April 7, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



365 



tions in Europe generally improve, or that Vienna 

 would not be able to take her place on equal 

 terms witli other countries without the advantage 

 of a cost of production subsidized by foreign 

 relief. 



With regard to the actual physical condition 

 of the people at the moment, especially of the 

 children, in which the people who have so gen- 

 erously helped in America are naturally most 

 interested, thanks to this increase in wages, which 

 has kept the majority of the working class from 

 coming on our hands for relief, we have been 

 able, with our limited programme, to do what 

 was necessary to save the lives of the children, 

 so far, this winter. 



In the middle-elass, where rises in salary, and 

 fixed incomes have not come anywhere near the 

 increase in the cost of living, the suffering is very 

 terrible, and increasing as the colder weather 

 sets in; we are now in the grip of a snowstorm 

 which makes life almost impossible for people 

 who have not been able to buy either clothing or 

 fuel, and whose food has been reduced to about a 

 quarter of that needed to maintain their vitality. 

 The professional classes here have few children, 

 and have had hardly any since the war, so that 

 the relief for young children, which is our main 

 piece of work, does not very much help them. 



We have, therefore, turned our attention very 

 specially to them this winter, and are particu- 

 larly increasing, as far as our funds will allow, 

 the help for the young children between the ages 

 of 14 and 18 who, even if given one meal a day 

 by the American Eelief Administration, and only 

 a very few of them get this now that the num- 

 bers have been reduced, are really not able to 

 ke«p body and soul together while they are train- 

 ing themselves to earn their living. 



The students in the university are still getting 

 some help from the World's Student Christian 

 Tederation, but this, unfortunately, is coming to 

 an end, and it is terrible to think what will 

 happen, if they are unable to continue it, as the 

 position of the students is certainly worse than it 

 has ever been. 



We are specially turning our attention to the 

 lower grade or trade colleges of a lower standing 

 than the university, and which are not included 

 in this student relief, — where a great many of the 

 poorest of the professional classes are trying to 

 ;get their boys and girls trained for work which 

 will enable them to earn their living more quickly 

 than they could if they had to take the whole 

 university course. We are now helping nearly 



500 in this way, providing a fortnightly ration 

 of extra food, enough to give about a third of 

 the minimum calory requirements for an adult, 

 and are also dealing with the whole family, who 

 are often found, after individual investigation, to 

 be in the most pitiable plight. All these families 

 have had a ration of clothing averaging from six 

 to ten garments per person, towards which they 

 pay a trifling sum, which covers overhead ex- 

 penses, and other help has been given where it 

 was felt that the family could be placed in an 

 independent position. 



The students selected for help have been gen- 

 erally those in their final year, as it is found 

 that this is the time when they tend to break 

 down from the strain of combining study and a 

 job, in the attempt to earn their keep. We are 

 hoping to double the number, but if only we could 

 obtain the funds we ought to increase it to 2,000 

 or 3,000. 



At present, the need for clothing is, perhaps, 

 the most pressing general requirement. We do 

 not, of course, need to raise funds for those in 

 receipt of the best wages, even though they are 

 in the difiiculty I described in the beginning of 

 my letter, but it must be remembered that the 

 great majority are still only in receipt of wages 

 that will barely provide the minimum food for a 

 family, and have absolutely nothing to spend on 

 clothing, and in the professional classes, this is 

 universally the case. They are faced vrith losing 

 their jobs because they have not got the clothes 

 in which to stand, and the bitter weather now 

 upon us is, of course, making the need tenfold 

 more urgent. 



People may feel that it is now too late ta 

 send clothing for this winter, but if you are able 

 to make it known how great the need is, I hope 

 you will not let people be discouraged by the 

 idea that it may be too late, because people 

 require clothes to wear in the summer, and par- 

 ticularly in the case of underclothing, we did not 

 find last year, that the demand was greatly less- 

 ened at the end of the winter. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 

 MEXICAN ARCHEOLOGYi 



At a meeting of the Royal Anthropological 

 Institute on November 22, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall 

 gave an account of recent archeologocal investi- 

 gations in Mexico. As an introduction to her 

 report, Mrs. Nuttall referred briefly to the fact 



1 From Nature. 



