Happy Outcome Research Articles

Mistaken Identity: Russell Hoban's Mouse and His Child

Mistaken Identity:Russell Hoban's Mouse and His Child Valerie Krips (bio) The longing for a past of innocence and wholeness haunts many a narrative, not least those that find themselves, either by design or accident, ranked among books for children. Such a longing often finds expression in an idealization of the child and of childhood itself. This idealization, which reaches back at least as far as Rousseau, still animates certain contemporary ideas of the child and provides a subtext both for fiction written for children and for criticism of that fiction. When criticism finds child protagonists to be the site of "hope" or "deep feelings," or when an interpretation credits a child with the ability to reshape or revitalize his or her world simply because he or she is a child, then we are almost certainly in the presence of idealized innocence.1 Russell Hoban's Mouse and His Child appears apt for such a reading. Its theme, a child's longing for a home and family, is familiar enough, while its happy outcome echoes any number of stories in which an inventive and persistent youngster succeeds where adults have given up or have already failed.2 However, Hoban's text, rather than affirming familiar ideas, in fact reevaluates the status of children and childhood, rejecting ideas of wholeness and innocence in favor of struggle and empowerment. Interpreted in this way some of the apparent difficulties in the book, such as Hoban's allusions to existential philosophy and modernist writing, as well as his use of narrative repetition, are demystified.3 It is in these details that the book's careful reworking of the theme of childhood develops much of its argumentative power and generates the conditions in which a radical rethinking of the idea of an innocent child can be undertaken. Hoban's book is not an easy read; nor is childhood an easy time as Hoban remembers and reimagines it. It is a time when the child is beginning to create a self, a me, and to find a place in the world into which (willy-nilly) she or he was so abruptly born. The challenges [End Page 92] of self-creation are met by Hoban's protagonist with verve, dignity, and determination: the mouse-child's progress is something like a pilgrimage. Its ending is not easily thought of, however, within the conventional frameworks of reconciliation and affirmation that bring other childish success stories to a close: the self-hood the mouse-child achieves is the site of loss as well as gain, and the "happy ending" is shown to be provisional. Nor is Hoban's rethinking or reimagining of childhood limited to the characters and events in the book; as the reader imagines this text and creates its meanings, she or he must also struggle to become its reader, its partner in narrative. The reader's struggle interweaves with that of the mouse-child: both reader and character are trying to find a place—the reader in the book, the mouse-child in his world. What, then, is offered? What sort of world, what sort of place, can the child reader find in Hoban's work? No human child is represented directly in The Mouse and His Child. Instead, the narrative of the coming-into-being of a human subject takes as its protagonist a clockwork mouse-child, attached by his hands, apparently for ever, to his father. Born into the world in a toy shop, the mouse-child wants to know what and where he is. His father cannot help; they must "wait and see" (14). The child hears the word "mama," and although he does not know what the word means, "he knew at once that he needed one badly" (17). In an interesting reversal of a well-established psychoanalytic view of childhood development, Hoban's mouse-child encounters language, the system that will enable him to represent, and thus to some extent overcome, his primary loss of the mother before he is aware of his lack of her. So, in a moment of remarkable power and economy, the text indicates both that the mouse-child's existence begins with lack (expressed here...

Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in Eighteenth-Century English Novels (review)

