Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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Fifth Form

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14 The Branksome Slogan Post- War World Ladies and Gentlemen : The present war has been the cause of much evil. Whole countries have been enslaved, the loss of life has bean unbelievably large, and yet out of this has come good. We all look forward to a better and a free post-war world. While our forces are fighting for a free world, men, here at home, have been doing their best to make it a better world. Life after this war is going to be very different. Scientists in their laboratories have been perfecting discoveries which will mean an easier and healthier life for all of us. At present most of their discov- eries are for the sole use of the army, navy, and airforce, but when the war ends, factories, which are now producing for the government, can convert their plants to civilian production. The shortage of metals, the necessity for fast production, and the unusual conditions met with in a global war have forced us to improve what we have, to invent what we have not, and to pull anything else we need out of thin air, with perhaps a bit of carbon and water added. Consider how these improvements will affect you after the war. Most of your clothes will be made from plastics, glass, and metals. At present we think of all these substances as rigid materials used for build- ing and such, but they can be made into the finest gossamer fibre. A single pound of aluminum can be rolled into a fine thread six miles long. These new fabrics have a beauty all their own. Yarn made from metal alone or combined with other threads will be woven into cloth. One of the exciting possibilities from this is table linen which will sparkle as brilliantly as the crystal and silver upon it. This cloth will be light as a feather but tough and flexible. It will clean easily with a damp cloth. There will be unlimited ranges of colours. Yet, inspite of all these good qualities, it will not be expensive. The same may be said of your house of tomorrow. Very little heat- ing will be required beoaiuse architects have learned how to utilize the heait from the sun as much as possible, and the heating you do need, you will get from a community heating plant which will supply steam heat toi you in the same way as you now receive water and electricity. Most homes will be pre-fabricated, and insulated. Almost the whole southern side of the house will be made of insulating glass, which gives a maximum amount of light and warmth. Artificial lighting will be improved so as to eliminate almost all eye strain. The improvements in your household appliances will be amazing. During this war we have learned to make electrons do almost anything. After the war they will be your servants. They will bring television,

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16 The Branksome Slogan frequency modulation radio, and recordings on strips of thin wire which will play for a whole evening. They will cook your food in seconds, in- stead of hours, by means of radio waves. Much of your food will be dehydrated or kept in refrigerators which generate just the right cold and humidity for each item of food and which also sterilize and tender- ize meat by ultra-vioiet light. You all know the strides that have been made in aerial transporta- tion. You have heard the slogan A plane in every garage, and know that we will be able to reach any place in the world within a fevv hours. But medicine is the field where the greatest progress has been made. Perhaps the most important discovery is the wonder drug, Penicillin. This will probably be synthesized soon, that is to say, the exact chemi- cal formula of the molecule will be discovered and a method found to build it artificially. The day of this achievement will be one of the mile- stones of medical science. Scientists are certain that the penicillin mole- cule will provide a foundation from which a whole new family of drugs can be evolved, not only more potent than the sulfonamides, but also far less risky to use. Out of this may come medicine ' s great hope ' — the all purpose serum that protects against all germs at once. This lict cculd go on ?.nd on, but I hope I have proved to you that the post-war world will be a better world — a world worth fighting for now regardless of the cost. ALTHEA McCOY. Badminton Wizards!