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A rapid clinical and epidemiological method of grading Capillary Resistance (CR) based on the appearance of petechiae following negative pressure on the skin of the forearm is described, and the results of testing 469 postmen aged 22 to 63 years are given. CR is shown to be increased in men who have had back pain within 24 hours of testing and no difference was found between men who had had back pain in the past and those who denied ever having had back pain. A separate series of 35 post-laminectomy patients examined at least 10 months after operation and who were shown to have disc disease at operation and/or on myelogram were found to have low CR. This work suggests that the changes involved in disc disease are not limited solely to the discs, but may involve collagen/elastic tissue or ground substance elsewhere as for example in this case when detectable in a test on the forearm. Secondly, it is suggested that CR grading could be a helpful discriminating test for 'disc disease' among those presenting with back pain of undetermined diagnosis.

The management of painful, upper-limb disorders by 34 general practitioners (GPs) was examined 3 months before and 3 months after personal instruction of GPs by a consultant rheumatologist. Tuition was conducted either in GP surgeries or a hospital out-patient department. Following instruction there were significant increases in the application of appropriate treatments (p less than 0.0005) and of local corticosteroid injections by GPs (p less than 0.005), fewer requests for investigations and less-frequent hospital referrals for consultant rheumatology opinions. Hospital out-patient instruction was associated with a significant reduction of patients' time off work (p less than 0.005) and, in general, differences of management appeared to be more pronounced amongst those GPs instructed in the hospital than in GP surgeries. The study showed that personal instruction of GPs by a consultant rheumatologist may result in modifications of practice, at least in the short term. The evidence indicates that such alterations of GP management may significantly reduce patient morbidity.

O NE of the most significant, if least noticed, phenomena in the Muslim world today is the efforts which have been made, and are still being made, in country after country, to bring the law more into line with modern conditions and conceptions. This movement is of interest not only to the orientalist and the lawyer, but also to all those who have any contact with these countries or are in any way concerned in their progress and development-for some, at least, of these measures of reform provide at once a mirror and gauge of progress in social, and even national, development; an example of modernism in Islam, where law and theology always go hand in hand; and a fascinating illustration of how a nominally immutable law can in fact be modified and changed. The purpose of this paper, then, is to outline the major developments in law reform in the Middle East during the last few years, summarize the contemporary scene, and try to put this whole phenomenon into its proper perspective. Up till little more than a century ago the canon law of Islam, the Sharl'a, reigned supreme, nominally at least, throughout all these countries. In orthodox theory the life of the Muslim has always been dominated by the twin sciences of theology and law, the first prescribing all that he must believe and the second all that he must do. Thus the Shari'a covers every aspect of life and every branch of law-as well as an enormous amount of what would not be regarded as law at all in any modern sense. All, moreover, is built up on the basis of divine revelation, which is thought to provide the only safe criterion for the ethical evaluation of human actions. In the classical theory, then, the Sharl'a was derived from four main sources: the Qur'an, as the ipsissima verba of God; the Sunna or practice of Muhammad, as inspired in content if not in form; the consensus of the Muslim community, as yet another manifestation of divine inspiration; and the analogical deductions of jurists from these basic sources. With the passage of time orthodox-or Sunni-Islam came to comprise four distinct schools of law which differ from each other considerably in many points but mutually recognize each other's orthodoxy, while a number of heterodox sects-such as the Ibadis, and the different sects of the Shl'a-also arose. In addition many variant opinions 1 appeared within each of these, besides the views attributed to early jurists before the schools crystallized; but successive generations of jurists eventually determined the 'most authoritative opinion' within each school or sect. 1 Some based on the acceptance, or rejection, of various traditions attributed to the Prophet; others on differences of interpretation, analogical deduction, or systematic reasoning; and yet others on varieties of local custom and practice. 43

It might well appear, whether to the judge, the practicing or the academic lawyer, that the study of Islamic law, even as a side line and on a comparative basis, is somewhat of an extravagance, an exotic pursuit for the would-be Orientalist alone. But is this, or is this not, a fact? Is there any real significance in Islamic law today, whether in the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia, Africa, or elsewhere? In answering this question, we must first remember that the religion of Islam is currently professed by some four hundred million soulsby about one-seventh, or even one-sixth, of the total world population. More particularly, of course, it is the religion of the overwhelming majority of the people who live in the Middle East, Pakistan, and Indonesia, and of many millions of those who live in Africa. And if there is any one aspect of Islam which is uniquely characteristic of that religionwhich is, indeed, fundamental to its very nature-it is the Shari'a, or the sacred law. To the pious Muslim, all down the ages, life has been dominated by the twin sciences of theology and law. Theology prescribes all that he must believe, while the law comprises all that he must do or leave undone. Nor can there be any doubt that in Islam the law is the senior science of the two; for Islam has always been far more tentative and uncertain in its apprehension of the Person of the God of revelation than in its elaboration of the precepts which He has revealed. And while it is true that both theology and the sacred law have today lost their pristine dominance throughout much of the Muslim world, there can be no doubt that the influence of the Shari'a is still very considerable. It is, indeed, impossible even today really to understand the Muslim mind, Muslim society, Muslim ideals, politics, and reactions, without some knowledge of that law which, in theory at least, still molds and pervades them all. But this, it might be said, is an argument in favor of the study of Islamic law by the student of sociology and political science-or by the specialist, let us say, in the Middle East, Pakistan, Southeast Asia or parts of Africa-rather than its significance to the lawyer. Has it in fact any significance today for the lawyer as such?