272 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION 3:3 Patricia Meyer Spacks. Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in EighteenthCentury English Novels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. 262pp. US$32.00. This is the best of times and the worst of times for students of the eighteenth-century English novel. The field is wide open; exciting changes are occurring at a great pace; the broadening of the canon has suddenly opened up a plenitude of new possibilities. AU this is exhilarating—but the field now seems huge and chaotic; we can no longer believe the tidy verities of the 1960s; and critics rightly feel queasy about the adequacy of all attempts that have yet been made to remap the territory. Patricia Meyer Spacks's Desire and Truth provides a welcome step in the development of new strategies, new maps, new ways of thinking. The title is a good indicator of her concerns. "Truth" brings up such issues as "verisimilitude" and the moral function of the writer. "Desire" comprises a complex set of wishes and demands that affect the creation, nature, and reception of fiction: what the author wants, what the characters want, what the original audience enjoyed or demanded, what the present-day reader enjoys or demands. Spacks is primarily concerned with the first two elements, and she does not always differentiate as sharply as I would like among the four. However, her emphasis on the dialectic between what is understood as true (real) and what is desired, and how this dialectic shapes the motivations and stories of eighteenth-century novels, gives her a clear and helpful organizing device. This book is an unpretentious and uncontentious survey of the novel from Fielding to Scott. It is highly selective, making no pretence at all to "coverage" in depth. Spacks proceeds in chronological order through eight chapters, offering commentaries on the novels she selects as representative of overall patterns of development. Ungainly as a list is, I shall give it, for in no other way can I convey so clear a sense of the book's contents: The Female Quixote, Fanny Hill, Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, Amelia, Pamela, Clarissa, Tristram Shandy, A Sentimental Journey, The Fool of Quality, The Man of Feeling, Evelina, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, The Monk, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Romance ofthe Forest, The Italian, Anna St. Ives, Caleb Williams, The Wrongs ofWomen, Zeluco, A Simple Story, Waverley, Sense and Sensibility, The Heart ofMidlothian, Mansfield Park. Surveying these texts, Spacks pays particular attention to the "sexual assumptions" that underlie the plots, both for what they say and for what they imply. "The truth Pamela tells us, complicated and compelling, differs from the truth its author saw in it" (p. 235). The overall pattern she suggests could be reductively summarized by saying that Fielding and Richardson provide a thesis against which Mackenzie and Frances Sheridan offer a "sentimental" antithesis, all of which Austen and Scott attempt to resolve in a "grand synthesis" (p. 238). The virtues of the book, however, do not lie in this sort of general comment. Spacks has kept up with burgeoning criticism and theory, but the strength of this book is its readings of texts. They are ideologically sophisticated readings, but ultimately commonsensical—which I mean as a compliment. Spacks is good on unfamiliar texts: these are surely the best readings to date of The Fool of Quality, Memoirs ofMiss Sidney Bidulph, and John Moore's neglected Zeluco (1789). She is perhaps even better on familiar ones. Her Joseph Andrews is not the usual moral treatise or comic romp, but rather a book whose "prevailing comic narrative tone" masks but does not deny "the vision of an ugly and destructive social universe [that] compels Fielding's imagination " (p. 59). Her Sense and Sensibility is a novel that shows the reader that "only the freedoms of fictionality ensure happy outcomes" (p. 216). Spacks manages, indeed, to maintain a delicate balance: she never forgets the outlook of eighteenth-century author and reader, but her own readings display her admitted preoccupation with "the truth" these fictions "tell us" (p. 4). REVIEWS 273 Chapter 5, devoted to the sentimental novel's "challenge to power," seems to me particularly original and...

Factors affecting children's enjoyment of a frightening film sequence

An experiment examined the factors that contribute to children's enjoyment of frightening mass media, in an effort to extend recent research with adults. The study focused on suspense (indexed by worry and fear) and character liking as mediators of enjoyment. Children at two age levels viewed a scary program that concluded with either a successful resolution of a threat or no resolution. Forewarning of the threat and information about the happy outcome were varied. Predictions were derived from excitation transfer theory and disposition theory, as well as from theory and research on relevant developmental changes. Prior knowledge of the happy outcome reduced liking for the program, but this effect was not mediated by worry or fear. For both age groups, negative affect during the program was associated with marginally greater enjoyment of the resolved ending, but less enjoyment of the unresolved ending. In contrast, negative affect was associated with greater enjoyment of both versions of the program overa...

The External Implications of Closer European Integration

The happy outcome which is looked for in closer economic integration in the world is that all countries gain. This is particularly clear for a general removal of trade barriers, such as those indicated for the whole range of products by Stoeckel et al. (1990) or for individual products, such as the ending of the Multifibre Arrangement explored by Trela and Whalley (1990). Here those who have been protecting their industries gain because the losses to producers are more than offset by the gains to consumers, those who have been discriminated against in the past gain because they can increase their exports and those foreign countries which were previously benefiting from privileged access to the protected markets gain because their loss of market share is more than offset by an expansion in the market.

The Gift of Laughter: On the Development of a Sense of Humor in Clinical Analysis

Clinical analytic change often brings with it a maturing of the patient's sense of humor, leading to an internalized capacity to acknowledge pain and frustration while soothing oneself with wit. Both the nature of psychic functioning, especially the multiple meanings structured in words, and the nature of the dyadic aspects of clinical analysis contribute to this happy outcome. The structural similarities that jokes and humor bear to transference and self-analytic capacities are also considered.

