312 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



suddenly increase, its death rate would 

 also increase at first, owing to the high 

 infant mortality, but in the subsequent 

 fifty years the population would be 

 composed largely of people between the 

 ages of ten and fifty years, whoso death 

 I'ate is the smallest, and the death rate 

 of the whole country would be low. 

 Thus in England the greatly increased 

 population of the country is due to the 

 high birth rate in the sixties, seventies, 

 eighties and nineties. Although the 

 recorded birth rate was higher in 1876 

 than previously, this is probably due 

 onh^ to the improved registration. But 

 the ever increasing population has 

 given a composition such that those 

 predominate in numbers who are at 

 ages at which the death rate is low. 

 Of a thousand people in France, about 

 125 are over sixty years of age, of a 

 thousand in England only about 75 are 

 of this age. The lower death rate in 

 England is largely due to its more 

 youthful population. It may decrease 

 somewhat further, owing to improved 

 hygiene and sanitation ; but if the birth 

 rate continues lo decrease there will 

 come a time when the death rate will 

 increase. 



ALBERT GAUDRY 



In the loss of Professor Gaudry, who 

 died recently , in Paris, paleontology' 

 suffers not only in France but in the 

 world at large, for he was an investi- 

 gator of rare ability who was also 

 gifted with a felicitous mode of expres- 

 sion. It is remarkable that his earliest 

 woik of note was also his greatest. 

 This was the memoir on the fossil 

 mammals of Pikermi, a small hillock 

 of Upper Miocene age in Greece. Taken 

 altogether, the volume on the Pikermi 

 mammals is the finest contribution 

 which has ever been made to the pale- 

 ontology of the mammals in Europe, 

 with the possible exception of Kowa- 

 levsky's great memoirs of 1873. Sim- 

 ilar works appeared on fauna of the 



same age at Mt. Leberon. Gaudry's 

 most popular volume was his " En- 

 ehainements du Mo de Animal." 



The most original feature of Gaudry's 

 research on the Pikermi fauna was his 

 recognition of the polyphyletic nature 

 of the evolution of the horses, rhi- 

 noceroses and other animals whose 

 remains are found in such profusion 

 in this classic locality of Greece. 

 Gaudry's other great service to science 

 was the building up of the splendid 

 collection in the Jardin des Plantes, 

 Paris, and the artistic finishing of the 

 famous '• Gallerie de Palreontologie," 

 which contains the older collections 

 which have found their way to Paris, 

 including the classic types of Cuvier 

 and de Blainville. 



Professor Gaudry was a man of 

 cliarming character and personality, a 

 French gentleman of the old school ; 

 extremely sympathetic in his relations 

 with others, and cordially enthusiastic 

 in recognition of their work. He 

 always showed marked hospitality in 

 his reception of visiting paleontologists 

 to the Paris museum, and was warmly 

 welcomed on his rare journeys to for- 

 eign countries. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 

 The Astronomical Society of the 

 Pacific has awarded its Bruce gold 

 medal for the year 1909 to Dr. G. W. 

 Hill for distinguished services to as- 

 tronomy. — The first award of the gold 

 medal recently established by the 

 Smithsonian Institution in memory of 

 the late Secretary Langlej^ has been 

 made to Messrs. Wilbur and Orville 

 Wright. — M. Henri Poincare,'the emi- 

 nent mathematician and philosopher, 

 has been received into the French Acad- 

 emy, taking the seat vacant by the 

 death of the poet Sully Prudhomme. 



Dr. S. Weir Mitcehell celebrated 

 his eightieth birthday on February 15, 

 iiiid Professor Ernst Haeckel his sev- 

 (Mity-fifth birthday on February 16. 



