Spare artificial legs.

(not shown) suggested that the number of older children was a more influential variable. Eczema in the first year of life was also independently related to the number ofolder children in the household (see table). There was no association between eczema in infancy and younger children of the family (who were not yet born). Comment Variations in labelling respiratory symptoms probably exist among socioeconomic classes, but it is unlikely that differential reporting could explain the strong relation between hay fever and position in the household, which was independent of the social class of the father. Although the recall by parents of eczema occurring in infants seven years previously might be influenced by total family size, it is less likely to have been affected specifically by the number of older children in the household. Similar gradients in hay fever and eczema with increasing family size were reported at 5 years of age among British children born in 197O.4 These observations do not support suggestions that viral infections, particularly of the respiratory tract, are important precipitants of the expression of atopy.5 They could, however, be explained if allergic diseases were prevented by infection in early childhood, transmitted by unhygienic contact with older siblings, or acquired prenatally from a mother infected by contact with her older children. Later infection or reinfection by younger siblings might confer additional protection against hay fever. Over the past century declining family size, improvements in household amenities, and higher standards of personal cleanliness have reduced the opportunity for cross infection in young families. This may have resulted in more widespread clinical expression of atopic disease, emerging earlier in wealthier people, as seems to have occurred for hay fever.' 1 Emanuel MB. Hay fever, a post industrial revolution epidemic: a history of its growth during the 19th century. birth to five. A study of the health and behaviour of Britain's five-year-olds. Providing every amputee with two prostheses as an entitlement was started during the first world war. Prostheses were then made of wood by craftsmen. Conditions and circumstances have changed since, and many doctors and paramedical staff now think that one modern prosthesis would serve the patient better. Most prostheses made in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s were metal. These took several months to manufacture, several weeks to repair or modify, and several days to adjust. The amputees were young and justifiably required two prostheses so that while …