with equal repre-sentation to approve general policy, and the staff will be broughttogether under the general direction of Mr. Duncan Guthrie, atpresent director of the National Fund.

St. Mary’s Hospital Medical SchoolDr. A. B. Milic (Columbia University) is to lecture on the

relationship between gestation length and anencephaly onFriday, Aug. 30, at noon, at the Wright-Fleming Institute,London W.2.

___________

Mr. Duncan Macaulay, consultant pxdiatrician at the South Man-chester Hospital Centre and honorary lecturer in child health atManchester University, has been appointed by the Ministry of Over-seas Development to be head of the British medical team at the NhiDong Hospital in Saigon, in succession to Dr. John Apley.

Mr. Michael Sobell has given E100.000 to the new peediatricresearch unit now under construction as part of the Institute ofDiseases of the Chest, Brompton Hospital, London.

Mr. G. A. Phalp has been appointed secretary to the King’s Fundin succession to the late Mr. R. E. Peers.

CORRIGENDUM: Paetoglobin and Primarj- Liver Cancer.-In thisannotation (July 13, p. 93) the penultimate sentence should haveopened: " Some patients with hepatomas, however, have no foeto-globin ..."

Appointments

BLECHER, T. E., M.B. W’srand, M.R.C.P.E., M.C.PATH. : consultant hasmatolo-gist, Nottingham area.

FERNANDES, M. T., M.B. Calcutta, D.P.H., D.I.H., D.C.H.: deputy M.O.H. anddeputy school M.o., London Borough of Redbridge.

HENDERSON, M.A., M.B. Edin., F.R.C.S.E. : consultant in general surgery,Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.

MENNIE, G. H., M.B. Aberd.: M.O.H., South Pacific Health Service.RYDER, R. C., M.B. Wales, M.C.PATH. : consultant pathologist, St. Tydfil’s

Hospital, Glamorgan.

Birmingham Regional Hospital Board:COOPER, ROSEMARY A., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. : consultant in E.E.G.,

North Staffordshire hospital group.HILTON, D. D., M.D. Manc., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, Dudley and

Stourbridge hospital group.JONES, H. W. F., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.p., D.A., D.P.M. : consultant physician

(spinal injuries), Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.MORRISON, J. M., M.B. Durh., F.R.C.S. : consultant surgeon, Birmingham

(Selly Oak) hospital group.REES, H. M. N., M.B. Wales, M.R.C.P., D.P.M.: consultant child psychiatrist,

All Saintc’ (Birmingham) hospital group and Birmingham CityCouncil.

THOMPSON, R. A., M.B.E., M.B. Lond., M.R.C.P. : consultant immunologist,East Birmingham hospital group.

VICKERS, M. D. A., M.B. Lond., F.F.A. R.C.S.: consultant anaesthetist,Birmingham (Dudley Road) hospital group.

WEBER, APOLLONIA B., M.D. Budapest: consultant pathologist, Dudleyand Stourbridge hospital group.

Wessex Regional Hospital Board:MILLIGAN, J. L., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P.E., D.PHYS. MED. : consultant in

physical medicine, Bournemouth.MUCKLOW, E. S., B.M. Oxon., M.R.C.P.E., D.OBST., D.C.H. : consultant

paediatrician, I.O.W. and Portsmouth hospital group.THORNBER, DOREEN R., M.B. Lond., D.P.M. : consultant child psychiatrist,

Hampshire Child Guidance Scheme.

Pamphlets and Reports

Children’s Allowances and the Economic Welfare ofChildren. The Citizens’ Committee for Children of New Yorkcalled this conference, held at Warrenton, Virginia, in October, 1967,to hear how child-allowance systems worked in Canada, France,Great Britain, and Sweden, and to see how this approach might beused in tackling childhood poverty in the United States. In 1965,one in five American children were living below the poverty line (anincome of$2.25 per person per day for an average four-personfamily). (Obtainable from the Committee, 112 East 19th Street,New York, N.Y. 10003.$2.)

Recent Developments in Schizophrenia. Based on a series oflectures organised by the Royal Medico-Psychological Association,this collection is the first in a series of British Journal of Psychiatryspecial publications. (Obtainable from Headley Brothers Ltd., Ash-ford, Kent. 25s.;$3.50)