92 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 183 



population are living by the branches of industry 

 in which it is proposed to establish departments 

 of instruction. Still further, one who watches 

 the boy of to-day will hardly find him lacking in 

 practical ability. The great need is rather moral 

 and political training and general culture. Prin- 

 cipal Council of the Alabama (colored) normal 

 school at Huntsville gave explicit and convincing 

 testimony to the value of manual training in his 

 school ; but the condition of the south, especially 

 that of the colored people, is so abnormal and so 

 different from that in other parts of the country, 

 that a general argument cannot be fairly based on 

 it. The negro is not simply illiterate, he is igno- 

 rant, — ignorant of thrift, of ways of living, of all 

 that goes to make a prosperous citizen ; and in- 

 dustrial education is simply one of many ways to 

 help him. Besides, the educational system at the 

 south is a bare outline. It will stand some filling 

 up. But in the north, and at the east especially, 

 the school system has taken on load after load, 

 until its friends momentarily wait in anxiety lest 

 it reach the breaking-point. The enemies of the 

 public schools are foremost in insisting that its 

 load be increased, doubtless not without sinister 

 reasons. 



Pres. William Preston Johnson of Tulane uni- 

 versity, Louisiana, in his paper on education in 

 his own state, spoke of Louisiana as lowest in the 

 scale of literacy, only forty-nine per cent of its 

 population being able to read and write. He 

 pleaded for the national aid proposed by the Blair 

 bill. There was, however, in his paper, nothing 

 to offset the arguments that have been urged 

 against the bill. It is hard for a close student to 

 see how the mere lavish outlay of money is great- 

 ly to overcome conditions which nToney can only 

 indirectly and remotely affect. 



In the department of higher education Dr. 

 Mowry of Education read a paper on ' The college 

 curriculum.' The subject was well thought out, 

 but presented from the ultra-conservative point of 

 view, which is meeting such sharp criticism in 

 many quarters at the present time. The sense of 

 the crowded meeting in which Dr. Mowry's paper 

 was read, was, however, clearly with him. The 

 discussion was sharp. 



The subject of alcohol and narcotics occupied 

 large space in the meetings. The presentation 

 was vigorous, though nothing was set forth new 

 to those familiar with the work. 



A department of secondary education was 

 formed at the request of the high school and 

 academy men present. It will be restricted ex- 

 clusively to work between the elementary schools 

 and the colleges. 



The department of musical education suffered a 



serious loss in the absence of its president. Dr. G. 

 Stanley Hall, who was detained at Ashfield, Mass. 

 The papers read offered no noteworthy addition to 

 the present literature of the subject. 



The kindergarten and industrial displays were 

 unusually attractive ; the Kansas agricultural 

 college occupying a prominent place, and display- 

 ing some excellent work. 



Altogether the meetings may be held a success. 

 The place chosen was hardly fortunate, public 

 accommodations were frightfully limited, and the 

 heat at times was appalling. But western hospi- 

 tality never showed itself in a more enthusiastic 

 and delightful way. Houses and hearts w^ere 

 cordially open, and the torrid weather was cool 

 compared with the welcome extended an all sides. 



THE HEALTH OF NEW YORK DURING 

 JUNE. 



The population of New York on the first day of 

 June may be considered as 1,435,290. Of this 

 number, 2,762 died during the month, an excess 

 of three as compared with May. While, however, 

 the total mortality for the two months was so 

 nearly the same, the number of deaths of children 

 under five years in June greatly exceeded that of 

 the preceding month : the deaths in June being 

 1,375, as compared with 965 in May ; or, to repre- 

 sent it in another way, had the conditions in 

 June been the same as in May, 410 children whose 

 deaths are recorded at the health oflSce would now 

 have been alive. The greatest daily mortality 

 from all causes occurred on the 26th. On that 

 day 124 persons died, 43 of them being under one 

 year of age, and 66 under five, or more than one- 

 half of the total mortality being children of this 

 tender age. The causes of death on this day were 

 as follows : 32 persons died from diarrhoeal dis- 

 eases, 18 from consumption, 12 from diseases of 

 the brain and nervous system, 8 from diseases of 

 the kidneys, 5 from diphtheria and the same 

 number from cancer, 4 from pneumonia, 3 from 

 croup, and 2 from rheumatism and gout. Con- 

 sumption still leads the list as a mortality factor ; 

 taking the month as a whole, 423 persons having 

 succumbed to that disease, 72 less than in May. 

 Diarrhoeal affections increased more than four- 

 fold, these deaths being 303, as compared with 73 

 in May. Diphtheria, with 130 deaths, showed a 

 reduction of 35 deaths; while scarlet- fever is 

 charged with but 29 deaths, as against 44 in the 

 month preceding. 



The meteorology of the month is full of interest. 

 The mean temperature for the year has been as 

 follows: January, 26.79° F.; February, 27.45° F.; 

 March, 37.60° F.; April, 52.87° F.; May, 60.18° F.; 



