346 



NA TURE 



[August 13, 1891 



their habits, and their mode of penetrating the body ; up to 

 this time man was conquered by these infinitesimal beings, 

 but, thanks to recent discoveries, he will be their conqueror. 

 When, at the beginning of a century, one can inscribe the 

 name of Jenner, and at its end that of Pasteur, the human 

 race may rejoice. More has been done for it against misery, 

 disease, and death than in any one of the centuries which 

 have preceded it. You, gentlemen, you have been the 

 initiators ; this title will never be disputed with you. 

 When a great people has given such an example ; when, 

 by her gracious patronage, Her Majesty the Queen, 

 and when, by his presence. His Royal Highness the 

 Prince of Wales, testify that for them this era of reforms 

 is not closed, it is only right that those who try to imitate 

 them, and to give their country similar institutions, 

 should come to bring to that people, and to their Sove- 

 reign, the homage of their profound respect." 



Dr. Van Coler, the Medical Director-General of the 

 Prussian Army, the representative of the German Go- 

 vernment, followed suit, and showed the aid rendered to 

 armies by the improvements in sanitary science. We 

 give the following short extracts from his speech : — 



" It is indeed with a feeling of joyous pride that from this 

 place and in this country, where we have to trace the 

 very cradle of all modern science of public health, I am 

 permitted to point out how the many efforts made in the 

 direction of hygiene radiating from England were, espe- 

 cially in Germany, hailed with much delight ; where they 

 received the most careful attention, and where they ever 

 since have been most actively promoted. ... If from our 

 army, diseases like malaria, small-pox, dysentery, have 

 completely, or almost completely, disappeared ; if typhus 

 fever and diphtheria become more and more diseases of 

 the past, we have to be thankful for these attainments to 

 the development and application of hygiene. . . . It is now 

 an established fact that infectious diseases are by no means 

 a necessary evil in the army. They are simply diseases 

 which can be avoided, which can be powerfully opposed, 

 and against which the science of our days battles vic- 

 toriously with ever-increasing success." 



Dr. Korosi's address will be welcome to many, as he 

 exactly defined demography — which is a puzzle to many 

 outsiders — and pointed out the early work done by mem- 

 bers of the Royal Society : — 



" This branch of science, the very nucleus of statistical 

 work, which, in fact, is quite a science in its own right, 

 has chosen the task to investigate the laws which regulate 

 the life, increase, and decrease of nations. Its work, 

 therefore, comprises three main parts : statistics of 

 natality, of mortality (this part including biometry, the 

 science of measuring the duration of human life), and of 

 the increase of population. And when inquiring now 

 who were the founders of this new science, we shall hear 

 unanimously quoted the names of England's sons— 

 Graunt, Petty, Halley, Malthus. Gentlemen, to-morrow, 

 when we are to begin our work, we shall meet within the 

 venerable hall of the Royal Society. The representatives 

 of demography must feel a deep emotion when entering 

 those rooms, which are so intimately connected with the 

 history of their science, for this is the place where, 220 

 years ago, demography was created. It was in those 

 halls, in their very first youth then, but soon conspicuous 

 to the whole world by the genius of Newton, that 

 appeared the work of Graunt which forms the starting- 

 point of demography ; and here the King himself, admir- 

 ably appreciating the work done, recommended the 

 author to be received as a member of the learned 

 Society. It was there that shortly afterwards Sir William 

 Petty, by his eminent power, raised the new science to 

 political importance and to popularity, and in the same 

 place, again, in 1693, the famous Halley became the 

 founder of the most important part of demography, of 

 biometry, by working out the first table of mortality. And 

 now the young science, which two centuries ago left those 



NO. I 137. VOL. 44] 



halls shy and even without a name, has found its way over 

 the whole globe. Having been worked out in Ormany, 

 having received a name and new ideas in France, and hav- 

 ing been enlarged and imbued with a more scientific cha- 

 racter by Ouetelet, having got its well-equipped office in 

 every country of the civilized world, we are proud to see 

 now its numerous representatives meet at the same place 

 where two centuries ago this science was born. After a 

 triumphant career of 220 years, it returns to its home, to 

 the old rooms in which it awoke to light, and again the 

 Throne of England receives it with favour and benevolent 

 interest. For demography not less than for all statistical 

 work, it is of the highest importance that its representa- 

 tives, scattered as they are over the whole globe, should 

 fully understand each other, for only so we can accom- 

 plish our aim, that our observations comprise equally all 

 countries of the world, that our researches are conducted 

 and worked out on the same principles everywhere, and 

 that we may unite the incomplete and often discrepant 

 descriptions of the single nations to a full descriptive 

 history of the whole of civilized mankind. This great aim 

 fully deserves the praise the illustrious Prince Consort 

 bestowed upon it from this very place thirty years ago. 

 He said, ' The importance of the Congresses cannot be 

 over-rated ; they not only awaken public attention to the 

 value of these pursuits, bring together men of all coun- 

 tries who devote their lives to them, and who ai'e thus 

 enabled to exchange their thoughts and varied experi- 

 ences, but they pave the way to an agreement among 

 different Governments and nations to follow up these 

 common inquiries in a common spirit by a common 

 method and for a common end.' " 



The meeting was subsequently addressed by Sir James 

 Paget, Dr. G. Buchanan (of the Local Government 

 Board), and others. 



The Sectional work of the Congress began on Tues- 

 day. The Divisions and Sections are as follow : — 



Division I. — Section i. Preventive Medicine. President, 

 Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.SI. — Section 2. Bacteriology. 

 President, Sir Joseph Lister, Bart. — Section 3. The 

 Relation of the Diseases of Animals to those of Man. 

 — Section 4. Infancy, Childhood, and School Life.— 

 Section 5. Chemistry and Physics in Relation to Hygiene. 

 President, Sir Henry Roscoe, M. P.— Section 6. Archi- 

 tecture in Relation to Hygiene. President, Sir Arthur 

 W. Blomfield, A.R.A.— Section 7. Engineering in Relation 

 to Hygiene. President, Sir John Coode, K.C.M.G. — 

 Section 8. Naval and Military Hygiene. President, 

 Lord Wantage, K.C.B., V.C— Section 9. State Hygiene. 

 President, Lo'd Basing, 



Division II.— -Demography. President, Mr. Francis 

 Gallon. 



We shall endeavour next week to give an idea of the 

 results of the many important discussions which may be 

 anticipated, but it is already clear that it will be impos- 

 sible for us to give anything like a full report, for the 

 programme of work to be gone through is enormous. 

 The addresses of the various presidents on the opening 

 day were in themselves important communications, and 

 well fitted to give tone to the subsequent discussions. 



PROGRAMME OF TECHNOLOGICAL 

 EXAMINA TIONS. 



A SIGN of the general advance in technical education 

 is shown in the new Programme of Technological 

 Examinations just published by the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute. The Programme contains 37 pages of 

 additional matter, and the number of different subjects of 

 examination has now reached sixty. The Council appear 

 to be genuinely desirous of adapting the examinations to 

 the conditions of the more important trades as practised 

 in the principal centres of industry. To this end, many 



