Population

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31659, 20 April 1968, Page 12

Population

Sir,—l applaud the logic and common sense of B. Kingston’s letter. In this country, with a high standard of living, we tend to regard underdeveloped nations as the sole contributors to the world's exploding population. The prevailing attitude among the socially irresponsible is that reproduction is a “personal” affair, sacrosanct and inviolable, and that their particular contribution cannot possibly affect the world’s total population figure. It is up to us, as a people blessed with material wealth and education to give a lead to those who enjoy fewer family planning facilities by reducing the number of children born to us for a start. Only then can we legitimately set about castigating irresponsible parenthood— Yours, (MRS) SIDONIE THOMAS. Highbank, April 17, 1968. University Councils Sir.—My writing led to a misprint in a quotation and 1 now find that my quotation from memory was not precise. Fifty years ago, under the late Professor J. P. Gabbatt, a set book for first-year students of pure mathematics was “Introduction to Mathematics,” by A. N. Wh’tehead, a little book in the Home University Library series. On page 40: “The death of Archimedes by the hands of a Roman soldier is symbolical of a world-change of the first magnitude: the theoretical Greeks with their love of abstract science, were superseded in the leadership of the European world by the practical Romans. Lord Beat nsfield, in one of his novels, has defined a practical man as a man who practises the errors of his forefathers. The Romans were a great race, but they were cursed with the sterility which waits on practicality.” And so on.—Yours, etc., J. DUGDALE. April 19, 1968.