A survey of sexual habits was conducted among Africans living in and around the Salisbury area of Rhodesia. With the exception of a high rate of venereal disease (overall occurrence 22%) the general health of the interviewees was good. Of men interviewed, 63% had heard of family planning but only 25% completely favoured its practice. Reasons against family planning included cost, religious or political beliefs and unwillingness to interfere with nature. The most commonly used contraceptive method was the pill.

Among married men, average frequency of intercourse was 2·1 times daily. Bachelors reported this parameter in terms of frequency per ‘date’ (2·8). The interval between dates varied from 2 to 9 days. Of married men, 90% had intercourse at night whereas the majority of bachelors had intercourse at an opportune time. Among married men, 22% had regular extra-marital intercourse.

Mean age of men at first intercourse was 18·0 years and that of their partner 16·8 years. Seventy-six per cent of men reported that intercourse normally lasted less than 5 min, and 57% always experienced orgasm during intercourse. The most favoured method for intercourse (66%) was the male superior-female supine position. Twice as many married men either used or had used aphrodisiacs as had bachelors (23%). Despite the widespread availability of beetles which contain twice as much cantharides as do Spanish fly, the most commonly used aphrodisiacs were of plant origin.

The length of the post-ovulatory phase in a composite sample of menstrual cycles increases linearly with cycle length until cycle length reaches about 30 days, but thereafter it ceases to increase (Vollman, 1953; Bailey & Marshall, 1970). By contrast, plotted against the mean cycle length of the individual, the length of the post-ovulatory phase continues to increase roughly linearly with mean cycle length. It is concluded (a) that many long cycles are aberrant occurrences among cycles of normal length and are due to lengthening of the pre-ovulatory phase and (b) that where the mean cycle length is long, ovulation, as in shorter cycles, occurs just before the middle of the cycle, so that the post-ovulatory phase is longer than usual.

The most fertile day seems to be the one before mid-cycle. These conclusions are the basis for the following formula for calendar rhythm:

If x is the shortest and y the longest cycle in a woman's menstrual record, the ‘unsafe’ days start on Day (½x − 5) and last for (y − x + 8) days.

Chlormadinone acetate (0·5 mg) was given continuously to 200 patients for 1512 cycles in an investigation lasting a little over 2 years. Only a small number of the women stayed in the trial for the whole period. The women were in the reproductive age group and of proved fertility. Lack of cycle control was the chief drawback. However, the majority of the cycles were of normal duration, intensity and flow. Breakthrough bleeding occurred in 3·8% of the total cycles. Of the patients 49% had side effects in 18·6% of the cycles. They were common in the first 3 months but were mild. No pregnancy occurred due to method failure. Six pregnancies occurred due to tablet omission on 2 or more days. A heavy drop-out rate of 78·5% was found. The majority of the patients who dropped out did so for reasons not related to the drug; only 14% of the patients dropped out due to side effects. Vaginal cytohormonal study, premenstrual endometrial biopsies and postcoital tests were carried out during the trial to study the mode of action of the drug.

The seasonal distribution of deaths in the United States has progressively altered since 1940. The proportion of deaths in the first half of the year has declined. During the 1940s there were 7·44% more deaths in the first half than in the second half of the year, but during the 1960s the difference was only 4·85%.

The continuous shift in the seasonal distribution of the crude death rates from all causes is in association with a similar movement in the monthly fertility rates of the United States.

The object of the study was to make an objective assessment of the validity of ascertaining personality from handwriting. The subjects chosen for the research were twenty-four pairs of identical and twenty-four pairs of non-identical twins. Personality scores were obtained from each subject, and each pair of twins was rated by their parent(s) on a questionnaire comparing their personality and development. These ratings were compared with ratings of within-pair personality differences based on the examination of samples of handwriting by a consultant graphologist and by a team of eight amateurs. The results showed that handwriting is not likely to be helpful in the study of neuroticism and is of no value in the determination of zygosity. In the case of extraversion, however, the correlations were low but in the expected direction and with reasonably good internal consistency.

Using a small sample of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins, estimates of the heritability of certain parameters of sexual development were obtained. In the majority of instances significant values of h2 were found, suggesting that genetic factors play an important role in psychosexual development. The significance of these results is discussed in the light of current pro-environmental attitudes.

