NoveMBER 15, 1918] 
cess of births over deaths, and the infant-mor- 
tality rate. Figures for the white and colored 
EXCESS OF BIRTHS OVER DEATHS, AND INFANT MOR- 
TALITY: 1916 
fpirths | Infante Und 
Num’ 0) r nfants Under 
a cr Bite | ree, |? Yenrol Ase 
(Per Cent.)| Living Births 
Registration area..... 818,983 68.7 101 
Registration states 
Connecticut ......... 35,351 74.2 101 
PRTG aie w aisteeeee'a 16,033 32.5 108 
Maryland, total:..... 33,631 49.7 121 
TERE’ © ctortane ob eraters « 27,305 63.9 101 
Paloted . occ sc. cai 6,326 6.0 209 
Massachusetts ....... 93,497 65.1 100 
MMIGMIPAN. <. Gsicchja wes 86,840 88.1 96 
Minnesota .......... 55,459 | 127.1 70 
New Hampshire. ..... 9,664 35.4 115 
New York...........| 241,456 58.8 94 
Pennsylvania........ 217,449 74.7 114 
Rhode Island........ 14,634 53.5 111 
PVERUGNGICDS sicic cs.cn sicis 7,768 37.2 93 
Registration cities hav- 
ing more than 100,000) 
inhabitants in 1910 
Connecticut: 
Bridgeport ........ 4,598 94.8 106 
New Haven....... 5,106 | 100.6 88 
Maryland: 
Baltimore, total....| 14,542 | 36.5 122 
WICGi es ee axcie:s.oy0 12,278 54.1 104 
Colored ......... 2,264 | —16.6! 219 
Massachusetts: 
BORLON Ils ccisic o'e.cine 19,577 53.3 105 
Cambridge 2,691 76.3 91 
Fall River 3,689 68.8 173 
it (ea ee eee 3,287 67.6 146 
Worcester.......5... 4,941 70.2 101 
Michigan: 
BUEETONW 2) 42 ess 0 9 2s 24,289 | 121.6 112 
Grand Rapids ..... 3,131 | 100.0 75 
Minnesota: 
Minneapolis....... 8,793 95.2 82 
192] DR ene 5,242 87.6 68 
New York 
BIRO oe a: dake ¢ = chs 2,280 11.4 97 
Boiala 2. 3.%-os,5'%s 13,088 73.3 114 
sey  MEEIKS «os n0ie'n 137,923 77.0 93 
Rochester......... 6,816 82.6 86 
Syracuse.......... 3,853 63.2 100 
Pennsylvania: 
Philadelphia....... 40,360 45.7 105 
Pittsburgh ........ 16,406 62.6 115 
Branton «06d <anbie< 3,623 71.5 131 
Rhode Island: 
Providence........ 5,981 48.7 110 
District of Columbia: 
Washington, total. . 7,201 11.2 106 
WMREGA trae we on ee 4,979 25.3 83 
Colored: /<1. sacl 2,222 | —12.2! 158 
1 Per cent. by which births fell below deaths. 
SCIENCE 
499 
elements of the population are shown sepa- 
rately for those areas in which colored persons 
constitute more than one tenth of the total 
population. 
SPECIAL ARTICLES 
NOTE UPON THE HYDROGEN ION CONCENTRA- 
TION NECESSARY TO INHIBIT THE GROWTH 
OF FOUR WOOD-DESTROYING FUNGI* 
Tue importance of hydrogen (and hydroxyl) 
ion concentration as a factor in physico-chem- 
ical and biochemical studies of living organ- 
isms is being recognized. A careful study of 
this factor has not been made heretofore due 
largely to the lack of ready means for making 
the determinations. The indicator method was 
not seriously developed until about a decade or 
so ago, and the hydrogen electrode was not ap- 
plied to such problems until recently, due 
partly, undoubtedly, to the fact that biologists 
did not realize its possibilities. 
Consequently no exact information is at 
hand concerning the behavior of fungi, in 
general, toward varying degrees of hydrogen 
ion concentration. This remark applies es- 
pecially to wood-destroying fungi. Informa- 
tion which is available is usually given in a 
rather vague manner with the use of such 
terms as “ alkaline,” “slightly acid,” “ strongly 
acid ” or as percentage of acid (or base) added. 
The expression, P , is now widely used as a 
means of stating hydrogen (or hydroxyl) ion 
concentration. The term is used and ex- 
plained in the literature sufficiently often to 
make its explanation here unnecessary. 
The four fungi studied in this investiga- 
tion are: Lenzite sepiaria, Fomes roseus, 
Coniophora cerebella and Merulius lachry- 
mans. Synthetic and malt extract media were 
used. The data obtained showed that their 
growth is not inhibited until a surprisingly 
1 This note is a brief statement of the results 
. presented in a paper on the same subject in partial 
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 
Ph.D. at the New York State College of Forestry 
at Syracuse University. A considerable part of the 
work was done in the office of Forest Pathology, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, at the Forest Products 
Laboratory, Madison, Wis. Detailed data will be 
published soon. 
