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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1452 



of Race-renewal, whieh established the National 

 Birthrate Commission, is organizing an Inter- 

 national Congress for the Reaffirmation of the 

 World's Moral Ideal to be held in London, 

 October 15 to 22. The congress will be opened 

 at Caston Hall, under the presidency of the 

 Bishop of Southwark, on Tuesday morning. 

 The afternoon session, presided over by Dr. 

 Mary Scharlieb, will discuss marriage and 

 parenthood and the relation of the sexes, the 

 speakers including Dr. H. Crichton Miller, Mr. 

 C. J. Bond, F.R.C.S., and Dr. J. W. Ballan- 

 tyne. On Wednesday morning the subject for 

 consideration will be the economic, social and 

 racial aspects of morality and the rise and fall 

 of population, migration, etc., the speakers 

 including Sir Arthur Newsholme, K.C.B., M.D., 

 Dr. C. W. Saleeby and Professor William Cald- 

 well, D.Sc, of McGill University. 



The returns of births in the ten largest towns 

 in France for the first quarter of 1922 show a 

 falling o££ of 10 per cent, as compared with 

 the corresponding quarter of last year, the total 

 figures being 48,528 and 53,551 respectively. 

 No individual town shows an increase. Paris 

 had 24,238 births, as compared with 27,489, 

 Marseilles 6,176, as against 6,303, and Lyons 

 4,583, as against 5,088. It is estimated that the 

 second qnariter of the year will show a further 

 lowering of the birth rate, as the marriage rate 

 has been falling heavily for two years. 



The Geographical Journal notes that the cele- 

 bration, in April, 1921, of the death of Ma- 

 gellan in the Philippines, was virtually a cele- 

 bration of the first circumnavigation of the 

 globe, by far the greater part of the task — the 

 first crossing of the vast Pacific Ocean — having 

 been successfully accomplished solely through 

 the initiative and hardihood of the great navi- 

 gator who, by his tragic death before the fin- 

 ishing of the enterprise, failed to reap the ulti- 

 mate reward of his achievement. But the 

 actual first circuit of the globe was only com- 

 pleted on the return to Spain of the Victoria 

 under the command of Juan Sebastian del 

 Cano. This happy return of the survivors of 

 the expedition was celebrated with much cere- 

 mony in Spain on September 5, 6 and 7, the 

 smn of 250,000 pesetas having been voted by 

 the Spanish government for the purpose. The 



celebrations took place at San Sebastian, and 

 at Guetaria, a small fishing village some 30 kilo- 

 meters to the west, which was the birthplace of 

 Del Cano. This strip of the Spanish coast has 

 further associations with the great voyage in 

 that the Victoria, the only vessel of Magellan's 

 fieet to complete the circuit of the globe, was 

 built at Zarauz, which lies between Guetaria 

 and San Sebastian. The king of Spain was 

 expected to be present at the celebration. In- 

 stitutions in other countries concerned with the 

 progress of navigation and discovery were in- 

 vited to send representatives. 



The London Times reports that the Danish 

 biologists. Dr. T. H. Martensen and Dr. 

 Hjalmar Jensen, who went in November laSt 

 on an expedition to the Kei Islands, in the 

 Malay Archipelago, with the main object of 

 finding a suitable site for a marine hiological 

 station planned by Scandinavian biologists for 

 the study of deep-sea fauna, have now returned 

 to Java. The Challenger and Siboga expedi- 

 tions had found in dredging operations near 

 these islands an extraordinarily rich deep-sea 

 fauna in comparatively shallow water. I't was 

 expected that the Kei Islands would prove a 

 suitable spot for a laboratory. Closer investi- 

 gation of the sea was, however, necessary before 

 the site could be definitely chosen. The expe- 

 dition, after having completed its task, reports 

 considerable success. Hitherto only very few 

 soundings had been made in the neighborhood 

 of the islands outside the one hundred meter 

 [fifty fathom] line. The expedition has dis- 

 covered an extensive area two to four hundred 

 meters [one hundred to two hundred fathoms] 

 deep, near which a rich and varied deep-sea 

 fauna may be found. It includes, beside the 

 forms found by the Challenger and Siboga, 

 many others new to science. It is met with at 

 a distance of six to eight miles from the site 

 proposed for the future station. The study of 

 the living deep-sea animals will thus be possi- 

 ble with a relatively small outlay. Although, 

 of course, a rather remote place, the Kei 

 Islands are within easy reach. There is a reg- 

 ular monthly mail service from Java. The 

 expedition carried out research work at Am- 

 boina and the Bunda Islands. These spots 

 proved far inferior to the Kei Islands. The ex- 



