594 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 589. 



AWALYSI8 OF THE RESULTS OF THE 

 TWELFTH CENSUS. 



The Bureau of the Census has just issued 

 a special report analyzing- and discussing 

 statistics collected and published at the 

 twelfth census, particularly statistics of popu- 

 lation. This work was prepared under the 

 direction of Professor Walter F. Willcox, of 

 Cornell University, who was formerly one of 

 the chief statisticians in the Census Office. 

 The title of the volume is ' Supplementary 

 Analysis and Derivative Tables : Twelfth Cen- 

 sus,' and, as this title suggests, the work com- 

 prises two parts. The first part, or ' Supple- 

 mentary Analysis ' is a series of statistical 

 studies, some of which have already been pub- 

 lished by the Census Bureau in bulletin form, 

 while others are now given to the public for 

 the first time. These studies discuss in an 

 interesting manner such topics as growth of 

 population, marital condition, illiteracy, inter- 

 state migration, proportion of children in the 

 population and proportion of breadwinners. 

 One unique feature is a summary prefacing 

 each study and stating concisely the conclu- 

 sions reached by the writer. To some extent 

 the work is a collaboration, for while most of 

 these analytical studies or chapters were writ- 

 ten by Professor Willcox, some have been con- 

 tributed by other writers — the chapter on age 

 statistics, by Professor AUyn A. Young, of 

 the University of Wisconsin; the chapters on 

 illiteracy and interstate migration, by Dr. 

 Joseph A. Hill, of the Bureau of the Census; 

 the chapter on vital statistics, by Dr. John 

 Shaw Billings ; and that on the negro farmer, 

 by Professor W. E. B. DuBois, of Atlanta 

 University. 



The second part of the volume, the ' Deriva- 

 tive Tables,' is a series of tables derived from 

 the published data of the twelfth census. One 

 feature of special interest in these tables is 

 the classification of population according to 

 the size of the place of residence. This brings 

 out the differences and contrasts between the 

 city and country population; also in many 

 instances between the population of large 

 cities, of middle-class cities and of small towns 

 and rural districts. Thus one may study 

 statistically the influence of city as compared 



with country in connection with such ques- 

 tions as age and sex, immigration, marriage, 

 illiteracy, school attendance and size of fam- 

 ilies. The tables include, also, an extended 

 classification of population by birthplace, 

 giving the numbers bom in each state or 

 territory and in each of the principal foreign 

 countries which have contributed to the growth 

 of our population by immigration. Certain 

 derivative birthplace tables give ratios for 

 each of the last six censuses, thus making it 

 possible to trace for each state and territory 

 the changes in the composition of the popu- 

 lation brought about during the half century 

 by the immigration of foreigners, as well as 

 by the interstate migration of natives. ' 



AWARDS OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL 

 SOCIETY} 



The council of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety has decided to award the royal medals 

 and other honors for 1906 as follows : 



With the approval of the King, the two 

 royal medals have been awarded to M. Alfred 

 Grandidier and Dr. Eobert Bell, F.E.S. The 

 founder's medal is awarded to M. Grandidier 

 for the results of his many years' work on the 

 Island of Madagascar. Since 1865 M. 

 Grandidier has devoted himself to the explora- 

 tion of the island and to the publication of its 

 results. He spent five years in the island, 

 traversing it three times throughout its breadth. 

 The result of this exploration included geog- 

 raphy, geodesy, geology and natural history in 

 all its branches; it enabled a valuable map of 

 the coast of the Imerina and of the Central 

 Province of the Hova kingdom to be made. In 

 1875 he began the publication of his great 

 ' Histoire Physique, Naturelle, et Politique 

 de Madagascar' with the cooperation of the 

 various savants. The whole when completed 

 will form about 52 large quarto volumes. 

 Altogether M. Grandidier's lifework has been 

 of the highest value in scientific geography, 

 and forms the basis of our knowledge of Mada- 

 gascar. 



The patron's medal has been awarded to Dr. 

 Eobert Bell, F.E.S. During 45 years of field 

 work he has mapped a large area of Canada 



' From the London Times. 



