May 23, 19 1 8] 



NATURE 



22' 



pire, special attention being g-iven to Australia, 



I the United Kinji^dom, Canada, and India, which 

 iire the principal British sources of supply ; next 

 come references to the more important deposits 

 in foreig-n countries; then follow sections dealing 

 with the valuation, concentration, and smelting 

 of the ores, the various types of the commercial 

 metal (spelter), with references to impurities, 

 grades, and prices ; the final section deals with the 

 properties and utilisation of the metal, whether 

 as such, in the form of alloys, or pigments. 



There is an obvious misprint on p. 54 where it 

 is stated that the distillation retorts are "about 

 8 ft. in diameter." For "feet" read "inches." 



THE DECLINE IN THE BIRTH-RATE. 



IN a judicial way Dr. Millard discusses, in the 

 paper before us,^ the problem of the fall of 

 the birth-rate in its relation to social welfare. He 

 does not share the orthodox view that the decline 

 of the birth-rate is in itself a deplorable fact, or 

 that deliberate birth-control is necessarily to be 

 regarded with disapprobation. On the contrary, 

 he advances substantial arguments in support of. 

 the following conclusions. The fall in the birth- 

 rate is a general phenomenon among civilised 

 nations. It is due, not to diminished natural fer- 

 tility, but to deliberate birth-control. It is not 

 ■| in itself an evidence of national decadence; it may 

 J hz an expression of advancing civilisation — of a 

 fl more conscious control of life. Birth-control is 

 the civilised substitute for those natural checks to 

 the rapid growth of population — scarcity, disease, 

 and war — which have always operated in the past. 

 Rapidly growing populations in countries with 

 circumscribed territories are apt to give rise to 

 political unrest and to serve as provocatives to 

 war. International competitjpn in birth-rates is 

 correlated with a competition in armaments, and 

 both are undesirable. 



The prosperity of Britain is at present wrapped 

 up with the abundant supply of cheap coal, and 

 the more rapidly the population of this country 

 increases, the sooner will the beginning of the 

 end of our coal-fields manifest itself. To postpone 

 the approach of what the author calls the dark 

 and gloomy epoch (who knows what other stores 

 of energy may not be tapped before the coal is 

 exhausted?), an increased birth-control may use- 

 fully operate. But there are more immediate 

 reasons for advocating birth-control. It is far 

 from being race-suicide ; it is a natural ally of 

 the maternity and child welfare movement. A 

 low birth-rate is closely correlated with a low rate 

 of infantile mortality. A high birth-rate usually 

 means great infantile mortality. " Birth-control 

 is an essential factor in the campaign against 

 poverty. It is calculated to' reduce the supply of 

 unskilled labour, to increase efficiency, to raise 

 wages, and to encourage a higher standard of 

 life." It seems almost as sure a panacea as 

 Prohibition ! 



1 " Population and Birth-Control." Presidential address to the Leicester 

 Literary and Philosophical .Society, i9r7. By Dr. C. Kjllick Millard. 

 Pp. 48. (Leicester, 1917.) Price is. 



We think, indeed, that Dr. Millard is altogether 

 too enthusiastic over birth-control as we know it 

 at present. Perhaps its methods are improving ; 

 but there seems more than a touch of irony in 

 the statement that married people, if in doubt as 

 to the best methods of birth-control to be adopted, 

 "will naturally look to the medical profession 

 for advice." How abundant and helpful that 

 expert advice has been during the last quarter of 

 a century ! 



The author has a fine passage on the joy and 

 discipline of parenthood, and we agree with him 

 that the availability of trustworthy counsel will 

 encourage early marriages, which are on the 

 victory side, we hope, in the campaign against 

 "immorality " and venereal diseases. In any case, 

 there is much to be said for Dr. Millard's sum- 

 ming-up, that "properly used, and not abused, 

 birth-control is a valuable eugenic instrument, 

 capable, by restricting the multiplication of the 

 least fit, of greatly raising the quality of the race." 



SIR ALEXANDER PEDLER, F.R.S. 



THE announcement of the sudden death of Sir 

 Alexander Pedler, while attending a Com- 

 mittee meeting at the Ministry of Munitions on 

 Monday, May 13, came as a shock and great 

 surprise to his many friends. There had been, 

 among the majority of them, no suspicion of 

 weakness, and to all appearance he was a man 

 who might confidently look forward to many more 

 years of useful work. 



Pedler received his early education at the City 

 of London School. The present writer made his 

 acquaintance in October, 1866, when, at the age 

 of seventeen, he won a Bell scholarship and began 

 work as a student in the laboratory of the 

 Pharmaceutical Society. Here he went through 

 the usual course of analytical work, and at the end 

 of the session was awarded a certificate of 

 honour in practical chemistry. Before leaving, he 

 began a piece of research suggested to him by the 

 writer, who was then demonstrator in the school. 

 It was with great regret that he parted with the 

 promising young student, who had, by this time, 

 decided to leave the comparatively narrow field 

 of pharmacy and proceeded to place himself under 

 Prof, (afterwards Sir Edward) Frankland at the 

 Royal College of Chemistry, then in Oxford 

 Street. There he soon entered on research and 

 carried out the separation of the amylic alcohols 

 by Pasteur's process. From the optically active and 

 inactive alcohols thus obtained he prepared the 

 corresponding valeric acids, and gave an account 

 of the work to the Chemical Society in 1868 

 (J. Chem. Soc, N.S. 6, 74). Further work in this 

 direction was interrupted by his taking part in the 

 solar eclipse expedition of that year. 



From 1 87 1 Pedler served for two years as lec- 

 ture demonstrator to Sir Edward Frankland in 

 the Royal College of Chemistry in succession to 

 Mr. Herbert McLeod, who had been appointed to 

 the professorship of chemistry in the then newly 

 instituted Royal Engineering College at Coopers 



NO. 2534, VOL. lOl] 



