PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

Evening Star, Issue 22526, 19 December 1936, Page 21

PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

TO THS SDITOK. Sir, —Wide publicity has recently been given to the statement that the farmers of Britain are not able to produce more than one-quarter to onethird of annual requirements. Equally wide publicity should now be given to the fact that utilisation of knowledge already available would revbr.se the present state of affairs, so far as quantity is concerned. The whole question partakes of that frustration and misuse of science of which all scientists justly complain. The man in the street is apt to regard soil science as ranking with the abstruse and esoteric, and it is not so widely known as ought to be the case that soil science might be utilised as an aid towards improving economic conditions; that plants can return to the soil at some stage of their growth (either after the first burst of vegetative activity or after maturation of the fruits) certain of the more important nutrient elements which they have absorbed ; that ecological survey should be the pre-requisite of food production ’ that not only quantity, but also quality, may be enhanced by the utilisation of knowledge already available in soil science; that Sir Albert Howard, as a result of experiment, claims that adequate organic manuring, as contrasted with the application of chemical fertilisers, produces a quality which confers immunity to all diseases (tuberculosis and foot-and-mouth disease are cited) on the animals consuming these crops; and that mankind in turn may obtain this immunity by consuming such animals or their products. In questions of the prevention of disease one can see plainly it is necessary to “■ get back to the land ” and study the very soil itself. “ All flesh is grass.”— I am, eto., P. Neilsox (For the Physical and Mental Welfare Association),