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Opening ParagraphAfrica as a major culture area has been characterized by many writers as being -marked by a high development of law and legal procedures. In the past few years research on African law has produced a series of highly competent monographs such as those on law among the Tiv, the Barotse, and the Nuer. These and related shorter studies have focused primarily on formal processes for the settlement of disputes, such as those which take place in a courtroom, or those which are, in some other way, set apart from simpler measures of social control. However, many African societies have informal, quasi-legal, dispute-settlement procedures, supplemental to formal ones, which have not been as well studied, or—in most cases—adequately analysed.

WITHIN 10 min of starting to eat, a rat stops eating1, grooms for a short period, then usually sleeps. We define this behavioural sequence as satiety: its physiological basis is unknown. Beaumont2 presented the first evidence that the presence of food in the gut is important in generating satiety signals. In 1949, Janowitz and Grossman3 confirmed Pavlov's observation4 that oesophagostomized dogs, in which no food reached the stomach or intestines, ate prolonged meals.

Four groups of rats were injected intraperitoneally with an extract containing cholecystokinin (CCK, 40 Ivy dog units/kg), the synthetic C-terminal octapeptide of CCK (40 units/kg), apomorphine HCl (6 mg/kg), or 0.15 M NaCl, each immediately following repeated exposures to a 0.1% saccharin solution. Neither CCK nor octapeptide produced a taste aversion, while apomorphine produced a marked and sustained aversion. These results indicate that the previously reported inhibition of feeding caused by exogenous CCK is not due to illness; they support the hypothesis that CCK is a satiety signal in the rat.

A sample of 139 predominantly black young low-income patients who had accepted oral contraception at a publicly supported family planning clinic has been analyzed for correlates of oral contraception continuation. Interviews were conducted 10-12 months after the clinic visit; at this time 38% of the patients continued taking oral contraceptives. It was found that patients with the highest continuation rates were 18-24 years old in the 2-3 parity group living with their husbands had low-parity mothers and were able to fill prescriptions in less time with more convenient methods of transportation. Discontinuers tended to have high-parity mothers live with parents or head their own households and to be in the 13-17 or 25-45 year old age groups. Fear of long-term use of oral contraceptives and perceived side effects appeared to be implicated in discontinuation. The rate of discontinuation may be associated with irregular coital experience and less consistent exposure to pregnancy.(Authors modified)