Mabch 26, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



515 



Statistics of the French population for 1895 

 show a decrease of 17,000. There was a de- 

 crease in 1890, 1891 and 1892, but this was at 

 the time attributed to the prevalence of influ- 

 enza. The birthrate in France, which at the 

 beginning of the century was 33 per thousand, 

 has now decreased to 22. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the London Times, in 

 reviewing the consumption of intoxicating 

 liquors in Great Britain and Ireland during the 

 year 1896, shows that, as compared with 1895, 

 there has been an increase, costing over six and 

 a half million pounds, the total expenditure 

 being £148,972,230. This is the largest amount 

 ever spent in the United Kingdom for alcoholic 

 liquors, though the annual expenditure per 

 head for the years 1871-78 was greater. The 

 cause of the present backsliding after a tempo- 

 rary improvement is not evident, for it is prob- 

 able that the number of total abstainers is 

 increasing. 



One of the English anti-vivisection societies 

 wrote to the Prince of Wales requesting that 

 none of the money subscribed in honor of the 

 Queen's Jubilee should be given to hospitals 

 maintaining laboratories in which experiments 

 are made on living animals. The Prince of 

 Wales replied through his secretary that it 

 would not be advisable for him to enter into 

 any collateral consideration regarding the dis- 

 position of the fund. In his original appeal 

 the Prince of Wales had emphasized hospitals 

 as being not only institutions for the relief of 

 suffering, but also places affording a means 

 of medical education and the advancement of 

 medical science. 



The President of the British Board of Trade 

 stated, at the meeting of the Association of 

 Chambers of Commerce on March 10th, that the 

 bill introduced last session by the government 

 legalizing the metric system of weights and 

 measures would be brought forward, but that a 

 compulsory measure could not be carried in the 

 present state of public opinion. It was proposed 

 before the Association, ' ' That, whilst approv- 

 ing of the bill introduced into the House of 

 Commons last session proposing to legalize the 

 use of metric weights and measures, this Asso- 

 ciation is at the same time of opinion that the 



bill should be amended in the following respects : 



(1) That the decimal system as defined in the 

 bill shall be a compulsory subject of instruction 

 in all the elementary schools in the kingdom • 



(2) that the use of the decimal weights and 

 measures so proposed shall be optional for only 

 two years after the passing of the bill, and shall 

 then be compulsory." This resolution was, 

 however, not carried. A compulsory introduc- 

 tion of the metric system seems to have been re- 

 garded as desirable, by the Association, but not 

 as feasible. It was stated by Sir Samuel Mon- 

 tagu, M. P., President of the Decimal Associa- 

 tion, that the passing of a permissive bill would 

 encourage the United States to take a further 

 step in the matter and pass a compulsory bill. 

 If that were done Great Britain would have to 

 follow, as a matter of course. 



Professor Jastrow's letter to this Journal, 

 (p. 26) entitled ' a test on diversity of opinion ' 

 was republished in the London Academy, but 

 under a misleading title. A number of corre- 

 spondents sent solutions to the Academy. But 

 Professor Jastrow would prefer to have answers 

 sent directly to him, as it is his wish not to 

 secure answers to the problem, but data for the 

 study of diversity of opinion, and for this pur- 

 pose the answers should be independent. 



Professor Karl Pearson has collected his 

 scientific essays dealing with problems of 

 chance and variation, several of which are of 

 special interest to students of anthropometry 

 and evolution, which will shortly be published 

 in two volumes by Edward Arnold. 



The Clarendon press will publish a series of 

 five books on musical history, under the editor- 

 ship of Mr. W. H. Hadow, fellow of Worcester 

 College. 



The New York State Library has just issued 

 its seventh annual comparative summary and 

 index of State legislation, covering the laws 

 passed in 1896. Each act is briefly described 

 or summarized and classified under its proper 

 subject-head, with a full alphabetic index to the 

 entries. It is proposed that the eighth bulletin 

 shall consolidate into a single series, with the 

 legislation of 1897, the summaries for the pre- 

 ceding seven years. This material will be 

 closely classified and so presented as to give a 



