300 
type of engraving and lithographic color 
work and is printed in four sheets which 
fitted together and mounted make a map 6 
feet 5 inches high by 5 feet wide, the largest 
piece of work ever issued by the survey. The 
scale is 1 to 5,000,000, or 80 miles to the inch, 
and the plan of projection is in harmony with 
the universal world map on a scale of 1 to 
1,000,000, in that it shows the units of publi- 
eation of the world map, each of which em- 
braces four degrees of latitude and six de- 
grees of longitude. The color scheme of the 
map is a striking one. In all there are 42 
color distinctions, varying from a brilliant 
red to pale tints approaching white. These 
were produced by 14 separate printings from 
lithographic stones, requiring in many places 
two or three combinations of color to produce 
the desired effects. If the weight of paper and 
heavy stones lifted back and forth in the 
printing of this job were to be computed it 
would run into the hundreds of tons. The 
accuracy of the “register,” or fitting together 
of the color blocks in small areas throughout 
the map, is remarkable. The work was done 
in the survey’s own engraving and printing 
plant, and it is believed that there are few if 
any other establishments in the United States 
capable of turning out such a production. 
The 42 color distinctions represent as many 
divisions of rock strata. Thus the rocks of 
seven divisions of the Paleozoic era are each 
represented by a color, besides three separate 
colors for undifferentiated rocks, and there 
are other colors for the division of the Meso- 
zoic, the Tertiary and the Quaternary. The 
coloring of the map is both effective and pleas- 
ing. The scheme is systematic in that the 
colors range in prismatic order from yellow 
in the upper portion of the geologic column 
through greens, blues and purples to pinks 
and browns at the base. The colors for the 
igneous rocks, both plutonie and voleanic, are 
mostly bright red. Viewed as a wall map, the 
map of North America shows only the larger 
geologic units, as the smaller divisions are 
represented by different shades and tints of 
the same or closely allied colors which are in- 
distinguishable at a moderate distance. 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 895 
TuE Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation quotes from the Journal Officiel data 
of the vital statistics in France for the first 
semester of 1911. There were almost 14,000 
fewer births than during the corresponding 
semester of 1910. Last year the births, which 
were few enough already, amounted to 399,- 
669. This year there were not more than 385,- 
999. While births diminished, deaths in- 
creased. They increased from 378,480 during 
the first semester of 1910, to 404,278 during 
the first semester of 1911, an increase of 25,- 
798. During the six first months of the cur- 
rent year the deaths exceeded the births by 
18,279. The number of marriages has de- 
creased in a slightly less proportion. There 
were about 156,761 last year. There are not 
more than 153,931 this year. Divorces, which 
last year amounted to about 6,303, in 1911 
have increased to 6,374. 
TuHE fourth report of the royal commission 
on university education in London deals with 
the housing of London University. Accord- 
ing to the London Times the commissioners 
state that it had become clear, as the inquiry 
proceeded, that the inception of any scheme 
which they might be able to recommend and 
which parliament might sanction would he 
seriously delayed unless some steps had pre- 
viously been taken to provide for the univer- 
sity, as reconstituted, a site and buildings 
more convenient and adequate than those it 
now occupied. They think that whatever its 
future constitution might be, it was a matter 
of national importance that the University of 
London should be recognized and adopted as a 
great public institution; and that it was fit- 
ting and right that such an institution should 
have for its headquarters permanent buildings 
appropriate in design to its dignity and im- 
portance, adequate in extent and specially con- 
structed for the purpose, situated conveniently 
for the work it had to do, bearing its name, 
and under its own control. The University of 
London, it is stated, must depend, like other 
universities, to a large extent, for the liberal 
support necessary for its full development 
upon the endowment of private benefactors. 
The commissioners thought such benefactors 