Forewarning of a Threat and Prior Knowledge of Outcome Effects on Children's Emotional Responses to a Film Sequence

An experiment examined the influence of prior information on children's emotional responses to a frightening program. Children at two age levels (5–7 and 9–11 years) viewed a program that included a threatening scene and a happy resolution. Before viewing, they heard one of four audiotaped introductions created by factorially varying information about the threat (forewarning, no forewarning) and the happy outcome (prior knowledge, no prior knowledge). Emotional responses were assessed through self-reports, facial expressions (coded using hard's Affex coding scheme), and skin temperature (as an index of physiological arousal). Self-reports of emotion revealed that forewarning of the threat increased anticipatory fear but did not affect emotional responses to the threatening scene. Prior knowledge of the happy outcome tended to reduce anticipatory fear but had a somewhat inconsistent effect on fear during the threatening scene. Changes in skin temperature over time were consistent with predictions, but no effects of the manipulations emerged for facial expressions of negative affect. Expected age differences were not observed for either type of prior information. Responses to the happy outcome were also examined. Children's reports of coping strategies and the results of manipulation checks were considered in interpreting the findings.

Religious Implications of Children's Literature as Viewed by Religious Fundamentalists: The Mozert Case

Religious Implications of Children's Literature as Viewed by Religious Fundamentalists:The Mozert Case Joan DelFattore (bio) The most comprehensive American federal court case dealing with religious objections to children's literature took place in Greeneville, Tennessee, between 1983 and 1987. The fundamentalist parents who initiated this case, Mozert V. Hawkins County Public Schools, made over 400 specific objections to a reading series published by Holt, Rinehart, Winston and used in the Hawkins County public schools. Concerned Women for America, a conservative group headed by Beverly LaHaye, funded the plaintiffs' case; People for the American Way, a liberal group founded by Norman Lear, funded the defense. Because the arguments and examples presented in Mozert provide a clear, comprehensive summary of the issues that underlie virtually all fundamentalist controversies over children's literature, this case deserves detailed attention. The plaintiffs in Mozert identified several "objectionable themes" in the volumes of the Holt, Rinehart, Winston reading series intended for use in Grade Two through Grade Eight. These themes, as listed in a legal brief, include futuristic supernaturalism, man as God, evolution, humanistic themes, one-world government, contrasts between religious beliefs and scientific beliefs, situation ethics, values clarification, magic, other religions, skeptical views of religion, pacifism, gender role reversal and role elimination, and rebellion against authority. [End Page 9] The core of the plaintiffs' lengthy pre-trial and trial testimony was that these objectionable themes run through the entire Holt, Rinehart, Winston series, so that exposure to the series constitutes indoctrination. The seeds of this indoctrination are, the plaintiffs claimed, found in the two second-grade readers, People Need People and The Way of the World. A close examination of their objections to these readers will serve to illustrate what is meant by religious-based objections to children's literature on the grounds cited in this case. Although the plaintiffs' testimony and legal briefs mention as many as sixteen objectionable themes, these themes tend to cluster around a smaller number of central concerns. For example, complaints based on futuristic supernaturalism, man as God, situation ethics, values clarification, rebellion against authority, and other humanistic themes all deal with the question of humanity's place in the universe in relation to God's. The Holt, Rinehart, Winston textbooks and teachers' manuals emphasize moral choices, independent decision-making, and the ability of human beings to affect their own destinies in significant ways. The plaintiffs found this objectionable because, they stated, moral choices are limited to obeying or disobeying the word of God; independent decision-making may lead to disobedience and rebellion; and the ability of human beings to affect their own destinies is sharply limited by the will and power of God. In one disputed story, "The Giant Who Didn't Win," a giant intends to destroy a town but fails three times. He is outwitted by a cobbler who tricks him into believing that the town is farther away than it is. The plaintiffs objected to having children read stories in which lies, trickery, disobedience, or other sinful behaviors lead to a favorable outcome. They objected even more strenuously to discussion questions suggested in the teachers' manual, since these questions could lead children to conclude that the cobbler's plan was clever and that his lie was acceptable because of the result it produced. Similarly, they objected to an Ethiopian folk tale, "Such Is the Way of the World," in which a boy leaves the cows unattended in order to search for his lost pet. Like "The Giant Who Didn't Win," this story features sinful behavior—in this case, disobedience to parents—that leads to a happy outcome. Although the boy in this story does not lie outright to his parents, he allows them to believe that he has watched the cows all day. The teachers' manual suggests asking the children whether they think that the boy should have told his parents what really happened, indicating that the children's answers to this question may vary. The plaintiffs argued that some children might make unacceptable statements in reply to a question that actually has only one correct answer: the boy should have told his parents. Moreover, asking the question at all, especially in the...

