188 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1442 



et-Loire, Nievre, Hautes-Pyrenees, Seine-et- 

 Oise, Puy-de-D6me, Vaucluse, Cher and Allier. 

 In all these departments, with the exception of 

 Puy-de-D6me and Allier, the excess of deaths 

 in 1921 was greater than in 1920; three of 

 these departments, Maine-et-Loire, Seine-et- 

 Oise and Cher, had shown an excess of births 

 over deaths in 1920. 



In 1920 (the figures for 1921 are not as yet 

 available), Germany, exclusive of Wurttem- 

 berg and Mecklenburg, showed an excess of 

 births over deaths amounting to 623,367; in 

 1919, the excess of births was 282,230, and in 

 1918 there was an excess of deaths over births 

 of 299,885. In England, the excess of births 

 for 1920 was 491,781, and for 1921, 390,355. 



PRODUCTION OF DYES IN THE UNITED 

 STATES 



The United States Tariff Commission re- 

 ports that the production of dyes in this coun- 

 try declined last year far below that of the 

 previous year, ascribing as the reasons the loss 

 of much of the country's export trade, the gen- 

 eral business depression, and the carrying over 

 of large stocks from the previous year. 



The commission states that the progress made 

 during the year includes the production in the 

 United States for the first time of a number 

 of dyes of greater complexity and more spe- 

 cialized application. Many of these dyes, 

 which are of secondary importance from the 

 point of view of quantity consumed, are essen- 

 tial in the dyeing and printing of numerous 

 fabrics. These additions to our list of dyes 

 represent an added step toward a well-rounded 

 coal tar chemical industry. The development 

 of many of these new products is a highly 

 technical achievement. 



There were 201 firms engaged in the manu- 

 facture of coal tar derivatives in 1921. The 

 output of dyes by seventy-four firms exceeded 

 39,000,000 pounds, a decrease of 56 per cent, 

 from that of 1920. The sales in 1921 exceeded 

 47,000,000 pounds, valued at more than 

 $39,000,000, and exceeded production by 22 

 per cent., indicating that a part of the domestic 

 consumption for that year was supplied from 

 the large stocks carried over from the previous 

 year's abnormally high production. The sales 



of dyes for 1921 exceeded the imports of 1914, 

 when the United States imported nearly 

 46,000,000 pounds and produced over 6,000,000 

 pounds of dyes from German imported inter- 

 mediates. 



The average price of all dyes in 1921 was 

 83 cents per pound, compared with a value of 

 $1.08 per pound in 1920 and a value of $1.26 

 for 1917. The total quantity of dyes imported 

 in 1921 was 3,914,036 pounds, valued at 

 $5,155,779, or $1.32 per pound, compared with 

 3,402,582 pounds, valued at $5,763,437 in the 

 previous year. The imports of 1921 represent 

 10 per cent, of the production and about 8 per 

 cent, of the total dye sales during the year. 

 Germany supplied about 48 per cent, of the 

 total dyes imported during 1921; Switzerland, 

 41 per cent. ; England, 7 per cent., and all other 

 countries, 4 per cent. 



Exports of domestic dyes for 1921 show a 

 decrease of nearly 79 per cent., compared with 

 those for the previous year. The value of our 

 exports for 1921 was $6,270,139, compared 

 with $29,823,591 in 1920. The total exports 

 of dyes for 1921 were less than for the year 

 1917, when the first considerable expansion of 

 the domestic dye industry from pre-war con- 

 ditions occurred. 



The total production of synthetic organic 

 chemicals other than those derived from coal 

 tar, which are used as medieinals, perfumes, 

 flavoring ingredients, solvents and in numerous 

 industrial processes, was 21,545,186 pounds; 

 the sales amounted to 16,761,096 pounds, 

 valued at $13,746,235. The development of 

 this industry in the United States has been 

 similar to that of the dye industry, as our sup- 

 ply of synthetic organic chemicals was eon- 

 trolled primarily by Germany prior to the war. 



FELLOWSHIPS FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH 



It is stated in Nature that Junior iieit Me- 

 morial Fellowships of the annual value of £350, 

 and tenable for three years, have been awarded 

 by the trustees to the following, the subject 

 and place of research being given after each : 

 Mr. E. B. Verney: The physiology and pathol- 

 ogy of urinary secretion, at the Institute of 

 Physiology, University College, London; Pro- 

 fessor F. Cook: A study of the neuro-muscular 



