SEPTEMBER 6, 1918] 
undertaken and the monthly Journal of the 
American Ceramic Society is the logical result. 
The first number is a very attractively pre- 
pared journal of seventy-two pages. It is well 
edited and well printed on good paper. The 
contents of the first number are as follows: 
Editorials: 
To the Public , 
The Fuel Curtailment Orders 
The National Research Council 
Edward Orton, Jr. 
Original Papers and Discussions: 
Kaolin in Quebec—Keele 
Special Pots for the Melting of Optical Glass— 
Bleininger. 
The Effect of Gravitation upon the Drying 
of Ceramic Ware—Washburn 
Test of a Producer Gas-Fired Periodic Kiln— 
Harrop 
Notes on the Hydration of Anhydrite and 
Dead-Burned Gypsum—Gill 
Meetings of the Local Sections, American Ce- 
ramic Society 
The present officers of the society are: 
President—Homer F. Staley, 
Vice-president—A. F. Greavyes-Walker, 
Treasurer—R, K. Hursh, © 
Secretary—Charles F, Binns, 
Trustees— 
A. F, Hottinger, 
E. T. Montgomery, 
R. D. Landrum, 
Membership in the society is open to any one 
interested in any branch of the ceramic indus- 
tries and application should be made to the 
society. All members receive the Journal 
gratis. C. F. B. 
ENGLISH VITAL STATISTICS 
Tue Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation reports that the English registrar-gener- 
al’s seventy-ninth annual report on vital statis- 
ties for the year 1916, which has just been pub- 
lished, is of unusual interest, because in that 
year the war existed long enough to affect the 
figures considerably. The birth rate was 20.9 
per thousand living, and was the lowest on 
record. It was 4.6 below the average for the 
ten years 1905-1914 (which were practically 
unaffected by the war). On the whole, the re- 
duction of natality, which amounted to about 
SCIENCE 
241 
12 per cent. on the figures for 1914, is less 
than might have been expected, and compares 
favorably with the experience of other belliger- 
ent countries. The civilian death rate was 14.1 
per thousand living, and was slightly below 
the average of the decennium before the war. 
The rate of 1916 is considered to be the low- 
est recorded, provided allowance is made for 
the effect of enlistment on the population. 
The standardized mortality of males ordinar- 
ily exceeds that of females. Up to 1860 the 
excess was not more than 9 per cent.; but in 
1916, in consequence of the war, the excess 
amounted to 82 per cent. The most remark- 
able feature is the low death rate in the first 
quinquennium of life. It was much lower than 
any previously recorded, and was less than 
half the rate prevailing in the concluding years 
of the last century. The all-age mortality from 
typhoid and from scarlet fever was the low- 
est on record, while diphtheria and influenza 
were more fatal than the average. But the 
death rate from tuberculosis showed a further 
advance on the high rate of 1915, although the 
increase did not extend to young children, the 
mortality under 5 years being the lowest 
hitherto recorded. Cancer was more fatal in 
1916 than in any other year, and cerebrospinal 
fever continued to be abnormally destructive. 
In view of the loss of life in the war statistics 
of childhood are of unusual importance. The 
births in England and Wales in 1916 were in 
the proportion of 1,049 males to 1,000 females, 
against 1,033 to 1,000 in the preceding five 
years. This proportion is by far the highest 
recorded during the last half century. It cer- 
tainly bears out the old view, regarded by 
some as a superstition, that war increases the 
proportion of male births because nature en- 
deavors to compensate for the loss of male life 
in warfare. Of the deaths at all ages, 41.1 per 
cent. were those of infants under the age of 1 
year. These deaths correspond to a mortality 
rate of 91 per thousand births, the lowest ever 
recorded. It was below the average in the pre- 
ceding decennium by 20 per cent. This de- 
cline was in part due to low diarrheal fatality, 
but the greater part of it is accounted for 
under other diseases less subject to climatic 
