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Nightingale, Josephine Butler, Harriet Martineau, Mrs.Gaskell, Barbara Leigh Smith, and Bessie Rayner Parkes.In their various ways, all these did something towardsbringing the untrained gentlewoman into the field ofsocial work, and helped to make the concept of thewoman doctor less alarming to the public mind. The

impetus which carried Elizabeth Garrett and SophiaJex-Blake through so many unwillingly opened doorswas transmitted undiminished to the next generation-to such women as Jane Walker, Louisa Aldrich Blake,and Mona Chalmers-Watson. For these early womendoctors and their immediate successors the social con-ditions of their time were, Dr. Gillie believes, a greatstimulus. So, too, were the upsurgirig of the disfranchisedsections of the community, and the movement forwomen’s rights and opportunities. Opposition was achallenge to them, to which they responded " with allthe zeal of their vigorous natures."Women doctors today have no such violent stimuli to

drive them onward. They are accepted, and whatopposition to them remains is covert and localised. Novast intolerable social evils, no unbridgeable gulf betweenclasses, stir up their chivalry. In school and universitythey have been given equal chances with their brothers.Yet the problems of the married woman doctor are insome respects harder of solution than those which facedthe pioneers : it is seldom possible, nowadays, to handover the management of home and nursery to well-trainedand reliable deputies ; there are financial complications,involving both rate of pay and taxation, when husbandand wife are in practice together ; and, as Dr. MaryLennox said in a letter which we published last week,part-time employment is not as easily obtainable as itshould be. Indeed, Dr. Gillie thinks that the problemof all married women’s work, both inside and outside thehome, is so large that it should provoke, in women, someof the energy of response shown by their forbears. Heraddress was a challenge to all who do not see that everygain should be a base for further effort.

1. Holmes, F.O. In Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology.Baltimore, 1948.

2. Andrewes, C. H. Nature, Lond. 1954, 173, 630.

NOMENCLATURE OF VIRUSES

Two main problems beset those who try to find thebest method of naming viruses. The first is that of

arranging viruses in their natural groups : this is fairlystraightforward with, for example, pox viruses, wherethe relationship is clear, but it is extremely difficult withthe many viruses which have still not been fully studied.The second and more intractable problem is whetherviruses should be known by Linnaean binomials. Thereis still much debate as to whether they should be regardedas animalcules or as macro-molecules ; recent researcheson the mode of multiplication of bacterial viruses haverevealed processes different from those of other micro-organisms. Most virologists would gladly have post-poned the question of nomenclature until there was morefundamental information on the nature of viruses.Holmes,l however, introduced a system of Linnsean

’ binomials which has thoroughly confused the situation ;he classified them into genera mainly on such insub-stantial grounds as their tissue affinities, and largelyignored their natural groupings. Nevertheless withoutan alternative system this classification might graduallyinfiltrate scientific literature and teaching.Andrewes 2 has described the steps taken to meet this

situation. At the International Congress of Microbiologyin Rome last September it was officially decided to putforward non-Linnaean binomials to indicate the specialcharacter of viruses ; such names could later be trans-ferred to the Linnaean system under the InternationalCode. The terms " genus " and " species " of the Linnaeansystem were deliberately avoided because they suggesttaxonomic relationships, about which, so far as viruses

are concerned, we are still in the dark. The equivalentsof generic names were formed by adding the suffix" -virus " to a suitable prefix. Thus, the virus of polio-myelitis would be styled PoUovirus haminis the virusesof smallpox and vaccinia, Poxvirus variolcs and Poxvirusofficinale ; ; and the viruses of the influenza groupMyxovirus, to indicate the affinity of this group formucins. This may prove a sound stepping-stone to amore firmly based classification.

1. The State of Food and Agriculture 1953. Part II: LongerTerm Prospects. Rome : Food and Agriculture Organisation.1954. Pp. 83. Obtainable from H.M. Stationery Office. 5s.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECT

F.A.O. continue to display clearly the problems beforethe farming communities of the world. In their latestreport 1 predictions are given for food-production in1956-57, if present national plans can be fulfilled. Manytables set out forecasts for the various crops in differentregions, and some of the data may be summarised asfollow,’! , ·

Predicted Food Production in 1956-57(figures for 1934-38 = 100)

Most of the figures-especially in Asia-indicate anincrease of food-production less than the correspondingincrease of population, and no country can look forwardwith certainty or confidence to being able to do morethan maintain present food-supplies. The figures forWestern Europe certainly give no grounds for compla-cency, and they require emphasis in Great Britain at atime when rationing is virtually abolished and theactivities of the Ministry of Food are being greatly cur-tailed. There are many cogent reasons which mayjustify these changes : that our problems of food-supplyare solved is not one of them.Most of the text of this report is taken up with

discussions of details of regional agricultural develop-ments. The need for more capital for investment inirrigation schemes, land reclamation, the prevention ofsoil erosion, and the supply of mechanical equipment isemphasised. Equally important is a supply of well-trained technicians and effective government services.Physical resources of power and machinery are valuelesswithout the necessary will-power, knowledge, andenthusiasm wherewith to harness and drive them. Itis suggested that, if sustained progress is to be achieved,far more attention may need to be given to investmentin human resources. This means better education andhealth services.

THE next session of the General Medical Council willopen on Tuesday, May 25, at 2 P.M., when’Sir DAVIDCAMPBELL, the president, will deliver an address. TheMedical Disciplinary Committee will meet on Wednesday,May 26, at NOON.

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