THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



479 



and garden parties. Special services 

 were held in the Episcopalian, Presby- 

 terian and Roman Catholic churches, 

 and the University of Dublin conferred 

 honorary degrees on a number of the 

 distinguished visitors. 



The large annual membership of the 

 association and the comparatively 

 large fee enable it to make liberal 

 grants for scientific research, amount- 

 ing this year to about $7,000. Among 

 the grants of $250 or more were the 

 following: Professor H. H. Turner, for 

 seismological observations; Sir David 

 Gill, towards building a solar observa- 

 tory in Australia; Sir W. H. Preece, 

 for the study of gaseous explosions; 

 Professor J. Joly, for geological in- 

 vestigations at Briske, and Mr. D. G. 

 Hogarth, for archeological explorations 

 in Crete. 



Dr. J. J. Thomson, Cavendish pro- 

 fessor of experimental physics at Cam- 

 bridge and eminent for his research 

 work concerned with the X-rays, ra- 

 dium and the breaking up of the atom, 

 was elected president for the meeting 

 to be held next year at Winnipeg, be- 

 ginning on August 25. Members of the 

 American Association are invited to 

 attend this meeting, and those who are 

 able to be present are certain to enjoy 

 unusual pleasure and profit. 



THE PRESENT PANDEMIC OF 

 PLAGUE 



The bulletin with this title prepared 

 by Assistant Surgeon General, J. M. 

 Eager, and issued by the Public Health 

 and Marine Hospital Service, exhibits 

 in a bald way the relentless forward 

 march of the bubonic plague, a circum- 

 stance more terrible and dramatic per- 

 haps than anything else in contem- 

 porary history. Emerging from the 

 obscure endemic focus in the province 

 of Yunnan, China, in the year 1894, 

 the plague appeared in Canton, and 

 there were a hundred thousand deaths 

 between March and August. The dis- 

 ease spread to Hong Kong and in 1896 



to Bombay, there being some two thou- 

 sand deaths in the presidency. In 1897 

 there were over 55,000 deaths in India, 

 including nearly 10,000 in the city of 

 Bombay, with sporadic cases in Japan 

 and Turkey. In 1898 there were 117,- 

 000 deaths in India, and extending far 

 from its endemic home, there were 

 cases in Madagascar and Mauritius. 

 In 1899 there were 135,000 deaths in 

 India and serious epidemics in China. 

 Cases occurred in Egypt and the 

 Hawaiian Islands, and South America 

 was invaded. There were local epi- 

 demics in Portugal and Russia. In 

 1900 there was a diminution in India, 

 the deaths falling to 92,000, but the 

 disease invaded San Francisco and was 

 present, and remains present, in every 

 quarter of the world, Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, Oceanica, North and South 

 America. In 1901 the hope of relief in 

 India was disappointed, the deaths 

 rising to 278,000, and in 1902 to 575,- 

 000. They increased further to 835,000 

 in 1903, and to the neighborhood of 

 one million in 1904 and 1905, falling 

 in 1906 to 332,000, but rising again 

 last year to the appalling record of 

 1,400,000 cases and 1,200,000 deaths. 

 The plague was present in all quarters 

 of the world, there being 156 cases and 

 76 deaths in San Francisco, and cases 

 in the suburbs and in Seattle. 



If it were not for the great advance 

 of modern medicine western civiliza- 

 tion would be threatened with a dis- 

 aster unparalleled since the middle 

 ages. But the means by which the 

 plague is transmitted have been dis- 

 covered — we can exterminate fleas and 

 rats if necessary — and, thanks to the 

 labors of scientific and medical men, 

 not a few of whom have sacrificed their 

 lives, we are comparatively secure. 

 But protective measures and more 

 knowledge are needed here and in many 

 directions, and the governments of the 

 world should spend not less care and 

 money on them than on their arma- 

 ments. 



