66 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 106. 



effort, are intelligently and impartially com- 

 bined and discussed in a clear and attractive 

 manner, so that, despite the scores of statistical 

 tables, the book is easy reading from preface to 

 conclusion. 



In the first chapter, which relates to the 

 growth and movements of the black and mulatto 

 population, it is shown that the negro has failed 

 to gain a foothold in any of the Northern States 

 as an agricultural laborer; that in general he 

 has remained in the South, contrary to the 

 many predictions of wholesale migration; and 

 that he does not readily lend himself to schemes 

 of colonization, and has failed miserably in the 

 most recent experiment of the kind (in Durango, 

 Mexico). At the same time it is shown that the 

 negro displays a tendency to segregate in cer- 

 tain sections in the South, while in the North, 

 and to a less extent in the South, there is a 

 tendency toward congregation in the cities. 



To students of the negro problem the second 

 chapter, 'Vital Statistics,' is of paramount in- 

 terest. Here the author tabulates and discusses 

 the rates of birth and death under various con- 

 ditions among the blacks and compares them 

 with the corresponding rates among the whites, 

 calculates the expectation of life for blacks and 

 whites, and examines fully the causes of mor- 

 tality in both races. Summarizing the facts, it 

 is pointed out (1) that the excess of births over 

 deaths is greater for the whites than for the 

 blacks in the Southern States; (2) that in the 

 Northern States the blacks do not hold their 

 own, since the deaths outnumber the births, 

 the apparent increase in population being due 

 to migration ; (3) that for ten representative 

 Southern cities the death rate for five years 

 (1890-'94) was 20.12 per thousand for the 

 whites, and 32.61 for the blacks, indicating a 

 steady and apparently irresistible vital decline, 

 both relative and absolute, on the part of the 

 latter; (4) that the excess of negro mortality is 

 greatest in the age period under 15 years, cul- 

 minating among infants, and (5) that hence the 

 number surviving to productive and reproduc- 

 tive ages is considerably less for the blacks 

 than for the whites ; (6) that the expectation of 

 life among the blacks is from 12.5 to 17.11 

 years less than among the whites in the 

 cities giving most reliable statistics; (7) that 



the rates of mortality among blacks and 

 whites are not materially affected by other 

 conditions than those of race and heredity ; 

 and (8) that since emancipation, mortality 

 among the blacks has steadily increased, 

 while the white death rate has diminished. 

 It is shown that the chief causes of excessive 

 mortality among the blacks are (1) diseases of 

 infants, including premature and still births ; 

 (2) consumption, which is increasing among the 

 blacks and decreasing among the whites; (3) 

 pneumonia ; (4) scrofula and venereal diseases, 

 which are much more prevalent among the 

 blacks and which are increasing; (5) malarial 

 fevers (contrary to general opinion); and (6) 

 typhoid fever at the earlier ages. The observa- 

 tions collated indicate that smallpox is more 

 prevalent among the blacks, chiefly through 

 greater neglects of vaccination ; that scarlet 

 fever, yello%v fever, appendicitis and carcinoma 

 uteri, from all of which the negro is generally 

 supposed exempt, occur, but less frequently than 

 among the whites, as is the case also with in- 

 sanity, suicide, measles, diphtheria, tumor- 

 cancer and alcholism; while the mortality from 

 childbirth and puerperal fever is greater among 

 the blacks by reason of ignorance and mal- 

 treatment. ' ' The general conclusion is that 

 the negro is subject to a higher mortality at all 

 ages, but especially so at the early age periods. 

 This is largely the result of an inordinate mor- 

 tality from constitutional and respiratory dis- 

 eases. Moreover, the mortality from these 

 diseases is on the increase among the colored, 

 and on the decrease among the whites. In 

 consequence, the natural increase in the colored 

 ' population will be less from decade to decade, 

 and in the end a decrease must take place. It 

 is sufficient to know that in the struggle for 

 race supremacy the black race is not holding 

 its own ; and this fact once recognized, all 

 danger from a possible numerical supremacy of 

 the race vanishes" (page 148). 



The third chapter is devoted to anthropo- 

 metric facts, figures and opinions derived from 

 various sources. The figures indicate that the 

 weight of the black is somewhat greater and his 

 stature somewhat less than the weight and stat- 

 ure of the white of the same class ; that the 

 lung capacity in the black is considerably less and 