Regret and Elation Following Action and Inaction

In their research on decision under uncertainty, Kahneman and Tversky (1982a) examined whether, given the same negative outcome, there is any difference in the experience of regret, depending on whether the outcome follows action or inaction. This study attempted to replicate Kahneman and Tversky's (1982a) finding of greater regret for action than inaction and to determine whether this pattern extends to the parallel case of joy over happy outcomes, to different life domains, and to both genders. Through a vignette experiment, the previousfinding of a strong tendency to imagine greater regret following action than inaction was replicated. The same pattern was observed in the case of joy over positive outcomes. In two of the three vignettes presented, this "actor effect "was stronger for negative than for positive outcomes. In a third vignette, explicit knowledge of a missed negative outcome seems to have magnified the usual joy over having made a good decision, causing the expected joy over acting and succeeding to rise to the typically high level of regret over acting and failing. Suggestions regarding the future study of these issues are offered.

The Challenge of Tropical Biology

Tropical forests are being destroyed so rapidly that a major portion of the diversity of life on earth will disappear during the lifetimes of most of us who are living now. Whatever knowledge we gain about these organisms and are able to pass on for study by those who follow us, to satisfy their scientific curiosity or their economic needs, must be gained as rapidly as possible and by as consistent and well-reasoned a plan as possible to achieve maximum effectiveness. The challenge to all biologists concerned with the diversity of organisms during the closing decades of the twentieth century is the greatest that they have ever faced, just as the challenge facing the entire human race during this period of ultimate, intense conversion of the global ecosystem threatens the very survival of hundreds of millions of people. Notwithstanding this unprecedented threat, which is being posed to the life-supporting systems of our world by factors discussed below, there are those among us who mindlessly infer that historical progression will be followed and that somehow a technological miracle will save the human race from a scenario of widespread starvation, and the world from the extermination by humans of a major proportion of its biological diversity. Whether or not such a happy outcome is conceivable, the facts are clearly such that only a major rededication of society to these pressing problems can possibly lead to their amelioration; in that rededication, biologists have a major role to play.

The Amazing Mr. Cowell

When Henry Cowell founded the New Music Society in Los Angeles in 1925 (Figure 1), he discovered very quickly that there were few contemporary scores available for his performers. Other than manuscripts given to him by his friends Edgard Varese, Carl Ruggles, and Dane Rudhyar, scores of ultramodern music-the type Cowell planned to perform at his concerts-were not accessible because commercial publishers were not interested. But since he was Henry Cowell and had the great Irish god Manaunaun on his side, he solved the problem almost singlehandedly; in 1927 he established the New Music Quarterly. Only a man like Cowell with the audacity to battle the establishment and the resourcefulness to find new ways of tackling musical problems would take on such an overwhelming task. How long Cowell intended to continue publishing New Music-a journal of scores only and whether he planned at some time to turn it over to a commercial enterprise are not known, but the happy outcome of his original plan became a landmark in contemporary music, which lasted thirty-two years, published over 200 works, and became an inspiration for avant-garde composers in America and around the world.

The Art curriculum from an Art educator's viewpoint

At the first art seminar held in 1965, a number of art topics was discussed and there were practical sessions featuring demonstrations by local artists and craftsmen. Unfortunately the findings of that seminar were never published although much work was put into the writing of the report. However, one happy outcome did result and that was the founding of the Singapore Art and Crafts Education Society which together with the Ministry of Education is responsible for the present art seminar. The SACES has been very active doing its bit enthusiastically since its inception to arouse interest in art amongst school children, parents and teachers. Its annual Spot Art competition has become a regular feature on the local art calendar.

Happy Outcome

Happy Outcome

Infected arteriosclerotic aneurysm of the abdominal aorta

A review of the literature reveals that tuberculous aortic aneurysm and an infected dissecting aortic aneurysm have been resected and replaced with grafts with success. However, no report of resection of an infected arteriosclerotic abdominal aortic aneurysm with survival of the patient was found. Such a case with nearly four years survival without complication of any kind is presented. The principles of (1) resection and removal of all dead and infected material, (2) replacement with minimal graft and suture material, and (3) massive and prolonged antibiotic therapy, both during and after operation, are thought to have contributed to the survival of the patient. Previous right iliac artery occlusion with establishment of adequate collateral for the viability of the right leg allowed for the use of minimal graft and suture material. The fact that the infecting organism was a hemolytic streptococcus which was highly sensitive to antibiotic agents further contributed to the happy outcome.

