NOVEMBEE 8, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



631 



married per 1,000 of the population at all 

 ages; the number of births was 881,241, being 

 in the proportion of 24.4 per 1,000 of the pop- 

 ulation, and the deaths numbered 527,864, or 

 14.6 per 1,000 of the population. The mar- 

 riage rate was 0.2 per 1,000 above that in the 

 previous year, but 0.3 below the average rate 

 for the ten years 1901-10. The highest rate 

 in any registration county with a population 

 exceeding 100,000 was 17.8 in London, and the 

 lowest rate was 11.5 in Herefordshire. A de- 

 cline of 0.7 per 1,000 is recorded in the birth- 

 rate when compared with that for 1910, which 

 was the lowest recorded till then; and last 

 year's rate was 2.8 per 1,000 below the average 

 for the preceding ten years. Among the regis- 

 tration counties Durham had the highest birth- 

 rate, 31.1, and Sussex, with 18.2, was at the 

 other end of the scale. The death-rate was 1.1 

 per 1,000 above that in 1910, the lowest yet 

 recorded, but was 0.8 below the average for the 

 preceding ten years. The highest rate was 

 16.8 in Lancashire and the lowest was 11.4 in 

 Middlesex. Of the deaths registered 114,798 

 were those of infants under one year, 263,481 

 those of persons between one year and 65 years 

 of age, and 149,585 those of persons aged 65 

 years and upwards. Infantile mortality, meas- 

 ured by the proportion of deaths under one 

 year of age to registered births, was 130 per 

 1,000, or 25 per 1,000 above the rate in 1910, 

 and three above the ten years' average. In 

 London the marriages during 1911 numbered 

 40,201, corresponding to a rate of 17.8 per 

 1,000 of the estimated population, an increase 

 of 0.5 upon the rate in 1910 and of 0.4 upon 

 the average rate for the five years 1906-10. 

 After distributing the births in the chief insti- 

 tutions receiving maternity cases, the birth- 

 rate in London was 24.8 per 1,000 of the pop- 

 ulation. This is the lowest rate recorded in 

 the metropolis since civil registration was es- 

 tablished. In 1867 the birth-rate in London 

 attained the highest point on record, viz., 36.5 

 per 1,000 living; since that date the ratio has, 

 with trifling exceptions, fallen steadily. Last 

 year's rate of 24.8 was 0.7 below that in 1910, 

 and no less than 2.7 below the average rate for 

 the ten years 1901-10. The effect of the fall 



in the birth-rate in London is that, notwith- 

 standing the great decline in the death-rate 

 which has occurred since 1876-80, the natural 

 increase of population by excess of births over 

 deaths, which was then 13.38 per 1,000 living, 

 has now fallen to 9.74. The death-rate in 

 London last year was 15.0 per 1,000, or 1.3 

 above that in the previous year, and 0.1 above 

 the average for the five years 1906-10. Since 

 the beginning of this century the rate of in- 

 fantile mortality in London has, with fluctua- 

 tions, shown a considerable decline. It reached 

 its lowest point, 103 per 1,000 births in 1910, 

 and rose to 129 last year. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Work has begun on the new graduate 

 school at the University of Pennsylvania, 

 which is to cost $500,000. Money for the 

 school was willed by Colonel James M. Ben- 

 nett in 1889. There will be dormitories for 

 women as well as men. 



Fifty years after the founding of the School 

 of Mines at Columbia University, or in Sep- 

 tember, 1914, the Schools of Engineering, its 

 successor, will enter upon a new era and engi- 

 neering will be placed on the same university 

 plane as law and medicine. Beginning with 

 the academic year of 1914-15 the engineering 

 courses at the university will be composed of 

 three years of undergraduate work, leading up 

 to the degree of bachelor of science; and three 

 years of postgraduate work, leading to the 

 engineering degrees. In order to make ade- 

 quate provision within the university for stu- 

 dents who desire to prepare themselves in 

 three years of college residence for the new 

 courses, a program has been prepared leading 

 to the degree of B.S. The first and prac- 

 tically all the second year will be offered in 

 the present academic year of 1912-13, and the 

 third year may be followed substantially, al- 

 though modifications may be necessary to 

 avoid conflict with the present courses for 

 candidates for degrees under the old basis, 

 and special programs will be arranged in case 

 of conflict, so that students who desire to 

 begin the new six years course may do so at 



