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CORRESPONDENCE MlED3fITJSH903 body weight) and one hour later with 0.2 ml. of 0.5% quinine hydrochloride solution.2. Quinine group. The birds were injected daily with 0.2 ml. of physiological saline solution and one hour later with 0.2 ml. of 0.5% quinine hydrochloride.In both groups the injections were given intramuscularly and repeated for four consecutive days.3. Untreated control group. From the fourth day of inoculation parasites were examined almost daily microscopically by Giemsa's method. The intensity of their development was estimated by counting them in a given number of fields.On an average, the degree of development of parasites on the 12th day in the quinine-thiosulphate group corresponded approximately to that of the 9th day of the quinine group, and it can be said that in the experimental conditions thiosulphate brought about an inhibition equivalent to about three days. This result may be attributable, apart from the three factors already mentioned, to some degenerative changes in the protoplasmic constitution of the microbes caused by direct action of thiosulphate upon itKritschewski's thiosulphate phenomenon.4 Further, it can be expected that quinine may be replaced by mepacrin, or any other new antimalarial agent.Systematic clinical examinations of the combined treatment suggested above have not yet been undertaken in Japan, but experience has shown us that the most adequate route of administration of thiosulphate is the intravenous injection.In conclusion we hope that the field of the combined application of thiosulphate as a comnion, non-toxic activator of chemotherapy need not be restricted to malaria, but will find a widespread extension irrespective of the nature of the chemotherapeutic agept-e.g., sulphanilamide, etc. Fear and Pain in Childbirth SIR,-Dr. J. Donaldson Craig (April 10, p. 706) makes the point that the pain of labour may be modified, if not entirely eliminated, "by the degree of confidence reposed in medical attendants." A very great deal has been written about the physical pain of labour, but little attention has been paid to what Head describes as " the diminution of general resistance to painful impressions " by "debilitating psychological states, such as anxiety or emotional shock."' If certain obstetricians are able to conduct relatively painless labours without anaesthesia, surely it is by the elimination of fear. Is it not time that we devoted more attention to this aspect of the matter ?It is difficult for anyone long familiar with anatomy and accustomed to the facts relating to the physiology of labour to enter imaginatively into the state of chaotic ignorance in which many women are still allowed to approach their first confinement. Illequipped with an assortment of half-digested facts about her body acquired from popular medical literature and first-aid classes, the young primigravida waits in the clinic queue next to a loquacious mother of five. She may be encouraged by the resulting confidences, as Dr. H. Thistlethwaite (Feb. 14, p. 318) optiniistically sugges...