THE discovery1 of the pulsar 1758 - 23 in the vicinity of the radio su
pernova remnant W28 has prompted speculation that the two might be phy
sically associated. Although the brightening of the supernova remnant
in the direction of the pulsar suggests such an association 2, the lar
ge column density of electrons in the interstellar medium towards PSR1
758 - 23 (evident from the pronounced dispersion of the radio signal)
and the anomalously large scattering observed in the pulses seem to in
dicate1,3 a distance much greater than that to W28. Here we present ne
w observations which indicate that the large dispersion and scattering
of the pulses is instead caused by a dense screen of ionized material
located along the line of sight, and thus the distances to the pulsar
and W28 can be reconciled. Similar scattering screens have been repor
ted previously4,5 and appear to be associated with H II regions; the p
roperties of these screens seem, however, to be inconsistent with curr
ent models6 of turbulent structure in the interstellar medium.