164 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1022 



New Haven, P. de Heen, Selessin (Belgium), 

 and the following medical gentlemen : J. Dan- 

 iel, Brussels, W. Deane Butcher, London, L. 

 Bergonie, Bordeaux, C. Lester, Philadelphia, 

 E. Ludwig, Vienna, W. His, Berlin, A. Bayet, 

 Brussels, L. Hauchamps, Brussels. It has 

 been decided to hold the third congress in 

 Vienna from June 2Y until July 2, 1915, to 

 be composed of two sections : I. Physical and 

 Chemical Section; II. Biological and Medical 

 Section. The following officers have been 

 elected: President, Professor Sir Ernest 

 Eutherford, Manchester; General Secretary, 

 Professor Stefan Meyer, Vienna; Sectional 

 Secretaries, I. The general secretary and D. 

 V. Hess, Vienna; II. E. v. Knaffl-Lenz, 

 Vienna. The Scientific Committee are: Sec- 

 tion I., M. Curie, Paris; F. Exner, Vienna; 

 E. Eutherford, Manchester; W. Wien, Wiirz- 

 burg. Section II., P. Degrais, Paris ; W. His, 

 Berlin; H. H. Meyer, Vienna; G. Eiebl, 

 Vienna; E. Williams, Boston. 



We learn from Nature that the common- 

 wealth of Australia, in connection with the 

 approaching visit of the British Association, 

 has issued a " Federal Handbook," describing 

 the continent in its scientific and historical 

 aspects. This book contains in a compressed, 

 but readable, form more information than is 

 elsewhere accessible. Among the more im- 

 portant articles may be noted that on history 

 by Professor Ernest Scott; on physical and 

 general geography by Mr. Griffith Taylor, and 

 a very useful account of the culture and be- 

 liefs of the aborigines by Professor Baldwin 

 Spencer. The book is at present issued only 

 in a limited edition, but it may be re-issued to 

 meet the wants of a wider public. 



At the forty-fourth Fruit Growers' conven- 

 tion held at Davis, California, June 1-6, the 

 plant pathologists of California and neighbor- 

 ing states met and formed a local society to be 

 known as the Western American Phytopatho- 

 logical Society. The purpose of the society is 

 to hold meetings annually or semi-annually 

 for the discussion of plant disease problems, to 

 bring together workers for mutual assistance 

 and stimulation. The territory which the so- 



ciety proposes to cover is in a general way that 

 from the Eocky Mountains westward to the 

 Pacific coast of the United States, Canada and 

 Mexico. The society is to consist of mem- 

 bers of the American Phytopathological So- 

 ciety located in the general region and associ- 

 ate members chosen by the membership com- 

 mittee. In addition to the practical plant dis- 

 ease discussions presented to the fruit growers 

 at Davis, several more technical papers were 

 presented. E. E. Smith, Berkeley, California, 

 was elected president ; H. S. Jackson, Corvallis, 

 Oregon, vice-president, and Wm. T. Home, 

 Berkeley, California, secretary-treasurer. Pre- 

 liminary arrangements were made for a meet- 

 ing at Corvallis, Oregon, during next winter. 



The Paris correspondent of the Journal of 

 the American Medical Association writes that 

 there were Y45,539 living infants born in 

 France last year as contrasted with 750,651 in 

 1912. No lower total has ever been registered, 

 with the exception of the year 1911. In recall- 

 ing the steady fall in the French birthrate, it 

 will be enough to mention that the annual aver- 

 age of living births was 945,000 during the period 

 from 1872 to 1875; that, since 1907, the num- 

 ber of births dropped below 800,000, and since 

 1911, below 750,000. This means that in less 

 than forty years the French births have dimin- 

 ished by more than 200,000 a year. The pro- 

 portion of living children to every ten thou- 

 sand inhabitants was 188 in 1913, instead of 

 190 in 1912, 187 in 1911, 196 in 1910, and 205 

 in 1906. The decrease, therefore, is accentu- 

 ated each year. It is true that the birthrate is 

 falling in all the large countries of Europe, 

 but the proportion is much less than in 

 France; and, moreover, the excess of births 

 over deaths is proportionately five or six times 

 greater. Thus, for the year 1912, the excess of 

 births over deaths for each ten thousand in- 

 habitants was only 15 in France; in the same 

 year it was 158 in Holland; 140 in Italy; 130 

 in Hungary; 127 in Germany; 107 in Austria, 

 and 105 in England. Last year showed an ex- 

 cess of 41,901 births over deaths, or only 10 for 

 each ten thousand. The excess in 1912 was 

 57,911, or 15 per ten thousand. This diminu- 



