June 14, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



581 



ministration. The wax is furnished in small 

 pieces packed in boxes which will cost the 

 consumer five cents for a season's supply and 

 is to be distributed to the retail dealers 

 through the jobbers. The directions are very 

 simple and explicit, for one has only to place 

 some wax upon a piece of paper on top of the 

 cereal and heat until the piece of wax melts 

 to a grease spot which will be 85° C. Then 

 it is recommended that the cereal be mixed 

 and left in the oven for forty-five minutes as 

 stated above. 



Warnings with regard to the proper storage 

 of the cereal after it has been heated make it 

 clear that the cereal will remain free from 

 insects only when stored where no insects can 

 get at it. 



The cereals used in the heating experiments 

 have been submitted to various cooking proc- 

 esses by the department of domestic science 

 at the University of Minnesota and no injury 

 was apparent even when the cereals were 

 heated to a temperature of 95° C. 



This work has been undertaken in antici- 

 pation of a condition which seems very certain 

 to develop. With the cooperation of the mil- 

 lers in " sterilizing " and rapidly handling the 

 cereals, of the dealers in increased sanitation 

 and in furnishing consumers with " heat-test- 

 ing wax," and finally of the consumer in heat- 

 ing the cereal when it reaches him, it is hoped 

 that our country may be aided in its effort to 

 conserve the food needed to win this war. 

 Similar campaigns in other states might aid in 

 reducing a loss which seems inevitable if no 

 unusual measures are taken. 



EovAL N. Chapman 



The University of Minnesota, 

 Minneapolis, Minn. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE PROGRESS OF BIRTH AND DEATH 



REGISTRATION IN THE UNITED 



STATES 



The recent inclusion of Hawaii has ex- 

 tended beyond the limita of Continental 

 United States the area for which the Census 

 Bureau annually collects and publishes death 

 statistics. Within this area now reside about 

 73 per cent, of the total population of Con- 



tinental United States and Hawaii. It com- 

 prises, in all, 27 states, 43 cities in other states, 

 the District of Columbia and the territory of 

 Hawaii. East of the Mississippi the only 

 states not included are Alabama, Delaware, 

 Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi and 

 West Virginia, while west of the Mississippi 

 the only states included are California, Colo- 

 rado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, 

 Utah and Washington. 



The annual collection of death statistics 

 from states and cities maintaining adequate 

 registration systems was begun by the Census 

 Bureau in 1902, the first report covering the 

 calendar years 1900 to 1904, inclusive, and for 

 each succeeding year a separate report has 

 been published. The original registration area 

 contained 40 per cent, of the total population 

 of the country. It remained unchanged until 

 1906, since which year it has shown an almost 

 uninterrupted increase in geographical extent 

 and in proportion of total population, until 

 at present it contains nearly three fourths of 

 the coimtry's inhabitants. 



In birth registration highly satisfactory 

 progress has been made during the past two 

 years, although there are still a number of 

 states in which adequate death registration 

 prevails but in which the registration of births 

 has not yet reached a sufficiently close approxi- 

 mation to completeness to justify the accept- 

 ance of the local records by the Census Bureau. 

 The birth-registration area, as at present con- 

 stituted, comprises 19 states — the six New 

 England states. New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Ken- 

 tucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota. Utah and Washington — and the 

 District of Columbia. This area is estimated 

 to contain about 51 per cent, of the total popu- 

 lation of the country, as against about 31 per 

 cent, when the collection of birth statistics 

 was begun, a little more than two years ago, 

 from an area comprising the six New England 

 states. New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, 

 Minnesota and the District of Columbia. 



This growth, in so short a time, is gratify- 

 ing. It is, however, unfortunate that in the 

 United States the registration of vital phe- 