Using two Gallup polls, which together contained three questions on the attitudes of adult Americans towards population growth and control, a multivariate analysis was conducted of the relationship to each question of nine demographic factors: age, city size, education, family income, occupation of the household head, race, region, religion and sex. Only education and religion showed an intrinsic relationship with attitudes. Specifically, the extent of endorsement of the view that the world population growth rate is a serious problem, and of the view that population limitation will, at some time, be necessary, increased with education. Among those whose family income was at least $10,000 and those whose house-hold head was a professional or business executive, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to view US and world population growth rates as serious and to consider population limitation necessary.

The paper reports an attempt to use the Pickford-Nicolson anomaloscope on an unselected sample of all art students in 1 year's intake in a School of Art, and to compare their colour vision with that of an unselected control group of non-art students.

There is evidence that male first year School of Art students match a yellow with a mixture of red and green containing slightly more green than the male control group of the same age. It would seem possible that there is an age effect for women matching green and blue with turquoise whereby the older women required more green in the match.

Apart from these two points there appears to be no significant difference between the groups studied.

For most people in the world the private sector has long been the principal source of contraceptive supplies. However, few attempts have been made to examine and quantify commercial contraceptive sales. This paper outlines the findings of a contraceptive market survey of Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya. The sales statistics and marketing practices for various contraceptive products were obtained by interview from the principal distributors in each country. The sales figures were subsequently cross-checked with manufacturers' agents, and in some cases the overseas manufacturers. The clinic attendance records of local family planning organizations were also reviewed. The findings show that the commercial distribution of contraceptives exceeds public sector activities in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, but not in Kenya.

Before World War II, mortality in Australia had decreased progressively since 1860, the first year for which statistics are available. The present study shows that this decline in mortality, although interrupted by the war, continued again during the 1950s but appears to have halted around 1960. In some age groups, death rates have even increased during the 1960s.

The alteration in the trend of mortality has occurred mainly in the middle age group, 35–64, while death rates for persons aged over 64 have tended to remain constant and those for persons aged 15 and under have continued to decline. Death rates for males aged 15–34 declined throughout the period, tending to level off towards the end, whereas the rates for females aged 15–34 have increased during recent years.

The retardation of mortality decline appears to have resulted from a slight increase in death rates from arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease, together with rapid increases in death rates from lung cancer for males and motor vehicle accidents for females.

Data from a representative sample of 736 women aged 45–54 living in or near London in 1965 were analysed with respect to menopausal status and median and mean age at menopause (final menses). The median age at the natural menopause was 50·78 years. The validity of the measures used and the reliability of the data in this and previous studies are discussed. The conclusions are reached that median age of menopause is a more valid measurement than mean age and that there is no conclusive evidence of an increase in the age at menopause over the last century. The data also indicate understatement of the age at the last menstrual period (LMP) by women, with increasing lapse of time.

The menopause was found to occur markedly later in currently married women than in unmarried or previously married women. When marital status was controlled by considering currently married women only, increased parity was shown to be related to a late menopause among women of higher socio-economic status, but not among those of lower socio-economic status. There was no notable association between the menopause and early or late menarche and socio-economic status.

The milk yield in a group of lactating Egyptian women was estimated during the first twelve post-partum months. It increased from the second to the seventh month, then dropped gradually in the last four months. The best milk yield was found in women aged 20–30 years, with a parity of two to four and an inter-delivery interval of 30–36 months. (Summary in Arabic, p. 401.)

Although the face is one of the most variable parts of the human physique, there is little recent work on this region. Consequently, there is a need for an appraisal of the variation, new thinking as regards the methodology of recording and analysis, and further thought as to the possible applications of such methods. The present exploratory study uses information derived from standardized photographs, to try to elucidate the affinities—and thus the population history—of the people of Tristan da Cunha and the Ainu of Japan. The methods used have also permitted a consideration of within-group variation from the point of view of family differences and varying degrees of admixture. The potential biosocial as well as anthropological value of this type of investigation is discussed.

The composition of human milk during the first year of lactation was studied. The effect of age, parity and the length of inter-delivery interval on the composition is described. Of the three parameters, the length of inter-delivery intervals was the most important, while the other two were weakly correlated. (Summary in Arabic, p. 409.)

In 1945 Professor Ryle, the first holder of the Chair of Social Medicine at Oxford, initiated a longitudinal study of child growth and development (Ryle, 1945), and in the course of this work various assessments of intelligence were gathered together. The interest of the data lies in the fact that the assessments were made in the same individuals at different times.

