Juke 29, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



987 



time -wlien the first draft of this pioneer evo- 

 lutional treatise was completed is not known. 

 Charles Darwin says, in the Introduction, that 

 it was intended for posthumous publication as 

 early as 1775; and, according to the remark 

 in the present letter, it may have been fairly 

 complete several years earlier. There is no 

 evidence, however, that it antedated the evolu- 

 tional writings of Buiion (1765). 



This second of these letters is addressed to 

 ' Dr. Percival Physician Manchester,' and 

 reads as follows: 



Dear Sir, 



I am much obliged to you for the kindness of 

 your letter; & thank you for your inquiry into the 

 merits of a poem, from which the Botanic Garden 

 was supposed to have been stolen; an accusation 

 which however I had not heard of, & am the more 

 indebted to you for shewing the falsity of it. 



The first part, which you are so obliging as to 

 inquire after, is nearly printed; & I suppose will 

 be out, if not delay'd by the engraver, in 3 or 4 

 weeks. It is longer than the other, & if you are 

 at the trouble to read it, I shall be glad of any 

 remarks, which may improve a second edition of 

 it; if such should be called for. 



I hope you will be amused, tho' not convinced, 

 by the conjectures in the notes on coal { " upon 

 geology," stricken out), on the winds of this 

 climate, & on the use of the honey to the vege- 

 table economy. 



Was I sure of such candid readers, as yourself, 

 I should be tempted to print another worlv, which 

 has lain by me nearly 20 years. Adieu. 

 I am, dear S"'. 



Your much obliged 



& obed'. serv'. 



E. Daewin. 

 Derby 

 Jun. 18—91. 



Bashfoed Dean. 



Columbia Univeesitt. 



STATISTICS OF MORTALITY. 



The Bureau of the Census has published a 

 report presenting mortality statistics for the 

 United States for the five calendar years 1900 

 to 1904. This report was prepared under the 

 supervision of the late William A. King, chief 

 statistician for vital statistics. 



The number of deaths reported in the regis- 

 tration area in 1900 was 539,939, and the death 



rate per 1,000 of population was 17.6. In 1901 

 the rate declined to 16.6 and in 1902 to 16. 

 The rate increased in 1903 to 16.2 and in 1904 

 to 16.7. The average annual rate for the five 

 years was 16.6 per 1,000. The corresponding 

 rates in certain foreign countries are shown in 

 the following table : 



Registration area of 

 United States 



England and Wales. 



Scotland 



Ireland 



Germany 



Prussia 



Norway 



Sweden 



Hungary 



Netherlands 



Belgium 



Switzerland 



Spain 



Italy 



16.2 

 15.4 

 16.6 

 17.5 

 {') 

 19.8 

 148 

 15.1 

 26.1 

 15.6 

 17.0 

 17.6 

 25.0 

 22.2 



The average annual death rate in the regis- 

 tration states was 17.8 per 1,000 in the cities 

 of 8,000 or more population in 1900 and 14.3 

 per 1,000 in rural districts, which, as the term 

 is here used, includes everything outside these 

 cities. The average annual rates were lowest 

 in St. Joseph, Mo. (7.6) ; Owosso, Mich. (10.1) ; 

 Lincoln, Nebr. (10.4); and St. Paul, Minn. 

 (10.5) ; and highest in Charleston, S. C. 

 (31.3) ; Wilmington, K C. (28.2) ; and Jack- 

 sonville, Fla. (28.1). 



THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL ZOOLOG- 

 ICAL CON CRESS. 



The sixth International Zoological Con- 

 gress, which met at Berne in 1904, accepted 

 the invitation of the American Society of 

 Zoologists to hold the seventh congress in 

 America in August or September, 1907, under 

 the presidency of Mr. Alexander Agassiz. 



The arrangements for the seventh congress 

 are in charge of a committee of the American 

 Society of Zoologists, consisting of Messrs. 

 Alexander Agassiz, chairman; Samuel Hen- 



