NoveMBER 15, 1918] 
The use of microorganisms in industrial 
processes directly related to agriculture as in 
the manufacture of alcohol and of vinegar, 
the preparation of sauer kraut and silage, 
and in the retting of flax is discussed in the 
fourth part. 
The fifth part includes a chapter on resist- 
ance against parasitic bacteria. Tuberculosis 
is discussed in some detail. Only fourteen 
pages are devoted to the other transmissible 
diseases of animals and fifteen pages to the 
parasitic diseases of plants. 
The last part presents 39 laboratory exer- 
cises designed to supplement the text. 
The second edition was marred by many 
mistakes, both in fact and statement. Many 
of these have not been corrected in the present 
edition. Errors in fact are illustrated by the 
statement that ordinary soils contain 0.1 to 
0.2 per cent. of nitrate (p. 53); that H,S may 
unite with water to form sulphuric acid (p. 
78); that the sulphur appears within the cells 
of sulphur bacteria as minute reddish dots, 
and because of the color produced by the sul- 
phur the bacteria are frequently called the 
“red bacteria” (p. 124). In fact the reddish 
color noted in some of the sulphur bacteria is 
not due to sulphur but to a pigment, pur- 
purin. If the red color were due to sulphur, 
all bacteria that store sulphur would be red. 
Such is not the case. 
It is stated that any product that contains 
much sugar is more likely to undergo alcoholic 
fermentation than putrefaction. A true state- 
ment as far as it goes, but likely to create con- 
fusion in the mind of the student, for a 
product containing much sugar practically 
never undergoes putrefaction and an alcoholic 
fermentation only when the product is so acid 
as to prevent bacterial development. In sugar 
containing liquids, the reaction of which will 
permit bacterial growth, an acid fermenta- 
tion is constantly noted as in milk, maple sap, 
beet juice, ete. 
The construction is often loose and in error, 
one part of a sentence being written in the 
present tense and another in the past, e. g., 
“But the bacteria which are isolated from 
such soil by ordinary methods showed no 
SCIENCE 
497 
power of nitrification” (p. 65). Errors in 
spelling are frequent, e. g., volitization (p. 80), 
seradella (p. 112), urase (p. 60). 
An example of the use of an incorrect word 
is found on page 63 where it is stated that 
“The addition of another atom of nitrogen to 
the nitrate, giving a nitrate,” ete. The for- 
mule used in this connection are correct. 
The reader of the present volume will find 
the essential facts concerning the relation of 
microorganisms to agricultural processes pre- 
sented in a most interesting manner. 
E. G. Hastines 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
BIRTH STATISTICS IN THE REGISTRA- 
TION AREA OF THE UNITED 
STATES: 1916 
In the recently established birth-registration 
area of the United States—comprising the six 
New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, with an estimated popula- 
tion of 33,000,000, or about 32 per cent. of the 
total population of the United States—818,983 
infants were born alive in 1916, representing a 
birth rate of 24.8 per 1,000 of population. The 
total number of deaths in the same area was 
486,682, or 14.7 per 1,000. The births thus ex- 
ceeded the deaths by more than 68 per cent. 
For every state in the registration area, for 
practically all the cities, and for nearly all the 
countries, the births exceeded the deaths, 
usually by substantial proportions. The mor- 
tality rate for infants under one year of age 
averaged 101 per 1,000 living births. The fore- 
going are among the significant features of the 
report. “ Birth Statistics in the Registration 
Area of the United States: 1916,” soon to be 
issued by Director Sam. L. Rogers, of the Bu- 
reau of the Census Department of Commerce, 
and compiled under the supervision of Dr. Wil- 
liam H. Davis, chief statistician for vital sta- 
tistics. 
The birth rate for the entire registration 
area fell below that for 1915 by one tenth of 1 
per 1,000 population; while the death rate ex- 
ceeded that for 1915 by seven tenths of 1 per 
