June 23, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



955 



a public official who would dare to inter- 

 fere with princely schemes of public rob- 

 bery, would generally lose his head. Now 

 he at most loses his position. Our mer- 

 chant princes are not so severe as their 

 predecessors were. 



The barber of the present day is not 

 expected to do surgical work, although his 

 sign still gives notice that accidents may 

 happen. The bloody pole with its white 

 bandage reminds us of the days when the 

 barber was the surgeon. The family of 

 Poisson decided for him in his youthful 

 days that the work of a notary required 

 greater intelligence than he possessed, and 

 advised him to become a surgeon. It was 

 not until 1745 that the ' ' barberous ' ' work of 

 the surgeon and the surgical work of the 

 barber were, in England, eliminated by 

 law. 



Not only should one study the history 

 of the arts and sciences, but even more in- 

 spiring are the biographies of the great 

 men of history. Most of the men who have 

 given direction to scientific thought and 

 work have been men who came from the 

 most humble positions in life. Occasion- 

 ally we find one coming from so-called 

 higher levels, who was not satisfied to be 

 simply a descendant. To read an account 

 of the work of such men, in connection 

 with the human element which enters into 

 a biography, often opens up a new world 

 to a young man. He may thus learn that 

 he possesses elements which respond to 

 such history. It is not saying too much to 

 say that the great mass of students in col- 

 lege never come into contact with the 

 great things of the learned world. They 

 do not do enough of skirmishing in the 

 fields of learning. They waste their time 

 in trivial matters which will have little 

 value to them in the future. They per- 

 haps never acquire the faintest knowledge 

 of branches of learning, which, if they 



knew of them, would change the whole 

 current of their lives. 



And in order that one may do new work 

 it is not necessary to hunt for new fields. 

 Remember that the Crookes tube was in 

 physical laboratories in all parts of the 

 world for seventeen years, before any one 

 suspected that it was an X-ray tube. 

 Rontgen was hunting for accidents of the 

 kind, and he accidentally discovered that 

 there were phenomena outside of the tube 

 that demanded attention. It is only need- 

 ful that one shall read and think, and the 

 work of others, which may have been pub- 

 lished half a century ago, will suggest 

 something to you which it never suggested 

 to any one before, and which may occupy 

 your attention for years. 



Francis E. Nipher 



BBITISH VITAL STATISTICS 

 The British Registrar-General has issued 

 his return relating to the births and deaths in 

 the first quarter of the year, and to the mar- 

 riages during the three months ending De- 

 cember last. From the abstract in The Brit- 

 ish Medical Journal it appears that the 

 marriage-rate during that period was equal 

 to 16.1 per 1,000, or 0.7 per 1,000 less than 

 the average rate for the corresponding quar- 

 ter in the ten preceding years. 



The 223,588 births registered in England 

 and Wales during the quarter under notice 

 were equal to an annual rate of 24.8 per 1,000 

 of the estimated population; the birth-rate 

 last quarter was 2.7 per 1,000 below the aver- 

 age rate for the corresponding period of the 

 ten preceding years, and is the lowest birth- 

 rate recorded in the first quarter of any year 

 since the establishment of civil registration. 

 Among the several counties the birth-rates 

 ranged from 17.8 in Carnarvonshire, 18.5 in 

 Sussex, 19.6 in Northamptonshire, 20.1 in 

 Kent, and 20.6 in Dorsetshire and in 

 Gloucestershire, to 29.1 in Nottinghamshire, 

 31.3 in Carmarthenshire, 31.4 in Durham, 

 34.5 in Glamorganshire and 35.9 in Mon- 