Chemotherapy of Neuroblastoma

The treatment of neuroblastoma of childhood has long fascinated the physician and surgeon. Perhaps this is because of the vagary of the tumor. In spite of gloomy mortality figures, an appreciable number of cases have responded to some form of therapy, be it surgery, irradiation, and more recently, chemotherapy, and have survived. Moreover, cases of spontaneous remissions have been seen. This occasional happy outcome serves as a great stimulus to all concerned, but also leads to premature conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the therapeutic agent or agents being employed. Neuroblastoma represents approximately 12% of all childhood tumors, excluding the leukemias and lymphomas, 38,39 and in the not so distant past when no therapy was available, the average survival was quoted as ranging from eight weeks 39 to four months. 40 This universally hopeless picture changed considerably in 1940 when Farber 41 and Wyatt and Farber 8 published their series on

Infectious Mononucleosis In the Elderly

To the Editor:— When an elderly patient, especially one with known degenerative vascular disease, suddenly seems to deteriorate mentally, it is tempting to make a diagnosis of "minor stroke." But many other illnesses can cloud an aging person's mind, with only a benign cause for the ominous symptoms. Such was the happy outcome in this case of infectious mononucleosis in a 70-year-old man. The patient, a retired teacher, normally quite alert, had had a myocardial infarction in February 1964 and another in March 1965. At the time of his first episode a diminished right carotid pulse had been noted. One week before admission to the hospital on May 18, 1965, he noted that he was no longer able to think clearly or rapidly. This feeling had persisted and this dull state contributed to two automobile accidents. In one he had veered off his driveway into some bushes and in the

The electronic evaluation of the fetal heart rate: V. The vagal factor in fetal bradycardia

1.1. Much of the fetal bradycardia associated with umbilical cord compression is probably due to vagotonia.2.2. The administration of atropine to the mother altered markedly the fetal heart rate patterns of 3 fetuses who at delivery had probable umbilical cord compression. (These cases were selected from a series of 31 patients who had similar responses.)3.3. Fetal bradycardia may be, within limits, a compensatory or adaptive mechanism and, therefore, does not indicate necessarily fetal hypoxia but may reflect increased vagal tone.4.4. The passage of meconium may be due not only to hypoxic stimulation of the large bowel and relaxation of the anal sphincter but may be caused by increased vagal tone.5.5. The usual happy outcome of clinically diagnosed fetal distress supports the idea that fetal bradycardia and the passage of meconium do not always indicate a compromised fetus.

Duodenal obstruction by an intraluminal diverticulum.

OBSTRUCTION of the duodenum in adult life, caused by factors other than duodenal ulcer, is a rare and diagnostically intriguing situation. Partial obstruction can exist for many years, giving rise to chronic abdominal distress which is abolished with striking rapidity upon removal of the obstruction. In the following case, the duodenal obstruction was caused by an intraluminal diverticulum. Because of the dramatic x-ray findings, the unusual pathogenesis, and the happy outcome from treatment, it provided an interesting study of this uncommon condition. We have found only one other such case reported¹in the medical literature; that case resembled the following one in all respects. <h3>Report of Case</h3> The patient, a 33-year-old white man, consulted us primarily because of intermittent abdominal distress which had been present since early childhood. The patient experienced attacks of cramping, gas-like distress which occurred high in the epigastrium two to three hours after meals. Frequently,

In Defense of Bertram

ORE often than not, critics describe All's Well that Ends Well as a difficult play, its hero as a cad, and its plot as one that X Ma( we are not obliged to enjoy .. . as a plot. I suggest that if we see justice of Bertram's cause, action of play is meaningful and artistic, Bertram's relations with other characters probable, and thought of play, as it appears in progress of story and in recurring themes, significant-in short, that All's Well is a good play. Certainly, Bertram has faults. If he had none, this would be no comedy. And if he had no virtues, ending would not be a happy one. If we are to see end of a comedy as happy, dramatist must give us some reason for supposing that another ending might have been less happy. And less happy possibility arises, in a good comedy, from characters of those involved. Thus dramatist creates a comic effect when he arouses a tension between our hopes for a happy outcome, based upon our evaluation of protagonists, and our fears, or rather our capacity for entertaining possible, unhappy alternatives. Decidedly best comedies are those in which threats to happiness or justice arise from characters themselves. In other words, a comic hero is his own worst enemy: the young lord, says Lafew of Bertram,