Public health programmes in less developed countries lack the resources to care for more than a very small fraction of their populations. Medical care is allocated almost by accident, with those living near a clinic usually obtaining the best care. Preferably, such care should be rationed among people according to a more explicit and justifiable criterion, and such a criterion could have an economic basis. Economically, it is more important to prevent the premature death of some persons than others, depending upon education, sex and age. Considering the age element only, preventing the death of a man of age 30 is ordinarily more worthwhile to his national economy than preventing the death of a young child of 5 years. In fact every living person, depending on age, typically has a present capitalized value to the economy. This is based on his expected marginal additions to national output and his expected average subtractions as a consumer from it. These expected production and consumption streams should be discounted at a rate comparable to the marginal productivity of capital in the economy. Sample calculations of such present values indicate that infants typically have negative values at time of birth. Hence a marginal reduction in births through limited birth control expenditures is economically desirable.

An investigation has been undertaken, within the framework of the 1966 national survey, of the knowledge, practice and effectiveness of contraception in Belgium. The basic findings are presented here.

Knowledge of contraceptive methods was rather slight. With the exception of oral contraception, it was the reproductively least effective and sexually most disturbing methods which were best known. Also, the data on the sources of knowledge of contraceptive methods showed a discrepancy between reality and what was considered desirable. Although contraceptive practice was very widespread, a great many of the women questioned felt inhibited about this problem. In general, a restricted number of methods was used and a large majority of the users exclusively practised non-appliance methods. According to shifts in use, a scale of relative acceptability of methods has been prepared.

On the basis of information for a subsample, the majority of the conceptions appeared to be unplanned and this phenomenon increased with parity.

The contraception data have been related to a limited number of sociocultural identification and performance variables, some of which are of considerable sociobiological importance. The relative effect of these variables on contraceptive behaviour has been examined. Interaction between several of them has been demonstrated.

The qualitative analysis of the questionnaires not only allowed answers to be checked and interpreted but also largely confirmed the statistical findings.

A pilot survey has been made of Nigerian families at risk of producing SS haemoglobin homozygotes. Genotypes of parents and off-spring were investigated in twenty-five families. There is a suggestion that more SS children are produced where the first born suffers from haemoglobin SS disease. Mortality among offspring was higher in the study population than in the general population.

This report is based on the findings of an epidemiological study of 29,468 rural, semi-rural and urban inhabitants of the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh. The survey was made in order to find out the prevalence of severe mental disorders and associated conditions in an Indian community. The sampling was purposive and areas selected were contiguous. Census methods were used. All inhabitants were investigated by a team consisting of a psychologist, a statistician, social workers and psychiatrists. After reconnaissance and initial contact by home visits, suspected cases were detected by a searching inquiry and the information so obtained was carefully documented. These cases were subjected to psychiatric examination and abnormal ones identified. Consultation with another psychiatrist was necessary to make a final diagnosis.

The lifetime prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2·2 per thousand, about the same frequency as found in other parts of the world. The maximum number of cases occurred in males between the ages of 15 and 24 and in females between the ages of 35 and 44. Single people, that is, never married, widowed, divorced or separated suffered significantly much more from the disease than bachelors and married people. A significant relationship was found between schizophrenia and castes in Vaish and Brahmin males as compared with others. The highest rate of schizophrenia was found among people in unremunerative status. Intoxicants were used more by schizophrenics than by normal people. Caste group indulgents had their own preferences in drug use, cannabis indulgence being highest among Brahmins. No association of schizophrenia with residence, educational status or sex was found.

The sample under consideration in this study was composed of 3445 women who accepted some method of pregnancy prevention after consultation with the National Family Planning organization in the Republic of the Philippines. Subjects were divided into four groups: those women who used an oral contraceptive, women using the IUD, women practising the rhythm method, and those who relied on other methods of birth control.

This study attempted to reveal sources of information on family planning and reasons for acceptance of a birth control method, as well as the woman's actual and ideal family size and the interval since her last pregnancy. In addition, the relationship between the woman's educational level and the type of technique selected and husband's occupation as a correlate of the method chosen were also investigated.

The findings appear to suggest, among other things, that women near the end of the child-bearing years were less likely to select one of the more effective methods. Women with large families and those who reported the desire for no additional children tended to favour the more reliable techniques. Surprisingly, the two measures of status failed to reveal significant relationships with the selection of a given technique.