NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20563, 14 May 1930, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ELECTRICITY IN BRITAIN. Electricity in ono of tlie bright spots in British industry, by reason of tho substantial progress that has already been achieved and of the possibilities of development. Addressing the British Electrical Development Association in London recently, the Minister of Transport, Mr. Herbert Morrison, said Iho output, in Great Britain had grown from 3600 million units in 1922 to 7600 millions in 1928. They were still much behind the United States, where tho total output in 1928 was 97,000 million units. It was claimed that 68 per cent, of tho population of tho United States were living in electrified homes; that 500,000 farms were electrified and that three-quarters of aU [lower in industry was electrical. It was estimated that in Great Britain only 10 per cent, of the houses were wired, that not one in fifty of these was completely electrified and that tho present output represented only somo 15 per cent, of the possible homo field. If British consumption was to reach a level corresponding to that in tho States the annual output should ho 30,000 millions, instead of the probable 8500 millions in 1929. What was wanted was a universal and scientific push by nil the supply undertakings and a, whole-hearted campaign on a national scale. SECONDARY SCHOOL CADETS. A testimony to tho value of cadet training in secondary schools was contained in a statement recently issued by the British Headmasters' Association protesting'at tho decision of tho Government (o withdraw its grant and its official recognition from tho cadet corps. This was described as "dealing a vital blow at bodies which are of the utmost value to tho secondary schools, and therefore to the nation." Tho statement affirmed that the training enabled tho cadets not only to value smartness and discipline for their own sake, but also to develop powers of leadership, initiative, a sense of cheery comradeship and that capacity for facing difficulties courageously which will bo oi inestimable value to them in playing their parts as citizens. Tho schools value their corps very highly, because they provide a training which can bo furnished by no other school activity. Unlike games, which are played for pleasure and bring their Towards in the shape of "colours," or'school studies, which earn certificates and prizes, and advancement in the future, cadet work means self-sacrifico, subordination to tho common good, tho placing of duty before pleasure, and, abovo all, the realisation that the privileges of education carry with them responsibilities to their country and their fellows. Tho statement added that "the association realises only too fully tho many influences which are at work to undermine the morals of the younger generation, and, therefore, deprecates this proposal to abolish ono of the most effective means of developing a sense of discipline and responsibility." NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATIONS.. The modern perfection of photographic reproduction in the illustration of newspapers has been achieved in tho last 50 years. Mr. Stephen H. Morgan,- a pioneer of the half-ton© process, was recently given a luncheon in London to mark the jubilee anniversary of the appearance of his first illustrations by this process. These were printed on March 4, 1880, in tho New York Daily Graphic. One of the pictures represented "A Sccno in Shantytown, Now York," and a leading article in tho nowspaper stated:—"Wo have dealt heretofore with pictures made from drawings or engravings. Hero wo have one direct from nature. Our photographers mado tho plato from which this picture has been obtained in the immediate presenco of tho shanties which are shown in it. ' There has been no redrawing of the picture. Tho transfer print has been obtained direct from the original negative. . . . We nro still experimenting with it and feel confident that our experiments will in the long run result in success, and that pictures will eventually bo regularly printed in our pages direct from photographs without tho intervention of drawing." At that time Mr. Ilorgan was the superintendent of the photo-mechanical department of tho New York Daily Graphic. Somo time before tho publication of his pictures ho had produced a half-tone illustration which, it was contended, could not be printed, and it did not get farther than tho hand press. At first, lie used a single-lino process, adopting the crossed lines shortly afterwards. CENTENARY OF ANAESTHESIA. The death of Henry Hill Hickman, tho father of English anaesthetics, which occurred a century ago, was commemorated in London recently when an address was delivered by Lord Dawson of Penn. Ho traced the various steps in tho discovery of anaesthesia until Hickman, a practitioner in Ludlow, Shropshire, conceived the possibility of inducing insensibility as r» means of alleviating tho sufferings inflicted by surgical operations. Further, ho was tho first to put his ideas to the test of experiment. Hickman rendered animals unconscious, first through partial asphyxiation by tho exclusion of air, then by inhalation of carbonic acid, and later of nitrous oxide. During anaesthesia ho made incisions, applied ligatures, amputated ears and limbs, and without pain and with good surgical results. His earnest purposo was to extend tho benefit of his findings to man; but work to which ho had sacrificed his career failed of recognition alike in Franco and England. Hickman returned homo and died shortly afterward at tho ago of 29. It was not until 1842 that a young dentist, Crawford Long, used ether for a definite surgical purposo. Then Wells, in 1844, employed nitrous oxide for anaesthesia. Morton, unaware of Long's work, adminis- ■ tered ether in Massachusetts General llos- | pital in 1816— tho first public use of an- j aesthesia. Then a year later Klourens described the effects of chloroform on (ho lower animals, and following this chloroform was employed at St. Bartholoniew's Hospital by Sir William Lawrence and in Edinburgh by Sir James Simpson, i " It is interesting to inquire why these many years separated the discovery from the adoption of anaesthesia," Lord Dawsun added. " Was it because Great Britain was passing through a phase of apathy—of mind and perhaps also of feeling—whirl) led to irisensitiveness toward suffering? The necessity and even tho pride of rapid operating may have excluded other considerations from surgeons' minds. The great Liston prided liiiuself on being able to amputate a leg at the inp joint in under a minute. Hickman, though a young country practitioner, had the mind to see, the heart to feel, what anaesthesia meant for humanity—and strove to move, his profession in England and 1' ranee to action. .Honour is bis due, and it is our privilege and happiness to perpetuate his fame."