Smallpox

Dr. Heath: The recent outbreak of smallpox in New York City not only emphasized how casual is the acquaintance most physicians have with the disease but also clearly showed the many defects in our knowledge concerning it. On the other hand, the happy outcome of events furnished striking testimony to the efficiency of epidemiologic and public health measures when properly applied and serves as a tribute to the New York City Board of Health. The usual incubation period of variola is twelve days, although variations from five to twenty-one days are not unknown. The period of invasion follows, lasting three to four days, characterized by chills, fever, prostration, muscular aches, headache, nausea and vomiting. Rather suddenly, the macular eruption then appears on the face and distal upper extremities, accompanied by a decrease in the symptoms and fever. The rash progressively becomes papular, vesicular and pustular, terminating by crusting and desquamation in about two to four weeks. An ulcerating enanthem may accompany the exanthem. In fatal cases the ordinarily transient secondary fever appearing with pustulation remains to the end. In general, the mortality is higher the more marked the fever and the eruption, death resulting from overwhelming viral infection, sepsis or pneumonia. Smallpox modified by immunity resulting from vaccination may pursue an atypical abbreviated course and confusion with chickenpox may be unavoidable. During the invasive period of the disease, when a morbilliform or scarlatini-form rash may be present, measles or scarlet fever may be suspected; if no rash is present the disease may be indistinguishable from a variety of febrile conditions. A variety of diagnostic procedures, all requiring expert technic, are available to aid in laboratory diagnosis. Material from the vesicles or pustules may be examined either by direct smear and search for elementary bodies or more specifically by growing the material on the rabbit cornea (Paul test) or chick embryo. Finally, complement fixation or flocculation technics may be used to demonstrate specific antigens in the lesions by titration with high titer rabbit antiserum, or the development of antibodies in the blood of the patient may be determined by the complement fixation method using known vaccinia virus as antigen. In connection with vaccination, emphasis is placed on using potent vaccine since potency lasts only a few months after preparation and decreases rapidly when the vaccine is stored above freezing temperatures. The dangers of bandaging are pointed out but no mention is made of the disability following leg vaccination, frequent and severe enough to disqualify this as a procedure of choice. The significance and characteristics of the primary and accelerated takes are noted; an immune type of reaction, unless it occurs in a recently vaccinated individual, may be due to poor vaccine or faulty technic and calls for revaccination. At this time, pregnancy in its first trimester, acute infectious disease and generalized skin disease are regarded as the only contraindications to vaccination. Elective surgery should be postponed following vaccination although urgent procedures have been performed without ill effect. The duration of immunity resulting from a successful vaccination varies with the individual. Vaccination should be repeated every five to ten years ordinarily and in endemic areas revaccination should be carried out at least annually. An interesting complication of vaccination is a diffuse meningo-encephalitis bearing a mortality of from 30 to 60 per cent and possibly representing an allergic response in the central nervous system. As yet there is no evidence, except temporal, to suggest that this is a viral infection. An account of the New York City outbreak discloses the hazards of wrong diagnosis and the rapid spread of the disease among non-immune subjects even though not in direct contact with the disease. The tremendous task of limiting such a potential epidemic and the measures used are detailed in the text. No more effective argument for compulsory vaccination can be advanced.

Symposium on applications of mathematics in the earth‐sciences: Preface

The group of addresses given at the joint session of Sections A and E of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Columbus, Ohio, in December 1939 is a happy outcome of the joint session of these sections at the Richmond meeting in December 1938. It tends to further a very desirable rapprochement between geophysicists and mathematicians, for the group represents informed men from both these fields and begins the important task of bringing to each field the knowledge or some suggestions of the contributions which the other field may make.Mr. Lambert sketches the essentials in the development of gravitational geophysics in Great Britain, beginning with Newton in 1687. He discusses not so much the mathematical methods as the men and their results, although the former would have been of interest. It is an absorbing study to note the stumbling and disparate attempts to investigate the density of the Earth, the gravitation‐constant, the elastic properties of the Earth, and the figure of the Earth including the related topics of the measurement of a degree of latitude, the determination at the geoid, and the variation in gravity. One may well contrast this slow development with the possibilities of the present day, where there is an increasing amount of cooperation, not merely between the various divisions in the field of geophysics but between geophysics and mathematics.