OX THE PItOGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



XVII 



The prize is open to scientists of all nations, and the time is limited 

 to July, 1861. 



In the recent revision which has taken place in the British Phar- 

 macopoeias, certain changes have been made, which, unless similar 

 modifications be adopted in this country, will tend to embarrass the 

 American student of British medical literature. The change consists 

 in discarding the troy weights hitherto employed in dispensing and 

 compounding medicines, and in adopting a new set of weights founded 

 on the avoirdupois pound, which is divided into sixteen ounces, each 

 containing four hundred and eighty parts, called grains, instead of 

 four hundred and thirty-seven, as heretofore. The grain, scruple, and 

 drachm of this new standard preserve their old relations to each 

 other, and will accordingly be about ten per cent, less than the corre- 

 sponding weights at present in use, and a proportionate addition would 

 require to be made in the doses of the various medicines prescribed. 



Mr. J. E. "VVappaBiis has published at Leipsic, during the past year, 

 a work entitled " General Statistics of Population," which shows con- 

 clusively that the Malthusian doctrine, that the increase of population 

 is by geometrical progression, is a mistake. In France, for instance, 

 the rate of increase has been steadily decreasing since the peace of 

 1815, it being as follows: 



1821 to 1831, . . .6.7 per cent, I 1841 to 1351. . 

 1831 to 1841, . .5. ' -I 1851 to 1856, 



. 4.4 per cent. 



In England, the decrease in the rate of increase has been less : 



1811 to 1821, . 

 1821 to 1831, 



. 16.6 per cent. I 1831 to 1841, . 

 14.6 " | 1841 to 1851,- 



In Prussia, the annual rate of increase was : 



1817 to 1828, . 

 1829 to 1840, 



. 1.71 per cent. 

 1.35 " 



1840 to 1846, 

 1846 to 1856, 



. 13.5 per cent. 

 11.9 " 



. 1.27 per cent. 



.69 " 



In Belgium, the annual percentage of increase fell from 1.08 pre- 

 vious to 1846 to .42 from 1846 to f856 ; in Holland, it fell from .93 

 previous to 1840, to .69 from 1840 to 1850. 



Mr. Wappseus gives the following table of the percentage of 

 annual increase in the countries of Western Europe, and the period 

 required for doubling. It is based on the rate of movement during 

 the last fifteen years : 



Norway, .... 



Denmark, 



Sweden, .... 



Saxony, .... 



Holland, .... 



Sardinia, 



1'russia, .... 



Belgium, 



Great. Britain and Ireland, 



Austria. . . . 



France 



Hanover, 



Increase. 

 . 1.15 



0.58 

 . 0.88 



0.84 

 . 0.67 



0.58 

 . 0.53 



0.44 

 . 0.23 



0.18 

 . 0.14 



0.02 



Time of Doubling. 

 61 Years. 

 71 ' : 



79 " 



103 

 119 

 131 



158 

 302 

 385 

 405 

 3,152 



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