140 



NA TURE 



[December 3, 1908 



depend more upon speculation than upon prophecy, because 

 as yet, except in the classical records of the armies re- 

 cruited in the Civil War, anthropological statistics are not 

 available. 



The extent of this foreign invasion of the country is 

 stupendous. Twenty-five million emigrants have landed 

 since 1820, and in Kjny no fewer than one and a quarter 

 million souls were added to the population ; and, what is 

 still more remarkable, the source of supply has completely 

 changed in recent years. .'\ quarter of a century ago two- 

 thirds of the annual immigration was in origin Teutonic 

 or Anglo-Saxon ; at present less than one-sixth is derived 

 from this source. The newcomers are now mainly south 

 Italian, Russian, or Austro-Hungarian. " We have even 

 tapped the political sinks of Europe, and are now drawing 

 large numbers of Greeks, Armenians, and Syrians." 

 Ninety per cent, of the tailors of New York are Russo- 

 Polish Jews ; all day labourers, once Irish, are now 

 Italian ; fruit-vendors, once Italian, are now Greek. 

 Chicago is now the second Bohemian, the third Swedish, 

 the fourth Polish, the fifth German city in the world. 



The question then arises. Will these racial groups 

 coalesce into a more or less uniform .American type? In 

 dealing with this problem. Prof. Ripley discusses the 

 causes which promote and those which operate to prevent 

 the union of these races. On the one hand, as tending 

 to combination, he notices the extreme mobility of the 

 newer industrial immigrants, and their readiness to wander 

 into the most distant parts of the country in search of 

 employment; the inequality of the sexes, males being in 

 a large majority, which results in marriage of the new- 

 comers with locally born women. In this connection, he 

 remarks the tendency of the male as he rises in the 

 world endeavouring to improve his social position by 

 marrying into a class higher than his own. The main 

 cause which checks further union of the races is the con- 

 centration or segregation of the immigrants in compact 

 industrial colonies or in the large cities of the west. 

 While the Teutonic races wander far afield as colonists, 

 the Mediterranean, Slavic, and Oriental races herd in the 

 towns. 



An investigation of marriage statistics brings out many 

 interesting facts. Even in the case of the Jews, the most 

 exclusive of peoples, there is more intermarriage than is 

 commonly supposed, the Jews in Boston constantly taking 

 as wives Irish or Irish-.American women. All the facts of 

 marriage and birth-rates, however, indicate a relative sub- 

 nerErence of the .Anglo-Saxon stock in the near future. 

 While the birth-rate among them is steadily declining, the 

 fecundity of the foreign races newly arrived in the country 

 shows little signs of diminishing. In Massachusetts the 

 birth-rate of these two races is in the proportion of about 

 one to three. This superiority will probably not be main- 

 tained, as even now the fecundity of the foreigners seems 

 to be diminishing after the second generation ; but their 

 vitality under n favourable environment is remarkable. 



As Prof. Ripley observes, this race struggle is only in 

 its very earliest stage, and it remains to be seen whether 

 the Anglo-Saxon will be able to preserve and transmit 

 his characteristic culture over these hordes of foreigners. 



America, including Canada, is thus confronted with a 

 novel series of problems, racial and social, and to add to 

 these she has to deal with a fresh set of diflficulties con- 

 nected with the Negro and the Filipino, with which Prof. 

 Ripley was unable to deal in this address. He cherishes 

 a pious hope that a satisfactory solution will be attained ; 

 hut this lies in the lap of the future, and it will be well 

 that this notable address should allrnrt on both sides of 

 the Atlantic the attention which it deserves. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The general board of studies recommends 

 the appointment of an assistant to the Quiclc professor 

 of biology. It is proposed that Prof. Nutlall should 

 appoint him with the approval of the Vice-Chancellor ; the 

 appointment will terminate on the appointment of a 

 successor to the present professor. It carries with it a 

 stipend of loo/. a year. 



NO. 2040, VOL. 79] 



It is suggested to increase the stipend of the curator 

 of the botanic garden to 350/. a year. It is now nearly 

 thirty years since the present curator was appointed, and 

 the position the Cambridge Botanic Garden now occupies 

 is largely due to Mr. Lynch 's ability and devotion. 



Prof. R. C. MacLaurin, professor of mathematical 

 physics in Columbia University, and previously professor 

 of mathematics in the University of New Zealand, has 

 accepted, we learn from Science, the offer of the presi- 

 dency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



The Chelsea Secondary School for Girls was formally 

 opened on November 20. The school was originally part 

 of the South-Western Polytechnic, and the transfer was 

 effected in September last. The new buildings are situated 

 in Hortensia Road, and represent the first school build- 

 ing expressly designed and erected by the London County 

 Council for the secondary education of girls. The aim 

 of the new school is to provide a liberal education for 

 girls up to the age of eighteen or nineteen years. The 

 claims of science to a prominent place in the school curri- 

 culum have been duly recognised, and ample accommoda- 

 tion has been provided for the practical study of chemistry, 

 physics, and botany. The home arts are to be taught, 

 and suitable rooms have been arranged for this purpose, 

 as well as for practical work in geography. 



The report of the principal of the Bradford Technical 

 College for the session 1907-8 shows that the total number 

 of students in attendance during the session was virtually 

 the same as in the previous year ; but there was, un- 

 fortunately, a fall in the number of day students from 

 242 to 217. The average age of these students at the 

 commencement of the session was nineteen years, as com- 

 pared with eighteen years five months at the corresponding 

 period of 1906. We notice that a new scholarship scheme 

 has been adopted during the session. It provides oppor- 

 tunity for the transference of evening students of excep- 

 tional ability to the day courses, and offers special scholar- 

 ships for apprentices in works. In order to carry the 

 specialised training to as high a point as practicable, a 

 number of fourth-year scholarships are offered to day 

 students who have completed their three years' course, 

 and as a recognition of the necessity for securing the best 

 brains and the highest possible preliminary training a 

 certain number of entrance scholarships are awarded on 

 merit alone. The scheme affords evidence of the desire 

 that all sections of the community should have equal 

 facilities, as they have an equal claim to the .advantages 

 of the college training. The scheme for building a new 

 block for the accommodation of the department of textile 

 industries on an adjoining site already purchased has 

 taken definite shape ; detailed plans are being prepared, 

 and building is to be begun shortly. The staff of the 

 department of chemistry and dyeing has been strengthened 

 with the view of the encouragement of research work in 

 the college. The testing laboratory of the department of 

 textile industries has been employed to a much greater 

 extent than previously in carrying out investig.'itions for 

 the trade. It is pleasing to note that the advantages 

 offered to manufacturers and others are being more fully 

 realised. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Physical Society, November 1.1. — Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S., 



president, in the chair. — The photoelectric properties of 

 potassium-sodium alloy : Dr. Fleming:, It is well known 

 that, under the action of ordinary and ultra-violet light, the 

 electro-positive metals lose a negative charge of electricity, 

 the effect being most pronounced in the case of rubidium, 

 potassium, and the liquid alloy of potassium-sodium. Potas- 

 sium and sodium are melted together and then decanted 

 over into a chamber containing a platinum plate, so that 

 a mass of the liquid potassium-sodium alloy having a per- 

 fectly clean surface was obtained in a glass tube, and a 

 platinum plate was fixed above it in an inclined position. 



