September 24, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



419 



but the Geological Survey willingly answers 

 inquiries made by other postmasters, sending 

 them a sample copy of the map that covers 

 their district, if it has been mapped. It is 

 believed that this new plan of distributing the 

 government maps will benefit all concerned; 

 it will be a convenience to the purchasers, it 

 will bring the postmasters a small commission, 

 and it will increase the sale of the maps. 



The registrar-general for England and 

 Wales has issued his return relating to the 

 births and deaths in the second quarter of the 

 year, and to the marriages in the three months 

 ending March last. From a report in the 

 British Medical Journal we learn that the 

 marriage-rate during that period was equal to 

 12.0 per 1,000, which was 0.8 per 1,000 more 

 than the mean rate in the corresponding 

 periods of the ten preceding years. The 213,- 

 094 births registered in England and Wales 

 last quarter were equal to an annual rate of 

 22.9 per 1,000 of the population, estimated at 

 37,302,983 persons. This rate is 3.3 per 1,000 

 below the mean rate in the ten preceding sec- 

 ond quarters, and is the lowest rate recorded 

 in the second quarter of any year since civil 

 registration was established. The birth-rates 

 in the several counties last quarter ranged 

 from 16.0 in Sussex, 17.0 in Somerset, 17.1 in 

 Westmorland and 17.3 in Cardigan, to 27.2 in 

 Stafford, 27.3 in Carmarthen, 27.5 in Nor- 

 thumberland, 28.3 in Glamorgan, 28.5 in Mon- 

 mouth and 30.8 in Durham. The excess of 

 births over deaths last quarter was only 74,515, 

 against 102,293, 105,727 and 101,933 in the 

 second quarters of the three preceding years. 

 Erom a return issued by the board of trade it 

 appears that between the United Kingdom and 

 places out of Europe the arrivals of persons 

 stated to be of British nationality exceeded 

 the departure by 8,583 persons, while the num- 

 bers of aliens leaving exceeded those arriving 

 by 431. The balance of the aggregate pas- 

 senger movement in the quarter to and from 

 all countries was 6,580 inward. The 138,579 

 deaths registered in England and Wales dur- 

 ing the quarter under notice were equal to an 

 annual rate of 14.9 per 1,000, against an aver- 



age rate of 13.7 per 1,000 in the corresponding 

 quarter of the ten preceding years. The death- 

 rates in the several counties last quarter ranged 

 from 11.2 in Middlesex, 12.0 in Essex and in 

 Eutland, 12.4 in Berkshire, and 12.5 in Buck- 

 inghamshire and in Dorset, to 17.2 in Cumber- 

 land, 17.3 in Montgomery, 17.7 in Durham, 

 17.8 in Denbigh, 18.3 in the North Eiding of 

 Yorkshire and 18.4 in Cardigan. The 138,579 

 deaths from all causes last quarter included 

 311 which were attributed to enteric fever, 6 to 

 smallpox, 6,724 to measles, 590 to scarlet fever, 

 2,589 to whooping-cough, 1,176 to diphtheria 

 and 1,496 to diarrhea and enteritis among 

 children under 2 years of age. The mortality 

 from measles was nearly double the average, 

 and that from diphtheria was slightly above 

 the average; from scarlet fever and whooping- 

 cough the mortality was slightly below the 

 average, and that from enteric was 40 per 

 cent, below. The rate of infant mortality, 

 measured by the proportion of deaths among 

 children under 1 year of age to registered 

 births, was equal to 97 per 1,000, which was 

 2 per 1,000 above the mean rate in the ten 

 preceding second quarters. 



Statistics compiled under the supervision 

 of J. D. Northrop, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, show that the quantity of nat- 

 ural gas commercially utilized in the United 

 States in 1914 exceeded that so utilized in any 

 previous year in the history of the natural gas 

 industry. The quantity produced, which 

 amounted to approximately 591,866,733,000 

 cubic feet, valued at $94,115,524, constitutes a 

 new record of production exceeding by nearly 

 10 billion cubic feet, or almost 2 per cent., the 

 former record, established in 1913. Increases in 

 output in 1914 over 1913 were credited to New 

 York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana-Ala- 

 bama, Iowa and California, the state last 

 named alone recording a gain of nearly 7 bil- 

 lion cubic feet. Other gas-producing states 

 recorded declines in output the greatest of 

 which, that of Pennsylvania, amounting to 

 slightly more than 10 billion cubic feet. The 

 increases in gas production may be attributed 

 to various causes — in New York to the in- 



