226 



NATURE 



[November 22, 191 7 



ever, the main questions which the commissioners 

 had to answer were not easy. They were : (i) Are 

 the nickel deposits of Ontario of such a character 

 that this province can compete successfully as a 

 nickel producer with any other country? (2) Can 

 nickel be economically refined in Ontario? When 

 they took up their work they were faced with the 

 opinion of the companies interested that 'the 

 answer to the latter question was in the neg-ative. 

 They also found that " for nearly fifteen years the 

 whole of the great and highly profitable industry 

 connected with the production of refined nickel 

 from the vast deposits of nickel-copper ores in the 

 Sudbury district has been divided between two 

 powerful corporations. Both companies mine, 

 smelt, and refine their own ore, and possess their 

 own process of refining ; both produce their 

 refined metal product outside of Canada, and 

 neither is a Canadian company. Other companies, 

 British, American, and Canadian, some of them 

 with excellent promise of success, have operated 

 mines, erected plants, or have been otherwise 

 engaged in the industry. In no case has any of 

 their undertaMngs been permanent or successful." 

 They had also to reckon with the fact that there 

 is no certainty that large profits can be made 

 every year from the nickel industry. It is neither 

 a necessity of life nor an article of universal con- 

 sumption or use. Its uses may be classified under 

 four headings: (i) as a component of alloys; 

 (2) as a surface coating for other metals ; (3) as 

 a chemical or catalytic reagent ; (4) as a pure 

 metal. In the past the output has had to be cur- 

 tailed at times. 



In spite of these facts, the commissioners have 

 had "no hesitation" in answering both the above 

 questions in the affirmative. They say that the 

 nickel deposits of Ontario are much more extensive 

 and offer better facilities for the production of 

 nickel at low cost than do those of any other 

 country. Nickel-bearing ores occur in many parts 

 of the world, but the great extent of the deposits 

 in this province, their richness and uniformity of 

 metal contents, and the success of the industry 

 point strongly to the conclusion that Ontario 

 nickel has little to fear from competition. They 

 say also that any of the processes now in use 

 for refining nickel could be successfully worked in 

 Ontario, and conditions and facilities are at least 

 as good in this province as in any other part of 

 Canada. There is now an "assured prospect" 

 of the erection in Ontario of two large plants for 

 the refining of nickel — one bv the International 

 Nickel Co. of Canada at Port Colborne (Lake 

 Erie), and the other by the British America 

 Nickel Corporation, probably at Sudbury. The 

 latter company, In which the British Govern- 

 ment is a large shareholder, has been formed 

 since the outbreak of the war. For special 

 re-ns»^ns the Mond Nickel Co. will continue to 

 refine at Clydach, near Swansea. In its business 

 the manufacture of copper sulphate Is almost as 

 Important as that of nickel, and this Is marketed 

 chiefly at Mediterranean ports. 



H. C. H. Carpextkr. 

 NO, 2508, VOL. 100] 



STUDIES IN INFANT AND CHILD 

 MORTALITY. 



IN view of the importance which must be 

 ascribed at the present time to the saving 

 of child life (see Nature, October 26, p. 146), the 

 Medical Research Committee has been well ad- 

 vised to institute an inquiry Into the causes of 

 death in infancy and childhood. The results of 

 this inquiry have now been published in a series 

 of essays, 1 which, it is pointed out in an intro- 

 duction, have been written primarily with a view 

 to the planning of future lines of research rather 

 than for publication as finished reports. 



An introductory historical note Is contributed by 

 Dr. Chalmers, in which he remarks that deliber- 

 ate effort to conserve infant life can be said only 

 to have begun with the recognition of the contrast 

 which the movement in the death-rate of infants 

 presents when compared with that of the general 

 death-rate. Whereas the latter fell continuously 

 and considerably during the fourth quarter of the 

 last century, fluctuations of the infant-mortality 

 rate remained fairly constant and without very 

 marked indication of a corresponding decrease. 



The first report, by Dr. Brend, deals with the 

 relative Importance of pre-natal and post-natal 

 conditions as causes of infant mortality. ^ He con- 

 cludes that under the term "infant mortality'" 

 we are classing together two radically different 

 types of deaths, which are brought about by dif- 

 ferent causes and are governed by different influ- 

 ences. The first type consists of deaths due to 

 developmental factors, which vary but little in place, 

 time, and class of the population, and appear to 

 be caused by fundamental influences which we 

 neither understand nor are able to control. The 

 second type consists of deaths mainly due to 

 respiratory diseases and enteritis caused by the 

 Influence of the post-natal environment — over- 

 crowding, atmospheric pollution, etc.- — and prob- 

 ably entirely preventable. These two types of 

 death overlap somewhat in time, but the end of 

 the first month after birth provides a fairly sharp 

 line of division. Some three-quarters of the mor- 

 tality during the first month represents a bedrock 

 loss of life which we have hitherto failed to reduce 

 and which is mainly due to developmental condi- 

 tions, while mortality after the first month is part 

 and parcel of the general mortality of childhood, 

 due to the same causes and demanding for Its 

 reduction the same measures. 



Dr. Brend suggests that it might be of advan- 

 tage to divide "infant mortality" into "birth 

 mortality," the deaths during the first month, and 

 "mortality of early childhood," the deaths from 

 the end of the first month to the end of the third 

 year. 



In the second report Dr. FIndlay discusses the 

 causes of Infantile mortality. He brings out the 

 importance of environment (housing, etc.) as a 

 factor in causing the present high Infantile mor- 

 tality, and he urges the need for a more scientific 



1 " The Mortalities of Birth, Infancy, and Childhood." Medical Research 

 Committee, Special Report Series, No. lo, Octoher, 1QT7. 



'^ In vital statistics the term "infant mortality 'is used to denote he- 

 deaths of infants up to one year of age. 



