756 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1461 



art, music or the drama, neither of these speak- 

 ers would have professed, faoetiou^y or other- 

 wise, want of knowledge of the functions of the 

 institution they honored by their presence, or of 

 the meamng of subjects surveyeed ,by it. Mr. 

 Justice Darling, for example, said he had heard 

 of the Boyal Society as he had heard of the 

 equator, and had been told that the society 

 "concerned itself with medicine and biology, 

 and particularly natural knowledge and natural 

 philosophy, but the moment the knowledge be- 

 came unnatural — ^^and so far as he could see 

 most of it was — ^then the society had nothing 

 more to do with it." Of course, the society was 

 founded for the promotion of natural knowl- 

 edge by inquiry as against supernatural by 

 revelation or authority. Mr. Justice Darling 

 should understand the distinction, for he re- 

 ferred to Francis Bacon several times in the 

 course of his i-emarks, though always incor- 

 rectly, as "Lord" Bacon. As Sir Charles Sher- 

 rington, who presided, said, "The field of truth 

 which the society explores is in the realm of 

 natural knowledge, and the manner of the ex- 

 ploration of this field is in research." Sir 

 Ernest Rutherford was right when, in respond- 

 ing to the toast of "The Medallists," he i-e- 

 ferred to the spirit of adventure possessed by 

 every scientific pioneei'. In no other depart- 

 ment of intellectual activity is this spirit moi-e 

 manifesit, and in none are such fertile provinces 

 being opened. To us it seems strange, there- 

 fore, that so Little is commonly understood of 

 the origin and purpose of such a (body as the 

 Royal Society, now in its two hundred and 

 sixtieth year, or of the achievements of modem 

 science represented by it. — Nature. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Vnited States Life Tables 1890, 1901, 1910, 

 and 1901-1910. Explanatory Text, Mathe- 

 matical Theory, Computations, Graphs, and 

 Original Statistics. Also Tables of United 

 States Life Annuities, Life Tables of For- 

 eign Countries, Mortality Talbles of Insur- 

 ance Companies. Prepared by James W. 

 Glover. Bureau of the Census 1921, pp. 1- 

 496. 4to. 

 Since their appearance some years ago Glov- 



er's earlier United States Life Tables have been 

 a standard reference work on montality in this 

 country. With characteristic thoroughness, the 

 author has extended and improved his earlier 

 work, and has produced what may well be re- 

 garded as, at the moment at least, the standard 

 actuarial reference work. For it can 'be said 

 that in this present volume so much of actuarial 

 science as concerns itself with the construction 

 of mortality tables is covered with meticulous 

 attention ito detail. Nothing is left to the imag- 

 ination of the reader and little to his ineUi- 

 gence. Every point in regard to tihe consitruc- 

 tion and the interpretation of life taibles which 

 could possiby arise to puzzle a voyager into 

 these placid, because carefully "smoothed" seas, 

 is explained thoroughly, comprehensively, and 

 completely, with copious illusti'ations domestic 

 and foreign in origin. 



This is as it should be. Life tables have had 

 the quite undeseiTed reputation of being mys- 

 terious documents, capable oif being understood 

 only by the highest order of inteUects. As a 

 matter of faat they are, of eoui-se, nothing of 

 the sort, 'but only a quite obvious and simple 

 set of derivative functions from age specific 

 death rates. Such an exposition of aotuarial 

 arts and science as Glover gives in this volume 

 will most effectually remove from the mind of 

 the careful reader amy im-king notion that there 

 is an element of the occult or transcendental in 

 life tables, and will impress him with the sim- 

 ple virtues of these documents. He must, how- 

 ever, be a careful, by which is meant painstak- 

 ing, reader, (because no light or fantastic 

 touches wiH cheer his way through the solid, 

 su'bstantial mass of lueenit but lucubratory de- 

 tails. 



To turn to technical matters, it miay be said 

 that in the consti-uefcion of the United States 

 tables (based upon Registration Area data vari- 

 ously subdivided demographicallj' for three dif- 

 ferent periods) Glover tos follloiwed the most 

 highly appixjved, orthodox actuarial methods. 

 The (/x values were smoothed between ages 5 

 and 85 by oseulatory interpolation using fifth 

 diffea-enees. The first 5 years of life were dealt 

 with by a special method based upon German 

 official procedure, and this section was welded 



