Mat 25, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



495 



ages is passing; they suggest a return to the 

 average experience in 1905-14. The birth-rate 

 was 22 per 1,000. This is 3.5 below the average 

 for the preceding ten years and 1.8 below the 

 rate in 1914. The rate in England and Wales, 

 however, compared " very favorably " with the 

 experience of other belligerent countries. The 

 provisional rate for 1916 is lower still — 21.6 

 per 1,000. 



The infant mortality during the year was 

 110 per 1,000 births. This is five per 1,000 

 above the rate in 1914, but is below the average 

 of the years 1905-14. The provisional infant 

 mortality rate for 1916 shows a fall to 91 per 

 1,000, the lowest on record. The civilian 

 death-rate was 15.7 per 1,000, which is 1.2 

 per 1,000 above the average for the previous 

 10 years. Various factors, however, afPect this 

 figure, including the withdrawal of young men 

 from civilian life. Most of the principal 

 causes of death show increased mortality, but 

 scarlet fever, typhoid fever and diarrhoeal dis- 

 eases are exceptions to this rule. The dis- 

 ease, cerebro-spinal fever, " spotted fever," 

 showed an abnormally high death-rate. There 

 was a remarkable decrease in male suicides. 

 The position with regard to tuberculosis re- 

 mained serious. There was a marked increase 

 among males and a slight increase among 

 females. These rates refer only to the civil 

 population and are swollen by the fact that 

 healthy males have been taken away from 

 civil life in great numbers. 



There were 360,885 marriages, an extraordi- 

 nary number. The average age of bachelors 

 marrying spinsters was 27.33 and of spinsters 

 marrying bachelors 25.47, these being, as 

 stated above, the highest recorded in each case. 

 The number of births recorded was 814,614, of 

 which 36,245 were illegitimate. Males num- 

 bered 415,205, females 399,409, the ratio being 

 1,040 to 1,000. This ratio for the whole year 

 does not represent the true situation as re- 

 gards " war babies." The March quarter, for 

 example, which was unaffected by the war, 

 showed a ratio of 1,032 males to 1,000 females. 

 The December quarter, on the other hand, 

 showed a ratio of 1,044 males to 1,000 females. 

 For 1916 the ratios are known to be: March 



quarter, 1,050 males to 1,000 females; June 

 quarter, 1,051; September, 1,045; and Decem- 

 ber, 1,050. 



For the year from July 1, 1915, to June 30, 

 1916, that is for the first complete year during 

 which the births registered have been fully 

 affected by war conditions, the ratio is 1,047 

 males to 1,000 females. This figure is con- 

 siderably — so far as males are concerned — ■ 

 above any recorded during the preceding 50 

 years and approximates to the European rate 

 which has for many years been in excess of 

 our own. A rise in mortality among the aged 

 of both sexes has occurred. It is a feature 

 which has appeared in the statistics of other 

 belligerent countries and may be a reflex of 

 the unusual stress and anxiety of the times. 



THE COMMITTEE ON COAL PRODUCTION OF 

 THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE 



The Council of National Defense has ap- 

 pointed Mr. Francis S. Peabody, chairman of 

 and with authority to appoint a committee on 

 coal production, representative of the coal- 

 producing districts throughout the United 

 States. It is the intention that the members 

 of this committee shall act as chairmen of 

 subcommittees to be appointed by them in 

 their respective districts. 



The committee convened in Washington on 

 May 9, at which time, in addition to the mem- 

 bers of the conunittee, there were present Sec- 

 retary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, Mr. 

 W. S. Gifford, director of the Council of Na- 

 tional Defense, and Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, 

 chairman of the committee on raw materials, 

 minerals and metals, of the advisory board of 

 the Council of National Defense, from which 

 an outline of the proposed scope of the com- 

 mittee's work was received. 



In approving the appointment of this com- 

 mittee and laying before it the work that it 

 was expected to do, Secretary Lane referred 

 to the cooperative spirit already shown by the 

 business men of the country in this mobiliza- 

 tion of the resources of the United States. 



It would surprise the nations of Europe to know 

 how intense is the spirit of loyalty on the part of 

 our business men and capitalists. . . . You are at 

 the very root and foundation of the great industry 



