323

the growth of poliomyelitis viruses in tissue-culture.Enders and Peebles 7 inoculated human and simianrenal epithelial cells with blood or with throat-washingsfrom typical measles cases, and they found unusual andcharacteristic cellular changes. Well-defined areas. or

plaques, developed in which there were large vacuolatedgiant cells with 40-100 nuclei in syncytial formations.The impression gained was that true giant cells had

developed in vitro-an interesting observation in viewof the presence, of giant cells in lymphoid tissues duringthe early stages of measles in man.8 Significant changeswithin the nuclei of the giant cells were also found ;there was margination of the chromatin, while the centralportion of the nucleus was occupied by a homogeneousacidophilic mass. Similar agents have been recoveredfrom the blood or throat-washings of 5 out of 7 patientsin the acute stage of measles ; but so far examination ofstools has been negative. Some properties of the virusare already known. It is filtrable and fairly stable duringstorage at low temperatures ; it grows readily on passagein tissue-cultures but does not apparently grow in sucklingmice or chick embryos. The cytopathogenic action isneutralised by convalescent but not acute-pliase measlesserum; and, more important still, there is specificcomplement fixation between tissue-culture fluids andconvalescent measles sera. By means of complement-fixation tests, antibody was demonstrated seven days safter the rash appeared, and it persisted for at least twomonths. This advance opens up the way to manyinteresting and important discoveries, including perhapsan avirulent virus variant which could be used to immu-nise against measles. That would mean a less rosyfuture for the measles virus and a less blotchy outlookfor its victims.

6. Enders, J. F., Weller, T. H., Robbins, F. C. Science, 1949,109, 85.

7. Enders, J. F., Peebles, T. C. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol., N.Y. 1954,86, 277.

8. Warthin, A. S. Arch. Path. 1931, 11, 864.9. Circular H.M.C.(54)44.10. Circular H.M.C.(54)69.

YOUNG RECRUITS TO NURSING

IN the days when children were employed in minesand factories there were plenty of responsible men tosay that England’s prosperity depended on keepingthem there. They asserted this, not, perhaps, from alack of humanity, but from a genuine inability to see anyother way of doing things. A similar blind spot seemsto be affecting some hospital management committeeswho have staffing difficulties: they continue to urge theGeneral Nursing Council (G.N.C.) to waive the rule--which came into force in 1952—requiring girls enteringnursing training to be over 18. The rule was madebecause there is good evidence that girls just turned 18are barely mature enough to stand up to the physicalstrain and risks of infection to which bedside nursingexposes them ; and that girls under 18 are, in the main,not fit to take these risks and strains.The G.N.C. has, indeed, power to waive the rule where

its strict application " would be likely to affect the

hospital services prejudicially " ; but, as a new circular *

from the Ministry of Health emphasises, this means notonly that the number of student nurses in such a hospitalmust have been much reduced, but that there must beno alternative means of bringing the nursing staff upto the required level. In the event, hospital committeeshave usually been able to make good their losses in otherways-by employing assistant nurses, nursing auxiliaries,or orderlies. Thus, though applications have beenmany, the G.N.C. have felt able to waive the rule for onlya few hospitals. Moreover, they have no powers what-ever to waive it for individuals, however physically andmentally robust.In another circular 10 the Ministry draws attention to

an increase, in the past years, in the number of young

people under 18 employed in hospitals as clerks ordomestic workers, or in various other minor capacities.With sucli young people on the spot there is a gravetemptation, despite the code of working conditions laiddown for them hy the Ministry to let them help in thewards. And indeed the circular mentions a number ofhospitals which are still employing juveniles on fullnursing duties, and quotes, as recent instances, the attend-ance of two young people at a post-mortern examination,the employment of girls under 18 in labour wards,lying-in wards, and the nurseries of maternity units, andthe leaving of girls of 16 in sole charge of wards of acutelyill patients at night. "Such practices," the memorandumrightly says, " are indefensible, and Boards and Com-mittees concerned should bring them to an end at theearliest possible date." The principal regional officers,and the professional officers of the Ministry will gladlyhelp in getting this done ; and in order that the situationmay not be further aggravated the Minister has nowruled that no addition is to be made to the complementof these young persons in any hospital where they arenot employed strictly according to the terms of thecode.The cadet schemes now arranged by many hospitals

for school-leavers who think they would like to take upnursing provide another excuse for allowing young peopleinto the wards. It is arguable whether these children,during the two years they must wait to begin training,are better employed on the fringes of hospital life, orwhether they would profit more by some different kindof experience. However that may be, cadet schemesare one way of filling the gap ; and while some have beenconceived in a responsible spirit, with a proper concernfor the cadets as well as for the hospital’s recruitingcampaign, others are not so estimable. The Ministermakes it clear that he welcomes well-regulated cadetschemes, which ensure that the young people are employedon the duties olliciaby prescribed for them. But he is

clearly uneasy about the way in which such schemes canbe used as a means of evading the 18-year rule. Whathe is urging, in fact, is a change of heart : effectivestaffing of our hospitals no more depends on the employ-ment of girls under 18 than did England’s prosperity onchild labour : we can get results as good in better ways.

11. Memorandum R.H.B.(50)37/H.M.C.(50)36/B.G.(50)32. May, 1950.12. Lancet, 1952, i, 651, 664.13. Oxford : Blackwell Scientific Publications. 1953. See also

Lancet, 1953, i, 432.

MENTAL HEALTH

THE first annual report of the Mental Health ResearchFund (M.H.R.F.), which was registered in 1952, showsmodest but steady progress. Three important conferenceshave been held. The first, at Oxford 12 in 1952, considered"

Prospects in Psychiatric Research," 13 and a report of itunder that title has since appeared. The second, on thepsychological development of the child, was convenedby the World Health Organisation at Geneva in 1953,and led to a further informal gathering in 1954 ; and a

meeting at Bristol, in 1952, of a group of scientists whohad been -at the Oxford conference, resulted in a con-ference on chemistry in relation to the nervous system,which was held at Oxford in July this year, and reportedbriefly in The Lancet of July 31 (p. 234).The fund plans to establish one or more research

fellowships carrying salaries in the region of £1000—1500.At present many research projects in the field of mentalhealth are held up because the senior men who proposethem lack the time to carry them through. The fellow-

ships would enable less senior men to work full-timeon such projects under the general direction of theseseniors. The fund also intends to finance conferences ;to make travel grants to research-workers who wish tovisit a different laboratory to learn a new technique ;