31 OCTOBER 1947, Page 17

WHERE DO COLDS COME FROM?

Sta,—I usually read Janus's pontifications on politics and personalities with admiration and interest, but I fear he is unwise to stray into the realms of epidemiology. Sutor ne supra crepidam—no doubt he and I are both on the side of the angels in our views on classics and life—but it must be pointed out that even if the wind blew three hundred and sixty-five days in the year direct from the North Pole, it still could not produce a single cold in an island where the causative organism was absent. Or is Janus the last surviving champion of spontaneous genera- tion, and may we look forward to his forthcoming advocacy of the theory of Phlogiston and similar up-to-date concepts?—! am, Sir, your obedient