August 15, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



159 



for tlie afternoon of September 4, at which 

 the program will include the retiring address 

 of President E. Y. Huntington, of the Mathe- 

 matical Association, report on the interna- 

 tional conference of scientists at Brussels, 

 and report by Professor E. W. Brown, of Tale 

 University, on the work of the National Re- 

 search Council with reference to mathematics 

 and astronomy. Special railroad rates may 

 be available for this meeting- if the attendance 

 is sufficiently large. 



The eighth meeting of the technical per- 

 sonnel of the experiment stations, and of the 

 officers of the Department of Agriculture, of 

 the Dutch East Indies, was held in Medan, 

 Deli, Sumatra, April 23-29, 1919. On the 

 first day a session was held at the Deli Proef- 

 station voor Tabak; papers on botany, geology 

 and chemistry were read by E. OC J'. Mohr, 

 J. G. J. A. Mass, P. C. van Heurn, A. A. L. 

 Rutgers, S. Tijmstra, and P. E. Keuchenuis. 

 Prom April 24 to April 28, an excursion was 

 made over the east coast of Sumatra, visiting 

 oil-palm, rubber, tea, coffee and tobacco es- 

 tates. A trip was also made over the beau- 

 tiful Toba Lake and the Karo Plateau. The 

 largest rubber estate in the world was among 

 those visited. This is owned by the Hol- 

 landsche-Amerikaansehe Plantage Maatschap- 

 pij, a subsidiary of the United States Rubber 

 Co. Here a banquet was given in honor of 

 the visiting scientists. After the return to 

 Medan, another session was held at the Deli 

 Proef-station, at which papers were read by 

 Carl D. La Rue, and Ir. Kalshoven. At the 

 same session an organization was made under 

 the name of "Vereeniging van Proef-station 

 Personneel." The society is intended to bring 

 about closer cooperation between the various 

 public and private experiment stations, and 

 to promote the interests of science and scien- 

 tific men in the Dutch East Indies. 



Nature states that the council of the British 

 Association recently instructed a deputation, 

 consisting of Professor Arthur Keith, Sir Ed- 

 ward Brabrook and Professor A. W. Kirkaldy, 

 to wait upon the Ministry of Pensions in 

 order to urge the utilization of anthropometric 

 and kindred data collected by the disbanded 



Ministry of IvTational Service. The deputa- 

 tion was received on behalf of the Minister of 

 Pensions by Colonel Arthur L. A. Webb, di- 

 rector-general of Medical Services, Ministry 

 of Pensions, who explained that the medical 

 statistical department of the Ministry of IsTa- 

 tional Service, of which Dr. H. W. Kaye was 

 in charge, and the data collected by that de- 

 partment, had been taken over by the Ministry 

 of Pensions Dr. Kaye had not only to direct 

 the compilation of medical recruiting statis- 

 tics, but also to organize a special branch to 

 deal with medical data connected with the 

 Ministry of Pensions. It was thus impossible 

 for Dr. Kaye's department to give its un- 

 divided attention to the preparation of re- 

 turns relating to the physique of recruits in 

 the various areas and trades of the country. 

 At the present time all the data relating to 

 Grade IV. men were being examined and com- 

 piled. Colonel Webb also explained that Dr. 

 Kaye's department was endeavoring to obtain 

 data for comparison from Canada, ISTew Zea- 

 land and the United States. The deputation, 

 before withdrawing, thanked Colonel Webb, 

 and urged the early publication of results, 

 which are now needed by all who are study- 

 ing problems connected with the present phys- 

 ical condition of the population. 



The Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation quoting from the report of the ISevr 

 York Milk Commission on the infant mortality 

 rates of the different cities of the United 

 States for the year 1918, states that the infant 

 deatli rate for New York City was 92 per 

 thousand living births. Although the esti- 

 mates show that the death rate for the country 

 increased seven points last year, the milk com- 

 mission believes these rates are remarkably 

 low when all the elements conspiring against 

 the baby are considered. The infant mortal- 

 ity rate of seventy-nine cities with populations 

 mider 50,000 was 97.2. The rate for thirty- 

 eight cities of between 50,000 and 100,000 was 

 113.8, and that for forty-five cities of 100,000 

 population was 103.5 The average baby death 

 rate for the registration area of the United 

 States is 104. Twenty-two of the cities of 

 100,000 are above this average, and twenty- 



