Septbmbkb 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



519 



dress, according to the report in the Londou 

 'Times, that he could only speak as a landowner 

 in a populous district and as one responsible 

 for dealing with the dwellings of the poor 

 and the buildings on his estate connected 

 with the farms, and as one who had taken an 

 humble part in the various legislative meas- 

 ures which had been passed to improve the 

 sanitary condition of our towns and the health 

 of the people during the last 40 years. He 

 could certify to the great sanitary improve- 

 ments which had been made in the cottages, 

 farms and farm buildings in his recollection, 

 and in the water supply of our country dis- 

 tricts. Yet they had been hardly sufficiently 

 alive to the storage of rain water. The sanitary 

 authorities still kept a watchful eye on the nec- 

 essary supply of fresh air to their agricultural 

 buildings, the cubical contents of their cow- 

 houses, and the supply of pure milk. He pro- 

 ceeded to refer to the efforts made to purify 

 the rivers, mentioning in particular the work 

 of the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee. 

 They had in that great city of Manchester tri- 

 umphs of engineering and mechanical art 

 applied to various industries, but the popu- 

 lation which inhabited it had, as in other large 

 towns, degenerated in size and physical jjower 

 from the ancestor or progenitor who was 

 attracted into the town by higher wages from 

 the country districts. The same process was 

 still going on, the large percentage of rejec- 

 tions from physical disabilities among those 

 who offered themselves as recruits even in 

 Manchester itself giving an alarming proof of 

 the degeneracy of the town population. One 

 of their great problems was to arrest this de- 

 terioration and to make up for the necessary 

 drawbacks of town life by greater care in the 

 physical education of the young and in teach- 

 ing them the principles of hygiene or the pres- 

 ervation of health. Though it was given to 

 many of no great physical strength to succeed 

 in the race of life and by sheer brain power to 

 triumph over physical weakness, yet in most 

 cases a strong physical frame was necessary 

 to supplement the endowment of the mind in 

 most of the careers open to man. This brought 

 him to the question of the need for physical 

 training. He agreed with Lord Meath, in the 



address which he recently delivered in Man- 

 chester, as to the introduction of physical ex- 

 ercise in our elementary schools as the best 

 way of improving the physical and moral 

 training of our youth. 



The Ohio State Board of Health is this 

 season continuing the investigation of the 

 pollution of the important streams of the 

 State. The Geological Survey is cooperating 

 with the State Board of Health by measuring 

 the flow of the rivers under investigation. The 

 work is one of particular importance on ac- 

 count of the large number of towns which use 

 water for municipal supply from streams 

 already polluted by the sewage and manufac- 

 turing refuse of cities located at higher points 

 upon them. Problems of this nature are being 

 presented to all of the central western states, 

 but the Ohio State Board of Health has taken 

 the lead in the investigation of its polluted 

 streams, and is taking preliminary steps to do 

 away with this menace to the public health. 

 Among the more important rivers under in- 

 vestigation are the Sandusky, Maumee, 

 Scioto and Olentangy. In addition to these 

 a number of smaller streams whose waters are 

 now used, or may soon be used, for municipal 

 purposes will also receive investigation. 



In his report on the production of coal in 

 1901, now in press, in Mineral Resources of 

 the United States, 1901, U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey, Mr. E. W. Parker presents the statistics 

 of fatal and non-fatal accidents which oc- 

 curred in the process of mining coal in eigh- 

 teen states and territories during 1901. In 

 these eighteen states and territories the total 

 number of lives lost in 1901 was 1,46Y, and 

 the total number of men injured was 3,643. 

 The number of tons of coal mined for each 

 life lost varied from 426,094 in Maryland to 

 49,424 in Indian Territory. The average num- 

 ber of tons mined for each of the 1,467 lives 

 lost in these eighteen states and territories 

 was 188,668. It is interesting to note that in 

 Pennsylvania the number of tons of bitu- 

 minous coal mined per life lost was a little 

 more than double the amount mined per life 

 lost in the anthracite mines in the same state. 

 Maryland enjoys the distinction of the largest 



