Decembee 18, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



877 



old. In August, September and October, 1898, 

 he made the highest record for a traveling 

 collector, having sent in to the United States 

 National Museum 900 well-prepared specimens 

 of small mammals in the three months' jour- 

 ney from London through Sweden, Germany, 

 Switzerland and Belgium. 



Major Edgar A. Mearns, a retired officer of 

 the medical corps of the army, about fifty- 

 three years of age, will be the physician of 

 the trip and have charge of the Smithsonian 

 portion of the party. He has had twenty-five 

 years' experience as an army doctor, and is 

 also well known as a naturalist and collector 

 of natural history specimens. 



The party will reach Mombasa in April, 

 1909. No detailed itinerary has been decided 

 upon; but the general route will be up the 

 Uganda Eailway to Nairobi and Lake Victoria 

 Nyanza, a distance of about 650 miles by rail, 

 thence crossing into Uganda, and, finally, 

 passing down the Nile to Cairo. Much of the 

 hunting will be done in British East Africa, 

 where the Uganda Railroad can be used as a 

 base of supplies and means of ready transpor- 

 tation. At least one great mountain, possibly 

 Mount Kenia, will be visited. 



Khartum will be reached, if all goes well, 

 about April, 1910. The expedition may be 

 expected to spend about one year on African 

 soil. 



FRENCH VITAL STATISTICS 

 The Journal Ofjiciel has recently published 

 the vital statistics of France for the year 1907, 

 and these are summarized in the British 

 Medical Journal. The excess of deaths over 

 births during the year reached the unpre- 

 cedented number of 19,920. There were 32,- 

 878 fewer births and 13,693 more deaths than 

 in 1906. In 1907, 773,969 births were regis- 

 tered of infants alive at the time of the 

 declaration; there were also 36,760 stillbirths 

 or infants who died before the declaration of 

 the birth— a total of 810,729 births. The pro- 

 portion, calculated on the census of 1906, is 

 207 per 10,000 inhabitants; lower than 1906, 

 when it was 215 ; in 1905 it was 216 ; in 1904 

 it was 219; in 1903 it. was 221; in 1902 it was 

 226; in 1901 it was 230 per 10,000 inhabitants. 



This dimunition of the natality is general 

 throughout the country, for in comparison 

 with 1906 the number of living births fell in 

 82 departments, and only showed an increase 

 in 5 departments. The following departments 

 show the largest diminution in the absolute 

 number of births : Dordogne, 1,434 fewer 

 births; Finistere, 1,067; C6tes-de-Nord, 978; 

 Ardeche, 972; Herault, 928; Aveyron, 893 j 

 Isere, 773; Ehone, 732; Loire, 701. The de- 

 partments which showed in 1907 the largest 

 number of living birth per 10,000 inhabitants 

 were: Finistere, 287; Pas-de-Calais, 285; 

 Seine Inferieure, 258; Morbihan, 253; Cotes- 

 du-Nord, 242; Nord, 239; Meurthe-et-Moselle, 

 238; Vosges, 230; Lozere, Territory of Belfort, 

 226 ; Doubs, 221. The smallest proportion was 

 in the departments of Gers, 131; Lot-et- 

 Garonne, 132; Tonne, 142; Lot, 143; Tarn-et- 

 Garonne, 145; Haute-Garonne, 151; Nievre, 

 155; Gironde, 156; all of which show a 

 progressive decrease as compared with previ- 

 ous years. 



During the year 1907 793,889 deaths were 

 registered. This gives 13,693 more deaths 

 than in 1906, and 10,510 more than the an- 

 nual mean for the decennial period 1896-1905. 

 The increase in the number of deaths as com- 

 pared with 1906 includes 55 departments: 

 Seine, 3,316 more than in 1906; Morbihan, 

 1,084; Manche, 1,070; Isere, 996; Gard, 721; 

 Indre-et-Loire, 719; Nord, 695, etc. In 32 

 departments the number of deaths in 1907 was 

 less than in 1906. Of these, the follovsdng 

 show the largest decrease: Seine-Inferieure, 

 777; Pas-de-Calais, 619; Doubs, 579; "Vosges, 

 558; Ehone, 498; Haute-Saone, 453; Somme, 

 294; Meuse, 291; Finistere, 682. The depart- 

 ments giving the largest number of deaths per 

 100,000 of the population are: Lot, 244; Tarn- 

 et-Garonne, 240; Bouches-du-Ehone, 238; 

 Manche, 237; Ome, 236; Ardeche, 234; Vau- 

 cluse, 233 ; Calvados, Gard, 232 ; Aveyron, 224. 

 The following show the lowest mortality: 

 Cher, 161 per 10,000 inhabitants; Creuse, 163; 

 Indre, 165; Landes, 167; AUier, 169. 



The relative increase in the population per 

 10,000 inhabitants reached the mean of 18 in 

 1901 to 1905; it fell to 7 in 1906, and in 1907 

 fell to minus 5 per 10,000. 



