Apbil 25, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



403 



few, we tiiink, can read the latest returns of 

 the Registrar-General without realizing that, 

 so far as jwpulation is concerned, all is not 

 well with our state. These figures — the quar- 

 terly return of marriages, births and deaths — 

 reveal the outstanding fact that last quarter 

 for the first time since the establishment of 

 civil registration the number of deaths ex- 

 ceeded the number of births. The excess was 

 79,443. The average excess of births over 

 deaths in the fourth quarter of the thi-ee pre- 

 ceding years was 44,785. 



This lamentable state of matters requires, 

 however, to be viewed in the light of the in- 

 fluenza epidemic. The Registrar-General re- 

 gards influenza as a primary or contributory 

 cause of death in no fewer than 98,998 in- 

 stances, or 41 per cent, of the total deaths reg- 

 istered last quarter. 



Influenza, however, by no means completely 

 accounts for the fact that the relationship be- 

 tween birth-rate and death-rate is not improv- 

 ing, but is on the contrary getting worse. 

 Even if we deduct all the influenza deaths the 

 situation remains disquieting. 



There is one chief remedy — the saving of 

 those children we have. The fact that of 1(51,- 

 775 births in the quarter under consideration 

 10,367 were illegitimate should not be lost sight 

 of. At present the way of the illegitimate child 

 in a health sense is hard and dangerous. It 

 must, we think, in the national interest be 

 safeguarded. This is an economic and social 

 as well as, perhaps more than, a medical ques- 

 tion. But it is not the less on that account 

 urgent. 



Medicine can to some extent prevent disease 

 from attacking the child; medicine can not 

 perform miracles. It is a miracle if children 

 brought up in foul and evil surroundings grow- 

 up healthy and wholesome men and women. 

 The miracle, incidentally, is usually accom- 

 plished not by doctors but by the self-sacrifice 

 and heroism of the mother of the children, who 

 too often loses her own health in the process. 



The birth-rate is the lowest on record, even 

 though 8,104 more births occurred than in the 

 fourth quarter of 1917. Marriages increased 

 in the third quarter of 191S 23,710 over the 



preceding quarter, and 18,672 over the third 

 quarter of 1917. 



According to the returns, 6fi2,773 births and 

 611,991 deaths were registered in England and 

 "Wales in 1918. The natural increase of popu- 

 lation, by excess of births over deaths, was, 

 therefore, 50,782, the average annual increase 

 in the preceding five years having been 287,664. 

 The number of persons married during the 

 year was 573,614. 



The marriage-rate in England and Wales 

 during 1918 was 15.3 per 1,000, the birth-rate 

 17.7 per 1,000 — the lowest on record — and the 

 death-rate 17.6 per 1.000. Infant mortality 

 was 97 per 1.000 registered births. 



The number of deaths registered in the last 

 quarter, 241,218 was 127,000 more than in the 

 preceding quarter, and 128,477 more than in 

 the fourth quarter of 1917. The civilian deaths 

 correspond to a rate of 26.8 per 1,000 of the 

 civil population in 1917. The highest death- 

 rate recorded in England and Wales as a whole 

 in any previous quarter was 25.5 per 1,000 in 

 1846.— The London Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Pygidiidw, a Family of South American 

 Cat fishes. By C. H. EiOEN-.\r.\XN. Mem. 

 Carnegie Mus. 7 (5), 259-398; pis. 36-56. 

 The catfishes described in this excellent 

 monograph are generally burrowers. They are 

 u.sually characterized by the presence of spines 

 on the opercula and interopercula and the ab- 

 sence of an adipose fin. The opercular spines 

 render the fishes difficult to dislodge from 

 cavities into which they are accustomed to 

 insinuate themselves. Certain specialized 

 types commonly live as parasites in the gill 

 chambers of other fishes and some are even 

 said to enter the urethrse of mammals, inclu- 

 ding man. Nematogeni/s from central Chile is 

 the most primitive living representative, and 

 resembles the Siluridaj in certain characters. 

 The eighteen other genera are distributed 

 throughout South America. Most pygidiids 

 are slender, slimy fishes " as slippery as the 

 proverbial eel." Eighty-nine species are de- 

 scribed; sixty-three being placed in the genus 

 Pygidium, which is said to occur " probably in 



