54 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1333 



of tLe Panama Canal, where he carried out 

 the same line of work in the cleaning up the 

 Isthmus. When the French, under de Lesseps, 

 began to work on the Panama Canal in 1880, 

 the Isthmus was one of the plague-spots of 

 the world and during their nine years of 

 occupation, they lost 22,189 laborers from dis- 

 ease. "When the United States government 

 took charge of the Canal in 1904, the death 

 rate was high and a yeUow fever epidemic was 

 going on. In less than a year yellow fever was 

 wiped out and there has not been a single case 

 since May, 1906. Gorgas was made a member 

 of the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1907, 

 and remained in charge of sanitation until the 

 winter of 1913, when he went to South Africa, 

 at the invitation of the Chamber of Mines of 

 Johannesburg, to investigate the high death 

 Tate from pneimionia among the natives work- 

 ing in the mines of the Rand. By applying 

 the army methods of increasing the air space 

 of sleeping quarters the death rate was mate- 

 rially lowered. He was appointed surgeon 

 general of the IJ. S. Army on January 16, 

 1914, and was given the rank of major gen- 

 eral in 1915. In 1916, he spent several 

 month in South America in making a pre- 

 liminary survey of localities still infested 

 with yellow fever the "endemic foci" of the 

 disease, for the Rockefeller Foundation. 

 Upon his retirement from active duty in the 

 Army in the fall of 1918, he resumed this 

 work and had just started upon an investiga- 

 tion of the African foci at the time of his 

 death. If completed, this work may result in 

 the eradication of yellow fever from the globe. 

 General Gorgas conducted the administration 

 of the Surgeon General's Office in "Washington 

 during the war period, and shortly before his 

 retirement, accompanied the secretary of war 

 to France. He was a member of many med- 

 ical societies and received many honors during 

 his life. He was awarded gold medals by the 

 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 

 190Y, by the American Museimi of Safety in 

 1914, and shortly before his death was 

 decorated by King Albert of Belgium and 

 knighted by King George TV". In March, 

 1914, he received the degree of doctor of 



science from the University of Oxford. Gen- 

 eral Gorgas was a man of attractive character, 

 and highly popular with the medical pro- 

 fession. In 1885, he married Miss Marie C. 

 Doughty, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who survives 

 him with a daughter. He was the author of 

 many articles on the subject of yellow fever. 

 M. "W. Ireland, 

 Surgeon General, U. 8. Army 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE REGISTRAR 

 GENERAL OF ENGLAND AND WALES 



The eighty-first annual report of the Regis- 

 trar General which deals with the births, deaths 

 and marriages in England and "Wales for the 

 year 1918, has been issued. 



According to an abstract in the London 

 Times the report shows that the marriage rate 

 was 15.3 per 1,000, being 1.5 above the low rate 

 in the preceding year (13.8), and 0.1 below 

 the average in the last 10 years, 1905-1914, 

 which were unaffected by war conditions 

 (15.4). The provisional figures for 1919 indi- 

 cate a further rise to 19.7 per 1,000, the high- 

 est rate on record. 



The birth-rate in 1918 was 17.7 per 1,000, 

 being the lowest on record. This rate was 0.1 

 per 1,000 below that recorded for 1917, and 

 6.1 below that for 1914, which, particularly so 

 far as the birth-rate was concerned, might be 

 regarded as the last year unaffected by war 

 conditions. Even this large reduction, how- 

 ever, amounting in all to nearly 26 per cent, 

 in 1918 as compared with 1914, was believed to 

 compare very favorably with the experience of 

 other belligerent countries. The provisional 

 figures for 1919 indicate a recovery, showing 

 an increase of 0.8 per 1,000. 



The civilian death-rate in 1918 was 17.6 per 

 1,000, being 3.2 above the rate in the preceding 

 year. The increased mortality was due to the 

 epidemic of influenza. Apart from this, the 

 year was one of extraordinary healthiness. 

 The provisional figures for 1919 indicate a fall 

 of about 3.8 per 1,000, notwithstanding the con- 

 tinuance of the epidemic into the early part 

 of the year. 



Infantile mortality was 97 per thousand 



