November 7, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



431 



lations. Demonstrations of parasitic insects 

 and other animal parasites, with explanation 

 of relation to hosts. 



VII. Ontogeny. (A) Lectures: The gen- 

 eral principles of reproduction and develop- 

 ment. (B) Laboratory worh: The study of the 

 development of the frog, and comparison with 

 other forms. Demonstrations of mitosis, germ- 

 cells, chrom'osomes, fertilization; chick em- 

 bryos and their nutritive mechanism; mam- 

 malian embryos and their relation to the pla- 

 centa. 



VIII. Principles of Genetics. (A) Lec- 

 tures: (1) Essentials of Mendelian heredity; 

 (2) mechanism of heredity. (B) Laboratory 

 work: Demonstrations of living and preserved 

 material illustrating Mendelian principles. 



IX. Principles of Organic Evolution. 

 (A) Lectures: (1) Sources of evidence for evo- 

 lutional change; (2) the method of evolution, 

 with brief historical account and a discussion 

 in the light of recent knowledge of the manner 

 in which evolutional change takes place. (B) 

 Laboratory worh: Demonstrations of fluctua- 

 tions, mutations, etc. Demonstrations of 

 paleontological material, both fossils and 

 models. 



George Lefevre 

 Univeksitt op Missouri, 

 Columbia, Mo. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



CHANGES IN THE FRENCH POPULATION IN 1918 



The minister of labor has completed the 

 birth and mortality statistics for France for 

 the year 1918. According to the Paris corre- 

 spondent of the Journal of the American Med- 

 ical Association the statistics show that the 

 civil population of France decreased during 

 the year 1918 by 389,575, not counting the war 

 losses. The statistics, based on civil records, 

 continue to cover only the seventy-seven de- 

 partments that were not directly affected by 

 military operations. This is the same as it 

 was during the first four years of the war. It 

 will be the same for the year 1919, and not 

 until the beginning of 1920 will the statistics 

 of all French territory, made complete by ac- 

 cession of Alsace and Lorraine, be included. 



If one compares the statistics of the years 

 1917 and 1918, for the seventy-seven depart- 

 ments of which account was taken, one will 

 note that last year shows not only tbe persist- 

 ance of an excess of deaths over births, but 

 even an increase of the excess over that of the 

 preceding year. In 1917, the population of 

 the seventy-seven departments not invaded de- 

 creased 268,838, whereas the decrease in 1918 

 has risen to 389,575. This result is due to the 

 considerable increase in the number of deaths 

 during the second half of 1918, ascribable to 

 the influenza epidemic; for the number of 

 births showed a slight increase over 1917. A 

 comparison of the statistics of the years 1917 

 and 1918 is given in the accompanying table: 



1918 1917 



Births 399,041 343,310 



Deaths 788,616 613,148 



Excess of deaths over births . . 389,575 269,838 



Marriages . 177,872 158,508 



Divorces 8,121 5,572 



An analysis of the table reveals the fact 

 that in 1918 there was: (1) an increase in the 

 number of marriages; (2) a corresponding in- 

 crease in the number of births, and (3) an in- 

 crease in the number of deaths. This increase 

 in mortality affects exclusively the second half 

 of last year. During the first half of 1918, 

 316,077 deaths were recorded, as compared 

 with 354,554 during the first half of 1917; and 

 during the second half of 1918, 472,539 deaths 

 were registered, as against 258,594 in 1917. 

 According to the preceding figures, the number 

 of civil victims claimed by the infiuenza last 

 year may be placed at approximately 200,000. 



A PUEBLO RUIN IN NEW MEXICO 



Three years ago Earl H. Morris, repre- 

 senting the American Museum of Natural 

 History, undertook the excavation of an 

 ancient Pueblo ruin in Astec, New Mexico. 

 The work was begun at the suggestion and 

 through the courtesy of the H. D. Abrams, 

 the owner of the property, and is being- 

 financed from the Archer M. Huntington 

 fund for surveying the southwestern United 

 States. During the past month the museum 

 party has uncovered a new section of the ruin 

 revealing several rooms filled with sand and 



