In another direction women are about to influence vitally the problems of public health in the near future. The municipal and parliamentary vote has been given to women in England, and is not likely long to be withheld here. How will they use it? When they use it will “politics” be a name for a contemptible thing as it has become in some towns and states, or will women insist on clean administration and efficient work to secure the health and welfare of the community? _Prohibition of Alcoholic Drinks_ 4. The prohibition law against alcoholic drinks in the U. S. A. is largely the work of American women. Whatever view be taken of this law—and I regard it as one of the most significant social events of the age—let there be no doubt as to the essential facts of the problem. Alcoholism is a potent enemy of the race. It is a great creator of avoidable poverty. It makes the bed ready for tuberculosis. It is a frequent excitant of exposure to the infection of venereal diseases; it swells the ranks of fatherless children, and of neglected infants; it helps to fill our prisons and our hospitals. Let it be admitted, if you like, that light wines and beers are pleasant, and in strict moderation with meals are beverages to which little or no harm can be traced; but heavier drinks and all non-medicinal spirit drinking are to be condemned; and the country which distinguishes itself by abolishing these drinks will, other things being equal, in my opinion, inevitably attain quickly an industrial and economic superiority over all countries which continue to follow the older ways. 5. A great gain during the war is constituted by the fact that science has come into its own. The war has been described as a war of engineers. Its chief successes have been won largely by applied science; and it is gratifying to record that the Anglo-Saxon intellectuals, when their services have been engaged, have proved themselves more than equal to the German scientist, whether in physics or chemistry or medicine. The facts as to the wonderful extent to which disease has been prevented during this war need not be detailed. Intestinal diseases have been kept strictly under control. In no previous war has smallpox or typhoid fever claimed so small a toll on the belligerents. Malaria, it is true, has claimed many victims, owing to our soldiers having to operate in countries in which the needed precautions could not be completely carried out. Typhus has scarcely claimed a victim among the British forces, and although trench fever was common, medical discovery, by showing its relationship to the bite of the louse, has placed within reach an immediately practicable means for avoiding this serious cause of military disablement. Three sets of diseases have not been successfully combatted during the war—the group of respiratory affections, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases, and on each of these it is desirable to make a few remarks.